The Faculty of Theology in Paderborn is Westphalia's oldest university institution, founded by Prince-Bishop Dietrich the Fourth of Fürstenberg on 10th September 1614. Its status as a university with faculties of philosophy and theology was twice confirmed: firstly by Pope Paul the Second, who graduated 'In supereminenti' on the 2nd April 1615, and again by Emperor Matthias the Second, whose graduation took place on the 14th December 1615, whereby both faculties were granted the right to award doctorate degrees. The King of Prussia's attempt, on 18th October 1818, to pass a decree which would have resulted in the revocation of this right was ultimately unsuccessful and was itself explicitly rescinded on 16th April 1836, at the behest of the highest spiritual orders. The university has been known as the 'Academy of Philosophy and Theology' since the 16th March 1917. The university's status as a Faculty of Theology and its legal right to confer academic degrees was reconfirmed by Pope Paul the Sixth through a religious edict on 11th June 1966. The relevant bureaucratic records of this event date from 14th October 1966.

The above-mentioned mandates, some stretching back across the centuries, continue to enable today's students at the Faculty of Theology in Paderborn to become licensed priests, gain their doctorates and qualify as university lecturers in catholic theology as well as following the usual five-year course of study. A further degree in welfare science, affiliated to Caritas, the Catholic Welfare Organisation, was introduced in the winter semester of 1999-2000. The Faculty of Theology is a state-recognised university with the same standing as every other theological university faculty in the country, this confirmed in the corresponding federal legislation.

Many significant theological works are located in Paderborn's Archiepiscopal Academic Library, which is located within the Faculty of Theology. The library's stock of books exceeds 300,000 volumes, and includes 750 incunabula, 1,100 manuscripts and 3,300 original documents dating from the 12th to the 18th centuries. The library also houses special collections of works on catholic theology, the history of the dioceses of Paderborn and Westphalia and hagiography.