State educational standards (undergraduate level) on the professional activities of study of religious scholar and theologian: Characteristics and changes

Abstract

Russian higher school strives to become competitive in the global educational market. This caused the modernization of Russian education, which was reflected in the change in educational standards in the areas of "Religious Studies" and "Theology". Which in turn leads to changes in perceptions about the professional activities of graduates of these areas. In this regard, it seems to be an interesting scientific task to trace changes in the characteristics of areas and types of professional activity, fixed in the standards of different generations of the undergraduate level to indicate the boundaries of the professional activity of a study of religion scholar and theologian. The qualitative methodological strategy of the study was used to identify changes in the characteristics of the fields and types of professional activity of the directions "Religious Studies" and "Theology". Within the framework of this strategy, a comparative analysis of materials (state educational standards in the areas of “Study of religion” (2000, 2011, 2015) and “Theology” (2002, 2011, 2014) was carried out. As a result it was revealed that the types of professional activities and practices of study of religion scholar and theologians intersect. The coincidence can be explained by the lack of experience and the relevant traditions of both study of religion and theological education in the Russian higher education institution, and differences by different developers and customers of this education. The analysis of standards in the field of “Religious Studies” allows us to state the absence of significant changes in the characteristics and types of professional activity of a study of religion scholar since 2000. At the same time, the list of theologians' activities was constantly expanding in the applied dimension. However, the lack of a detailed list of applied activities in the standard in the field of Religious Studies does not prevent them from being included in the educational program, but gives freedom to educational organizations to independently choose the types of activities and practices that are most in demand by educational program developers. © 2019 LLC Ecological Help. All rights reserved.