Oxford and Rome Programs
Registration for the 2024 Oxford and Rome programs is now open.
- Department of Continuing Education, Oxford University, Theology Summer Program
- Centro Pro Unione Summer School Rome
- Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, Summer School
For a number of years, degree candidates of the GTF have gone to Oxford and Rome to pursue courses, seminars, and workshops relevant and applicable to their graduate studies. In the spring of 1994, the relationships between the Graduate Theological Foundation and Oxford and Rome were elevated to a new and higher level of cooperation. This new relationship between the various programs of these separate and fully independent institutions came into being by virtue of a series of mutual agreements. These agreements are with the University of Oxford Theology Summer School and the GTF as well as between the Centro Pro Unione in Rome and the GTF. The Graduate Theological Foundation degree candidates may take their residency requirements in Oxford or a portion in Rome. This relationship has been created for the purpose of sharing mutual programmatic interests in the areas of ministry education and ecumenical dialogue. This relationship exists to nurture and share interests and activities which specialize in pastoral and theological education for ministry professionals, but it does not imply joint credentialing or infringement upon institutional autonomy as the GTF is the degree-granting institution.
University of Oxford Theology Summer School
Oxford, England
Since 1994, the Graduate Theological Foundation has enjoyed a formal relationship with the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education (OUDCE), the organizing body for the annual Theology Summer School. This relationship allows GTF students to complete part or all of their graduate coursework requirements during the Oxford Theology Summer School. Please contact the Office of the Registrar for information regarding this option.
Complete information about the Oxford Theology Summer School such as arriving in Oxford, accommodations, currency exchange, and much more is made available to students each year in the Joining Notes provided by the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education to all students attending the summer school.
About the Oxford Theology Summer School
Director:
The Revd Canon Angela Tilby
Diocesan Canon at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
Continuing Ministerial Development Advisor,
Diocese of Oxford (UK)
Pastoral Director:
The Revd Canon Dr. Robin Gibbons
Director of Studies for Religion and Theology,
Oxford University Department for Continuing Education
Fellow and Alexander Schmemann Professor of Eastern Christianity,
Graduate Theological Foundation
Over the years, the Graduate Theological Foundation has sent dozens of students to the Oxford Theology Summer School where they earned credits toward their degrees at the GTF. The summer school is hosted on the campus of Christ Church College, one of the 37 colleges and halls that comprise the University of Oxford. Christ Church is home to Christ Church Cathedral and is also one of the largest and most beautiful of all Oxford campuses.
Students attending the Oxford Theology Summer School may attend one or two weeks of the program. Each week is valued at two Units of Study and includes one course in the morning and another in the afternoon. Students of the GTF who would like to earn credit toward a degree are required to write papers for each course they complete. Credits earned through the completion of courses may be applied toward a degree at the Graduate Theological Foundation. Students may also attend the Oxford Theology Summer School to earn GTF credit in fulfillment of the Non-Project Option. (See the Academic Coursework Policy below for details.)
Students may choose “resident” status to stay on-campus and take meals in the Great Hall (dining hall), while others may choose to be “non-resident.” Students enjoy an academically intensive and collegial atmosphere as they study in the mornings and afternoons with Oxford faculty and other distinguished scholars from institutions in the UK. Christ Church is located in the Oxford city center with easy access to parks, the Oxford Botanic Gardens, numerous Oxford colleges, the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford, churches, museums, and historical sites.
Attendance at the Oxford Theology Summer School is particularly relevant for GTF students enrolled in the following degree programs. If you are not enrolled in one of the following degree programs but are interested in attending the Oxford Theology Summer School, contact the Office of the Registrar in order to determine how this educational offering might fit into your degree program curriculum.
About Oxford’s History
With regard to the Oxford Theology Summer School, it might be said that if Canterbury provided the cradle for Anglicanism then Oxford has provided many of the leading intellectuals. During the religious and political ferment of the Reformation, Oxford played a pivotal role in events, witnessing the martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, and Nicholas Ridley. Anglicanism was shaped by Oxford scholars such as Richard Hooker and William Laud, while John Keble, Edward Pusey, and John Henry Newman, in what became called the Oxford Movement, had far-reaching influence in England and beyond.
