Course content

This course offers a compact introduction to pastoral theology. The content is logically structured in a three-step approach covering the key areas of tension within the discipline:

Today's World (Lessons 1-3): Analysis of contemporary societal contexts.
Images of God, Death, the Jesus Movement (Lessons 4-6): Fundamental theological questions and a return to the origins.
The Church in Today's World (Lessons 7-12): Practical implications and the role of the ecclesial community in modern times.

Learning goals

Upon completion of the course, participants should:

• Have developed a fundamental understanding of the central topics in pastoral theology.
• Be able to reflect on the interplay between the contemporary world, concepts of God, and ecclesial practice.
• Be capable of applying theological concepts to current societal challenges.

Prerequisites

No specific prior specialized knowledge is required to participate in this course. It is aimed at anyone with an interest in theological questions and the role of the Church in today's society.

Course schedule

The course is designed for maximum flexibility and adapts to your individual pace:

Structure: The course consists of 12 independent lessons and a short introduction. Since each lesson is self-contained, you can also work through the topics in your own preferred order.

Video lessons with multilingual support: Each lesson includes a high-quality educational video. A key benefit: all videos feature subtitles in multiple languages. Thanks to this integrated feature, you can customize the language settings so that participants with different native languages can easily follow the content.

Accompanying materials: Detailed manuscripts are available as PDF text files for each lesson. These serve to deepen your knowledge and can also be accessed in various languages.

Self-assessment: To help you monitor your learning progress individually, each lesson includes an interactive quiz.

Time management: There are no fixed schedules — you learn with complete flexibility at your own pace.

For actively participating in the course you will receive an automatic certificate which includes your name, the course name as well as the completed lessons. We want to point out that this certificate merely confirms that you answered at least 75% of the self-assessment questions correctly.

This work by Paul Zulehner is licenced under CC BY 4.0.