Prestigious award at the Protestant Theological Faculty

On the anniversary of two significant days of Czechoslovak history, 17 November 1939 and 1989, Professor Filip Čapek from the Old Testament Department received the Arnošt of Pardubice Award for outstanding contribution to the quality of educational activities and long-term innovative and conceptually developed pedagogical efforts in the field of biblical studies, from the Rector of Charles University Milena Králíčková in the large auditorium of the Karolinum. Professor Čapek has long been involved in international research on ancient archaeological sites in present-day Israel. He also takes Charles University students with him every year on his field excavations.

One of his outstanding achievements was his organisation of a semester-long online international course called “An International Seminar on Jerusalem in Archaeology and in the Old Testament”, during which leading global specialists in the field of biblical archaeology and related topics lectured students from the Charles University and universities of Tel Aviv, Heidelberg, Tubingen and Zurich. The next edition of the seminar will be held again this academic year.

“The award belongs not only to me, but to the entire faculty and our department. I see it as a token of recognition of the work I have been dealing with very intensely for the past 12 years,” said professor Čapek for the Charles University Forum magazine.

In January 2023, Jindřich Halama received a gold medal for his significant lifelong contribution to the development of science in the field of theology and ethics and for his many years of teaching at the Charles University. Associate professor Halama is a distinguished academic who focuses his scientific interest and professional activity on the field of theological ethics. His publications have been a great contribution to the discourse in the field, and his broad insight and the quality of his work have earned him respect in the field as well as international renown. He is a member of the disciplinary boards of doctoral study programmes of several faculties of the Charles University. 

Between 2003 and 2019, he was head of the Department of Theological Ethics of the PTF CU. He took part in establishing and building the Department of Social Work and served as its head for many years. He also worked as the Vice Dean for Study Affairs and Vice Dean for several periods, and between 2010 and 2014, he led the faculty as its Dean. The Gold Medal of the Charles University therefore also serves as a recognition of Mr Halama’s merits in the long-term shaping of academic life at the university. 

“I teach students to ask the right questions and find the ‘least-wrong’ solution,” Jindřich Halama commented on his work in an interview for the Czech Radio.