School:Theology

Truthfulness and rationality in religions are truths that can be substantiated by science or those that cannot be proven to be wrong. Kurt Kawohl

The School of Theology is devoted to study of religion, spirituality, and deities. Participants here at this school may use rational analysis and argument to discuss, interpret, and teach on any of a myriad of religious topics. For that reason, the school works in close participation with the School of Religious Studies.

Religious Studies is an academic field devoted to research into religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives. While Theology attempts to understand the transcendent or supernatural according to traditional religious accounts, religious studies takes a more scientific and objective approach independent of any particular religious viewpoint.

The School of Theology can be undertaken to help participants understand more truly one's own religious tradition or can be undertaken with the goal of preservation of religious traditions, reform of a particular tradition, or to apply the resources of a particular religious tradition to some present day problem, situation or need.

So, whether you are interested in Bahá'í, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Urantia, or any other doctrinal foundation, Wikiversity is your soundboard and learning environment to find others who think and believe as you do. If you wish to further your knowledge and practice to encompass a richer base for doing so, please, by all means, feel free.

At Wikiversity, a school is a large organizational structure which can contain various departments and divisions. The departments and divisions should be listed in the departments and divisions section. The school can contain projects for developing learning resources.

The faculties, departments, and divisions are not listed in any particular order or preference.

Faculty of Western Religions

 * Note: These are religions that predominately found in the Western cultures of the world.


 * Division of Islamic Studies
 * The Institute for Islamic Research and Study
 * Department of Qur'anic Studies &mdash; includes topics like
 * Division of Jewish Studies
 * Department of Tanakh Studies &mdash; includes topics like the Torah and the Nevi'im and the Ketuvim
 * Department of Talmudic Studies &mdash; includes topics like the Mishnah and the Gemara
 * Division of Druze Studies

Faculty of Eastern Religions

 * Division of Buddhist Studies
 * Division of Confucian Studies
 * Division of Hindu Studies
 * Division of Jainism Studies
 * Division of Taoist Studies
 * Division of Sikhism Studies
 * Division of Santmat Studies
 * Division of Zoroastrian Studies

Faculty of Historical Religions

 * Note: These are religions that are old.


 * Division of Ancient Egyptian Religion Studies
 * Division of Ancient Greek Religion Studies
 * Division of Ancient Slavic Religion Studies
 * Division of Ancient Celtic Religion Studies
 * Division of Ancient Norse Religion Studies
 * Division of Gnostic Studies

Faculty of New Religions

 * Note: These are religions that have existed less than a thousand years.


 * Division of Ayyavazhi Studies
 * Division of Bahá'í Studies
 * Division of Discordian Studies
 * Division of Meher Baba Studies
 * Division of Scientology Studies
 * Division of Thelemic Studies
 * Division of Theistic Satanism Studies
 * Division of Urantia Studies
 * Division of Wiccan Studies

Faculty of Indigenous Religions

 * Note: These are religions that are old, but dominate only relatively small local cultures and groups.


 * Division of Indigenous African Religion Studies
 * Division of Serer Religion Studies
 * Division of Shinto Studies

Related subjects

 * Division of Peace Studies
 * School of Religious Studies &mdash; the study of religion as a product of society
 * Department of Comparative Religion

Learning resources and projects

 * Nonkilling in Islam
 * Nonkilling in Hinduism
 * Nonkilling in Buddhism
 * Nonkilling in Jainism
 * Nonkilling in Voudou
 * Nonkilling in Humanism

Wikimedia Resources

 * The Bible - several complete versions (KJV, ASE, WEB, ...) of the whole text and another under development
 * The Holy Qur'an - central religious text of Islam
 * The Bhagavad Gita - as it is
 * A Course In Miracles - by Helen Schucman
 * Tao Te Ching - key to Taoism (or Daoism)
 * The Urantia Book - the complete public domain text
 * The Book of the Law - The central text of Thelema
 * many more Ancient and Classical texts at Wikisource...
 * Humanities bookshelf
 * Portal:Religion - (what's the difference?)
 * Scottish Journal of Theology

Active participants
Please see participants.

Things you can do!

 * Clean up Draft:Theology and move it to become a subpage of a supporting main page learning project.
 * Clean up Draft:Universals and move it to become a subpage of a supporting main page learning project.
 * Clean up Draft:What is a human? and move it to become a subpage of a supporting main page learning project.
 * Clean up Faculty sub-listings.

School news

 * 17 June 2004 - School founded!
 * 6 March 2017 - Does God exist?, a WikiDebate, announced on Wikiversity Main Page News!
 * 4 July 2017 - Does everything happen for a sufficient reason?, a WikiDebate, announced on Wikiversity Main Page News!
 * 4 July 2017 - Do humans have free will?, a WikiDebate, announced on Wikiversity Main Page News!
 * 15 October 2017 - Seeking True Beliefs announced on Wikiversity Main Page News!