The Decline of the Secular University

Sommerville argues that a secular world view is propagated not just through American higher education, but public education, the media, and the courts despite their professed commitment to neutrality. The triumph of postmodern multiculturalism and the demise of Western Civilization courses, he says, have left students unable to make sense of the world in which they live. Moreover the secular university, again despite professed neutrality, demonstrates the most condescending type of moralizing without nurturing ethical reflection. Sommerville considers how religiously-informed scholarship might enrich various academic disciplines. He examines the market forces that have created what he calls the post-secularist university but may also have opened the door for theologians to challenge the prevailing nihilism. Finally, he invites the reader to imagine a university where religion is not ruled out but rather welcomed at least as one legitimate voice among others. Sommervilles bracing and provocative argument is sure to provoke controversy and stimulate discussion both inside and outside the academy.

About the Author :
C. John Sommerville is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Florida. A Member of the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton and Senior Fellow at Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions, he also recently contributed to the Pew Younger Scholars' Mentoring Program. He is the author of several books, including The Secularization of Early Modern England: From Religious Culture to Religious Faith, The News Revolution in England: Cultural Dynamics of Daily Information, and The Rise and Fall of Childhood.

Review :
"This intelligent work is essential reading for all who share concern about the quality of higher education and teh secular eroding of its intended purposes."--Journal of Dispensational Theology "Everyone who cares about the quality of higher education should read this book. It presents the best case I have seen for why the dogged secularism of many universities is undermining the announced purposes of higher education. Secularists may dismiss Sommerville's most telling observations, but they will find them difficult to counter."--George Marsden, author of The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief and Jonathan Edwards: A Life "Sommerville's arguments will threaten and infuriate many, but his challenge deserves to be engaged. Many secular, particularly state, universities suffer from a hollowness or duplicity at their core, which ultimately undercuts their intellectual mission. Many within who embrace thicker worldviews simply work around that hollowness and duplicity. Sommerville here takes it all head-on, with a case portending deep transformations of higher education in decades ahead."--Christian Smith, author of Moral, Believing Animals: Human Personhood and Culture "John Sommerville's intelligent assessment of the contemporary American research university is part jeremiad, part careful history, part insightful current events, part trenchant criticism, part hopeful dreaming. Particularly in his brief against the mindless drift of secularism and for a thoughtful correction by religious conviction, Sommerville offers sage wisdom that all who value the life of the mind should take seriously indeed."--Mark Noll, author of America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln "Universities should really matter. John Sommerville explains why they matter less and less - and how they could again matter by taking up the questions that really matter. "--(The Rev.) Richard John Neuhaus, editor in chief of First Things "John Sommerville has written a valuable book that calls universities to task for their narrowness in addressing the big questions of what it means to be human, how to understand history, and what to think about difficult moral issues. He suggests as one possibility that academics reconsider the role of religion. This will strike many as a novel idea. They are the ones who especially need to read this book."--Robert Wuthnow, author of American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to Be a Better Nation Fall Short "Brief, hard-hitting, and often brilliant, this treatise builds the controversial argument that secular universities in America have neglected religion at their peril."--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Recommended for anyone interested in the relationship between religion and higher education." --Journal of Education and Christian Belief "The study is an important contribution toward redefining the idea of a university or at least recalling what a university could--and should--be."--"Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies