The University Gets Religion: Religious Studies in American Higher Education

In The University Gets Religion: 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 were especially influential in arguing for the importance of religion to a truly "liberal" education, staffing departments and designing curricula to reflect their own Protestant assumptions about the value of religion not just for higher education but for American culture in general. Though many educators originally found religion too sectarian and unscientific for colleges and universities, religious studies nevertheless emerged after World War II as a crucial element of a liberal education.

But the success of mainstream Protestantism in fostering the academic study of religion has become the field's greatest burden. Over the last twenty-five years, 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.

The first sustained history of the academic study of religion at American universities, The University Gets Religion: Religious Studies in American Higher Education is a timely book that explores the present-day implications of religious studies' Protestant past. (From the Publisher)