Buitendag, Johan2020-01-242020-01-242019-06-18Buitendag, J., 2019, ‘What is so theological about a faculty of theology at a public university? Athens – Berlin– Pretoria’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 75(4), a5488. https://DOI.org/10.4102/hts.v75i4.5488.0259-9422 (print)2072-8050 (online)10.4102/hts.v75i4.5488http://hdl.handle.net/2263/72911This research is part of the project, ‘University, Education and Theology’, directed by Prof. Dr Johan Buitendag, Department of Historical and Systematic Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria.In this article, the author engages with the question ‘what is so theological about theological education?’, which he calls a genealogy of theology. This matter is approached from a very specific vantage point as the author was the former dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and has engaged in this research project over the past 5 years, as the Faculty was under severe review as to its composition, and ultimately its very future. This article endeavours to bring to the surface the underlying theology of the author and the paradigm he is operating from. It concludes with a definition of theology as he sees it, but with the explicit qualification of it being situated at a researchintensive university competing for a notable position on the ranking indexes of world universities. A new niche is thus opening up for theology (vis-à-vis a seminary or even a Christian university), namely, a ‘scholarly endeavour of believers in the public sphere in order to inquire into a multi-dimensional reality in a manner that matters’.en© 2019. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.Theological educationMetarealityCritical realismSocietyFaith communitiesEcodomyTransformationDecolonisationLuhmannBhaskarQS World Ranking of UniversitiesUniversity of Pretoria (UP)Jurgen Moltmann (1926- )Theology articles SDG-01SDG-01: No povertyTheology articles SDG-04SDG-04: Quality educationTheology articles SDG-10SDG-10: Reduced inequalitiesTheology articles SDG-16SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutionsTheology articles SDG-17SDG-17: Partnerships for the goalsArticle