People and communities are different, and accordingly, communications and faith are expressed in different ways within the church. Practical Theology deals with these varying practical forms of church traditions, such as the ways of communicating, singing, praying and confessing one’s faith. During your studies you will learn to analyse and understand church practices, how people experience church life and what it means to live in a given religious or social context. Studies in Practical Theology are diverse and comprise many interesting areas, such as homiletics, liturgics, pastoral counselling, diaconal work, religious education, church law and church sociology.

The subject area of Practical Theology is one of the specialisation alternatives that students earning their Bachelor’s degree in Theology may choose at the Master’s level. In addition to studies in Practical Theology, you will also take courses according to your career profile (e.g., priest, teacher or researcher) but you will also be able to choose courses according to your own interests. If you choose to study to become a priest, you will not have a minor subject, but will instead have several elective courses within Theology and practical training. If your career profile is teacher, you will study Education and one other teaching subject as your minor subject, whereas the social specialisation line allows you to freely choose between various thematic modules and minor subjects within Åbo Akademi University. Your personal strengths will help you to find the optimal combination of subjects.