The John Wesley Theological College

Education at the Theological Faculty of the John Wesley Theological College focuses on two targets: a) training students who have a calling to become pastors, spiritual and catechetical ministers within the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship, the church that maintains our institute; b) training theologians and pastors who wish to serve God’s word in other churches. (Our students also have the opportunity to study denominational subjects at accredited institutions of higher education maintained by other churches.).

The teaching curricula enables the students to get acquainted with the most important issues of Christian faith and tradition, the methodology of the theory and education of religion, the related conceptual and scientific system as well as the modes of the dissemination of this knowledge. They also learn the traditions of the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship respectively of their own denomination. They also have the opportunity to learn the special knowledge and skills of their special educational service as well as general knowledge of cultural and humane studies.

It follows from the testimonial character of Christianity and from the Wesleyan tradition, that theological studies cannot be limited to theoretical knowledge and to the imparting of the symbolical and theoretical system of values of the Gospel either. A likewise important component of pastoral and theological identity and competence is the integration of knowledge at the highest personal level. The catechetical minister and the pedagogue do not simply „teach”, but they also influence the formation of the morality and world-view of the students by their personality, communication, exemplary deeds and authentic experience of faith.

Our teaching and research are specially devoted to the pursuit of the values that the Script teaches on the man who carries the glory and semblance of the Lord. This implies for us to stress the value of social work and charity, the respectful and humanistic dialogue with other denominations, faiths and convictions.

As a consequence of our theological vision, we are especially devoted to the idea of the Jewish-Christian brotherhood and to the conviction that the Jewish-Christian relationship cannot be hostile. We also pay special attention to the various minorities, especially to the Romani people and to the socially most marginalized brothers. We wish to deepen the Samaritan attitude in our students as the responsibility given by God, towards the social outcast.

The risk of civilizational and natural catastrophes keeps growing in our age. This fact has the consequence that social problems hitting individual people are worsening both in space and in time and in quality.

There are always people in the society ~~> depending on site and time who, due to circumstances or their own properties, are unable to meet the expectations of the society. They live and suffer in lack of safety and in captivity of risk. Therefore they need help.

Environmental safety work must be carried out following, applying and critically evaluating exact, scientifically established professional rules. Laws, rules, systems of risk and safety must be known. Risk originating from environmental effects as well as objective professional processes and techniques, scientifically elaborated for the judgment of desirable and undesirable consequences of measures concerning safety must equally be known.

Our College, with the education on the Course of Environmental Studies, wants to teach experts who have up-to-date knowledge and are able to integrate the results of natural and human sciences in their practical work. On the basis of this grounding they will contribute to the efficient solution of practical, planning, analyzing, problem exposing, decision supporting, controlling, researching and teaching tasks in connection with environment protection, sustainable development, sustainable safety, environmental conflict handling, that is environmental safety, furthermore to the modern and well-established handling of environmental problems appearing on the most different areas.

The aim of environment safety education is a training which prepares for creative planning and operative work resting on a uniform, up-to-date environmental attitude as well as on high-level social knowledge and practice, clarifying and qualifying for the special tasks of the professional fields. The graduated experts participate both directly and indirectly in the exploration and handling of social problems and in their co-ordination with environment safety tasks, i.e. they contribute to the improvement of the social and environmental condition, safety feeling, safety awareness of the population, furthermore to the more efficient preservation, protection, development of natural values, to human and environmental rehabilitation; moreover, to the realization of a rational environment management resting on the world of ideas of sustainable safety, considering social elements as well.