PARADIGMATIC CHANGE OF CATHOLIC THEOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY IN THE LIGHT OF A CASE STUDY

Studies of religion have changed rapidly since the late 1990s. From a sociohistorical perspective of institutional change analysis, this article summaries the situation in three sections : firstly, the withdrawal of theology in homogeneous initiatory institutions; the expansion of scientific interest in the religious; the transition from pastoral to spiritual. Four other sections analyze the changes that the Faculty of Theology of the Universite de Montreal has been going through since the 1960s. These changes constitute the barometer of three major interrelated phenomena : the profound transformation of cultures in relation to religion, the clericalization of Catholic theology, and a shaking up of great classical university models. A new paradigm ofcritical theology in public universities is proposed here.