Teaching Theology: Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Challenges in the Context of the Recent Magisterium

Abstract

This paper examines certain interdisciplinary and intercultural challenges posed by the recent Ecclesial Magisterium to the teaching of theology at the university level. It highlights how recent socio-cultural transformations—linked to the predominance of technoscience, the environmental crisis, and struggles for global hegemony—have called into question the disciplinary status of theology. In response to this context, the ecclesiastical magisterium, particularly since the Second Vatican Council and the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis gaudium, has promoted a profound pedagogical renewal of undergraduate and graduate studies in theology. This shift has entailed moving from an apologetic and scholasticist model toward an interdisciplinary approach attentive to dialogue with the contemporary world and to the discernment of the signs of the times. Veritatis gaudium has sought to integrate a multiplicity of disciplinary perspectives and the inculturation of the Gospel in a way that enables ecclesiastical studies at the university level to function as a “cultural laboratory,” fostering “learning by doing” and the collective, progressive, and critical construction of theological knowledge. Four guiding criteria are established for this renewal: the centrality of the Kerygma, the promotion of a culture of dialogue, the recognition of the unity of knowledge within the diversity of disciplines, and the fostering of networks and synergies. The ultimate aim is to transform theological education so that the Church may engage in inculturated evangelization, social justice, integral ecology, and intercultural dialogue.