Theological degrees in the framework of the Russian legislation and confessional norms

The paper is devoted to the issue of how theological degrees are regulated by Russian law and confessional norms. The study is based on a systematic analysis of federal regulatory and legal acts, internal regulations of Orthodox, Islamic and Protestant religious organisations, local regulatory acts of educational and scientifi c organisations conducting theological scientific attestation, as well as documents and materials of dissertation defences in confessional dissertation councils. The study of the source base allowed to determine the specific features of the theological attestation systems, as well as to identify its similarities with the state system, primarily with the work of educational and scientific organisations, which received the right to independently award the state academic degrees. The requirements for applicants for theological degrees are virtually identical to their state analogues, and in some cases exceed it. Nevertheless, up to the present, serious inequalities remain between the holders of the state academic degrees and theological degrees. The latter are granted limited academic and professional rights, even though the rules and practices for awarding theological degrees are similar in most respects to the state academic attestation.