Talk:Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject University of Oxford, which collaborates on articles related to the University of Oxford.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the assessment scale.
High	This article is on a subject of high importance within University of Oxford.
Help with this template This article has been rated but has no comments. If appropriate, please review the article and leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.

[edit] Inclusion

I do happen to agree that the article is not yet very good; is indeed not yet conformed to encyclopedia format. However, I do also agree that it would be worth including an article about the Oxford Theology Faculty, since all the Oxford colleges and PPHs have articles, as does the university itself. The Oxford faculties are arguably more important than the colleges, particularly as graduate teaching and research is conducted more on a faculty level than on a college basis.

The theology faculty at Oxford is, I think undisputedly, one of the most important centres of theology in the world, ranking with academies such as Tübingen in Germany and Notre Dame in the USA. Oxford theologians have been involved in many of the great events in the history of Christianity such as the Reformation, the Oxford Movement, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, to pick just three examples (the names of Peter Martyr Vermigli, Edward Pusey, and Geza Vermes, respectively, occur to me). This continues to be the case today. Geza Vermes, for example, though now retired, surely ranks as one of the truly world class scholars of his generation (so much so that I hesitate to suggest who, apart from Henry Chadwick, might be considered his peer). Theology, along with philosophy, classics, history, and international relations, is one of the areas in which Oxford is an undoubted world leader.

As an academic phenomenon, the Oxford theology faculty is at least as important as the individual colleges and - dare one suggest? - at least as important as some universities with Wikipedia articles. That said, the article needs drastic improvement!