The University Gets Religion: Religious Studies in American Higher Education

by D.G. Hart

In The University Gets Religious Studies in American Higher Education, historian D. G. Hart examines the rise of religion to its current place as one of the largest academic disciplines in contemporary higher education. Protestant ministers and faculty, arguing for the importance of religion to a truly "liberal" education, were especially influential in staffing departments and designing curricula to reflect their own assumptions about the value of religion not just for higher education but for American culture in general. But the success of mainstream Protestantism in fostering the academic study of religion has become the field's greatest burden. Religion scholars have distanced themselves from traditional Protestant orientations while looking for topics better suited to America's cultural diversity. As a result, religion is in the awkward position of being one of the largest scholarly disciplines while simultaneously lacking a solid academic justification. It may be time, Hart argues, for academics to stop trying to secure a religion-friendly university.

Genres: Academic, Education

336 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 1999

About the author

Darryl G. Hart (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University) directs the honors programs and faculty development at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and serves Westminster Seminary California as adjunct professor of church history. He has written or edited more than fifteen books, including Defending the Faith, a biography of J. Gresham Machen. He is coeditor of the American Reformed Biographies series.

Reviews

[Andrew Tatusko]

This is a good book for anyone interested in the development of the academic study of religion along with discussions of pertinent issues that may face the discipline today. Well researched, but oh so dry. Not a difficult read, but sloooow.

The conclusion is worth a read on its own as Hart traces his argument adeptly before going into other questions.

One thought is that this book was written before 9/11 and so, the question is if the religious climate that clearly changed after this event has given the discipline of religious studies in universities new life and a more solid foundation. Certainly Steven Prothero's and Karen Armstrong's work since then will be part of that foundation for years to come.