Until Theodore Herzl created the modern Zionist movement early in the 20th century, the biblical injunction to return to Israel was widely understood as a theological construct rather than a pragmatic instruction.
Although the school did offer a variety of topics: Latin, Greek, Hebrew, logic, history (both church and philosophy) and geography, the primary use of this instruction was in preparation for further theological study at the university.
A wildly diverse compendium of poems, chants, myths, gospels, pagan documents, and spiritual instructions, the texts are distinct evidence of fierce theological debate and of an alternative tradition within early Christianity — a kind of mystical variant, much like the Zen tradition in Buddhism, Kabbalah in Judaism, Sufism in Islam.
Among other works attributed to John are theological writings relative to Trinitarian doctrinal controversy, the "Catechetical Discourse," and instructions for religious initiation, the "Mystagogia".
While Bormann's push to force the closure of theological departments at Reich universities was unsuccessful, he was able to reduce the amount of religious instruction provided in public schools to two hours per week and mandated the removal of crucifixes from classrooms.
There is an Institute of Coptic Studies in Cairo, a theological college connected with the institute, and a Coptic museum; the teaching of the Coptic Orthodox Church has even become the basis of the syllabus used in the religious instruction of Christian children in government schools.
Anderson was opposed to all forms of religious instruction and interference in educational practice, but he occasionally shocked his students with a quasi-theological appreciation of the existence of evil in the world.
In Chile, the Real Universidad de San Felipe, created in 1759 by instruction of Felipe V de Borbón, was almost the only cultural center in the country at that time, albeit largely devoted to theological and philosophical teaching.