Oxford has also been home to many of Anglicanism’s best-known missionaries and religions. But until recently, for most non-Anglicans, Oxford’s doors have not been open. In the last few years, the Oxford Theology Summer School has provided a way for people from the world Church to taste and see something of Oxford’s glorious theological tradition.
Academic Coursework Policy
Prior to enrolling in the Oxford Theology Summer School students must contact the Office of the Registrar to confirm the applicability of coursework toward their degree program.
Submission of papers
Papers must be submitted electronically to the Office of the Provost at the Graduate Theological Foundation.
Deadline for submission of papers
Papers must be submitted within 90 days of completing the course or no course credit will be awarded.
Guidelines for Papers
Students must follow these Paper Guidelines.
Centro Pro Unione Summer Course
Rome, Italy
For over 20 years, the Graduate Theological Foundation has enjoyed a formal relationship with the Centro Pro Unione, an ecumenical research and action center in Rome founded by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. This relationship allows GTF students to complete part of their graduate coursework requirements during the Summer Course at the Centro Pro Unione.
Information on the Centro Pro Unione Rome Summer Course may be found here. Applications for the summer course open in the late summer or early fall each year. Students planning to attend the Summer Course in Rome must apply online directly through the Centro Pro Unione.
For more information about the Rome Summer Course, watch this documentary video below produced by the Centro Pro Unione.
Director of the Centro Pro Unione:
The Rev. Dr. James F. Puglisi, SA
Professor of Ecumenical Theology,
Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm (Rome)
Fellow and Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman Professor of Catholic Theology,
Graduate Theological Foundation
Since the establishment of the affiliation with the Centro, the GTF has sent dozens of students to study in the Summer Course. The course has an annual theme of ecumenical and interreligious movements while each of the three weeks also has its own theme. The Centro Pro Unione is located on the famous Piazza Navona in the heart of Rome. Students attend courses and are in residence at the Centro during the Summer Course.
GTF students who have been accepted to attend the Rome Summer Course are advised to notify the Office of the Provost.
Students attending the Summer Course may attend one, two, or all three weeks of the course. Each week is valued at one Unit of Study and includes morning and afternoon lectures with excursions to sites of historical importance such as the Roman catacombs, the Basilica of St. Peter, the synagogue and museum, and the mosque and Islamic center, among others. Students of the GTF who would like to earn credit toward a degree are required to write papers for each week completed at the Centro Pro Unione. Credits earned through the completion of courses may be applied toward a degree at the Graduate Theological Foundation. Students may also attend the Summer Course to earn GTF credit in fulfillment of the Non-Project Option. (See the Academic Coursework Policy below for details.)
About the Centro Pro Unione
The Centro Pro Unione was founded by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement as an ecumenical research and action center. Its purpose is to give space for dialogue, to be a place for study, research, and formation in ecumenism – theological, pastoral, social, and spiritual. The Centro was inaugurated in 1968 and is situated in the heart of Rome in the historic and beautiful palazzo Doria Pamphilj on Piazza Navona. It consists of a major research library of three rooms, a meeting room, and a large conference hall for annual conferences on ecumenism and the summer school program. The Ecumenical Library consists of 13,000 books and pamphlets, 180 periodicals, fully cataloged online with the ALEPH program, and node on the information network URBE (Roman Union of Ecclesiastical Libraries); over 10,000 records of interchurch and interconfessional theological dialogues, both national and international, online and available through the URBE network; studies of the World Council of Churches; major world and regional ecumenical assemblies; confessional liturgy and spirituality; international survey of ecumenical centers; microfilms; and photocopy facilities linked to the Library of the World Council of Churches in Geneva.
Academic Coursework Policy
Submission of papers
- Papers must be submitted electronically to the Office of the Provost at the Graduate Theological Foundation.
Deadline for submission of papers
- Papers must be submitted within 90 days of completing the course or no course credit will be awarded.
Guidelines for Papers
- Students must follow these Paper Guidelines.