The return of the Faculty of Theology to the University of Malta : implementing the canonical requirements

Abstract

The time that the Faculty of Theology spent outside the University of Malta, from 1979 to 1988, was more exciting and productive than it had been initially expected. When the Faculty had to leave the University, it was leaving an environment where it had been at home for more than two hundred years. While learning to operate on its own, the Faculty took the opportunity to expand its base by establishing two institutes, as originally advised and eventually approved by the Congregation for Catholic Education. One was the Institute of Religious Studies to develop into a first degree in religious studies the diploma course which the Faculty had already been offering at the University for lay people on a part-time basis in the evening. The other was the Institute of Philosophy and Human Studies to offer courses for a bachelor’s degree in philosophy as a main subject with Mediterranean studies, psychology and sociology as subsidiary subjects. [excerpt]