Theories of the missionary vocation of theological education in post-soviet Protestantism

Urgency of the research. Ukrainian post-soviet Protestant theology has become a source of progressive discussions about the state and prospects of religious education. Firstly, numerous changes in the formal side of education quickly revealed worldview problems. Secondly, the emergence of discussions about the meaning of theological education quickly led to a change in an insight into of education, upbringing, mission, church, seminary, and Christian universities. Radical worldview changes require a systematic analysis of the processes of emergence and development of theories about the missionary vocation of theological education in post-soviet Protestantism.

Target setting. Highlighting the missionary vocation as the main task for all Christians has radically transformed the idea of the tasks and prospects of spiritual education. The vision of the church not as a hierarchical structure and not as a spiritual reality, which is manifested in fully autonomous communities, but as a network of communication and union of communities has changed the perception of education and the desired models of seminar teaching.

Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. The question of the development of Protestant theological education to date has been analyzed by scholars only from the perspective of studying formal transformations. The most important were the works of V. Khromets and V. Chaplynsky. There is a lack of analysis of discussions about the content of Protestant theological education, its value significance, semantic intentions, practical significance.

The research objective. The aim of the study is a comprehensive analysis of theories about the missionary vocation of spiritual education in post-soviet Protestantism with special attention to discussions in the Ukrainian Protestant environment, in the national community of theologians. The study analyzes the transition from Protestant discussions about forms of spiritual education to discuss the content and general direction of such education.

The statement of basic materials. It is emphasized that the involvement of missionary theology in the discussion of ways to develop spiritual education allowed post-soviet Protestantism to successfully overcome differences in the vision of the formal construction of education, and then move on to discussions about its content. There was a gradual overcoming of modern individualism, the growing role of communities, the replacement of monologue models of mission with dialogical ones. The idea of the seminary as a community that is not self-sufficient, but serves the church as a community, has gained general recognition. The church also came to be understood as serving an eschatological ideal community similar to the Trinity community. The formation of community and dialogical models of missionary and educational activity allows Ukrainian Protestantism to effectively adapt to the realities of the beginning of the 21st century and to be proactive in today's society.

Conclusions. The national community of Protestant theologians formed in previous years has reached its completion and maturity in its relations with the churches and the secular scientific and educational environment. This community has formed many theories of missionary service of spiritual education, which are based on the theological methodology of the beginning of the 21st century, especially on the theory of the kingdom of God, the church and the seminary as varieties of spiritual community.

Keywords: theological education, forms of theological education, the content of theological education, missionary theology, the social vocation of theology, theories of church and scientific-educational communities.

 

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