Department of Pedagogy of Religion and Culture
The Department of Pedagogy of Religion and Culture reflects the character of our Academy as an institution combining the theological, humanities and social sciences. Moreover, the Laboratory of Pedagogy of Culture operates in the Department.
Teaching and research tasks of our Department include the following substantive issues:
1) pedagogy of religion, pedagogy of culture and humanistic pedagogy as directions in contemporary education sciences;
2) philosophy, theory, history of education and methodology of interpretative educational research;
3) key civilization problems as educational challenges,
4) pedagogical support, mediation and inclusion in the school environment diversified due to the individual predispositions of students as well as cultural and social factors,
5) pedagogy of religion and didactics as a part of the preparation required to perform the profession of a religion teacher.
Our positive feature is the interdisciplinary background of our staff, often supported by professional experience connected with working in schools, pedagogical support institutions or other relevant activities. Thanks to this, in our teaching we try to combine theory with the practice of education, at the same time referring to contemporary scientific discourse.
The Department has been cooperating with institutions in Germany for many years, especially with the Department of Practical Theology and Religious Education at the University of Bonn and the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Freiburg. This cooperation is based on the official partnership agreements concluded with ChAT. Professors from these universities gave lectures at the Academy many times. Individual scientific contacts of the Department’s employees are much wider and they also include other institutions in Poland and abroad.
Head of the Department: Prof. Bogusław Milerski
Our staff
Rev. Prof. Bogusław Milerski
A pedagogist, theologian and a Lutheran priest. A graduate of the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw and the University of Warsaw, holder of the DiakonischesWerk scholarship at the University of Munich. PhD habil. in Humanities within the field of Education and Theological Sciences. He completed postgraduate studies in accounting and corporate finance, has competence in the field of management of higher education institutions. Member of the scientific councils of Polish and German-language journals in the field of pedagogy of religion and theory of education. He coordinates the cooperation of ChAT with German-speaking universities. Author of several monographs and scientific editor of various encyclopedic works. He specializes in the pedagogy of religion, the pedagogy of culture, the theory of education in a multicultural environment, systematic foundations of Protestant theology. In his research, he refers to hermeneutics and critical theory. He developed the hermeneutic theory of religious and cultural education. He was the manager of the NCN OPUS grant of the National Science Centre, Poland: „Rationality of school education in the perspective of cognitive interests of its participants”. He developed the tetragonal concept of the school education rationality. He has been applying this concept to explain various pedagogical, cultural and religious phenomena.
Prof. Agnieszka Piejka
A pedagogist. PhD habil. in Humanities in the field of Education. A graduate of the Faculty of Education of the University of Warsaw. She also obtained a doctoral degree there. Since 2014, she has been associated with the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw. Chairwoman of the Education and Culture Team in the Committee for Futures Studies “Poland 2000 Plus” by the Polish Academy of Sciences Presidium. In the years 2019-2021, she was a member of the Warsaw Branch’s Management Board of the Polish Educational Research Association. Research areas: education for peace, theory of aesthetic education, intercultural pedagogy, general pedagogy. Author and editor of several monographs on the topic of peace and aesthetic education.
Rev. Artur Aleksiejuk, PhD
Orthodox priest, Doctor of Theology in the field of moral theology (2012). A graduate of the Faculty of Mechatronics of the Warsaw University of Technology with a specialization in Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering (1998), the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Warsaw and the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw (1998-2001), scholarship holder of the OstkirchlichesInstitut in Regensburg (2001-2003), a graduate of the Counseling Study of The Association of Christian Psychologists (2013-2015). A member of the International Orthodox Bioethics Committee (2012), Polish Bioethics Society (2017), the National Committee of the World Council of Churches (2013), secretary of the Dialogue Commission of the Polish Ecumenical Council (2022). He conducts Orthodox pastoral counseling (2014) and counseling focused on solutions in systemic help (2018). Author of articles, as well as a coordinator and an executive of research projects in the field of theological anthropology, bioethics, pedagogy of religion (Christian Orthodox) and philosophy of education (neohumanism and idealism of the 19th century).
Elżbieta Bednarz, PhD
A theologian and a pedagogist. Doctor of Theological Sciences (Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw) and PhD in Humanities in the field of Education (The Maria Grzegorzewska University). She deals with contemporary concepts of religious education and the issues of inclusion in education: strategies for educating a student with a disability in a mainstream institution, especially in an individualized didactic process. Additionally, she is employed at the College of Theology and Social Sciences in Warsaw, where she is the Director of the Institute of Pedagogy of Religion with Ethics. She has many years of experience as a teacher, director of a kindergarten and a social school, and director of the Catechetical Service of the Pentecostal Church in the Republic of Poland. She has pedagogical qualifications to work with students with intellectual disabilities as well as in the field of education management. She is an expert in adapting e-resources for students with special educational needs at the Centre for Education Development in Warsaw. She received the second degree award of the Minister of National Education for outstanding achievements in teaching and educational work and the honorary title of Professor of Education by the Minister of National Education.
Joanna Koleff-Pracka, PhD A pedagogist and a theologian. A mediator and a trainer of mediation as well as of communication and intercultural competences. After obtaining a PhD degree from the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw, she got a scholarship at the University of Oldenburg. At the Faculty, she conducts classes in mediation, counseling and practical contexts of education in multicultural, family and school environments. She also works as a teacher and vice-director of the MikołajRej Private Primary School in Kraków. She is also the director of The Mediation and Counseling Centre of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland. At school, she implements her original concept of working with the family in a systemic and multicultural perspective. She is the author of intercultural school projects organized in cooperation with The Center for Citizenship Education, the Ministry of Culture, the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe, German-Polish Youth Office. In addition to mediation practice, she deals with the implementation of mediation procedures in school institutions, creating training programs in the field of constructive communication and alternative dispute resolution methods. She cooperates with mediation centers in Poland and Germany, creating international training projects
Elżbieta Byrtek, MA
A theologian and a pedagogist. She studied Theology and Education at the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw, as well as religious pedagogy at the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Bonn. Since 2012, she has been a consultant for students with disabilities in our Academy. In this area, she completed numerous courses and trainings. She works as a religion teacher within the school system. Since 1999, she has been a member of the team for programs and textbooks for teaching evangelical religion and, at the same time, she co-authored program documents and teaching materials. She is the chairwoman of the Christian Education Commission of the Polish Ecumenical Council. Since 2010, she has been a member of the International Network for Research and Development of Confirmation and Christian Youth Work. Within this team she co-conducts educational research on confirmees.
