We would like to sincerely congratulate Fedir Raychynets, UETS faculty member and Director of the Transformational Leadership Master’s Degree Program, on successfully defending his doctoral dissertation and attaining the Doctor of Philosophy degree from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Fedir’s thesis, Revolution and Ukrainian Evangelical Churches: The Use of Romans 13 in the Course of the Revolution of Dignity, examines how Ukrainian Evangelical churches interpreted Romans 13 during a period of national upheaval.
By tracing the churches’ changing responses and their practical application of Scripture, the study provides valuable insights into the interplay between faith, biblical interpretation, and engagement in public life.
The successful defense of Fedir Raychynets’s dissertation is an important contribution to the development of public theology in Ukraine and a significant accomplishment for the UETS community.
Over the past decade, UETS has undergone a remarkable academic transformation. In previous decades, theology was only starting to develop in Ukraine, and there were very few scholars who had advanced academic degrees. Seminaries mostly relied on visiting scholars from abroad.
As valuable as the contribution of the visiting theologians has always been, UETS has decided to step on a more challenging path of cultivating its own scholars and researchers, who would be rooted in the Ukrainian context. This has become a long-term commitment for UETS, which requires vision, perseverance, and significant investment.
Today, almost all key faculty members at UETS have doctoral degrees and, despite the challenges of the full-scale war, are actively participating in the global academic community while contributing to the development of local ministers.
The new levels of academic excellence that UETS has achieved has resulted in the institution obtaining state licensing, which has become a historic step for theological education in Ukraine and opened new ministry opportunities. At the same time, this has become a significant step towards bringing the Gospel into the public sphere in Ukraine.
We are grateful to have faculty members like Fedir Raychynets who contribute to this through their academic excellence, profound theological reflection, thoughtful engagement with society, culture, and contemporary challenges, and, of course, their dedication to ministering to the Church.
On behalf of the UETS community, we congratulate Dr. Fedir Raichynets on this remarkable accomplishment. May God continue to bless him with wisdom, strength, and fruitfulness in his academic work, public engagement, and ministry to the Church.