The American University in a Postsecular Age: Religion and the Academy

For much of the twentieth century, it was assumed that higher education was and ought to be a secular enterprise, but that approach no longer suffices. The culture has shifted, and contemporary college and university students are increasingly bringing religious and spiritual questions to campus. In response, college and university leaders are exploring anew the relationship between religion and higher education. The American University in a Postsecular Age grapples with key questions: --How religious or irreligious are faculty and students today? What level of religious literacy should be expected from students? --Can religion be allowed into the classroom without being disruptive? --Should colleges and universities help students reflect on their own faith? --Is religion antithetical to critical inquiry? --Can religion have a positive role to play in higher education? This is a state-of-the-art introduction to the national discussion about religion and higher education. Leading scholars and top educators express a wide spectrum of opinions that reflect the best current thinking. Introductory and concluding essays by the editors describe the postsecular character of our age and propose a comprehensive framework intended to facilitate ongoing conversation.

Table of Contents:
1: Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen: Postsecular America: A New Context for Higher Education Section One: Religion, Institutions, and Faculty Roles 2: Neil Gross and Solon Simmons: The Religious Convictions of College and University Professors 3: Robert Wuthnow: Can Faith Be More Than a Side Show in the Contemporary Academy? 4: Mark U. Edwards, Jr.: Why Faculty Find It Difficult to Talk about Religion 5: R. Eugene Rice: Faculty Priorities: Where Does Faith Fit? 6: Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen: The Ideals and Diversity of Church-Related Higher Education 7: John J. DiIulio, Jr.: A Level Playing Field for Religion in Higher Education Section Two: Religion, the Curriculum, and Student Learning 8: Larry A. Braskamp: The Religious and Spiritual Journeys of College Students 9: Robert J. Nash and DeMethra LaSha Bradley: The Different Spiritualities of the Students We Teach 10: Elizabeth J. Tisdell: Spirituality, Diversity, and Learner-Centered Teaching: A Generative Paradox 11: Warren A. Nord: Taking Religion Seriously in Public Universities 12: Amanda Porterfield: Religious Pluralism, the Study of Religion, and Postsecular Culture 13: Lee S. Shulman: Professing Understanding and Professing Faith: The Midrashic Imperative 14: Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen: Talking about Religion: A Framework for Academic Conversation

About the Author :
Douglas Jacobsen is Distinguished Professor of Church History and Theology and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen is Director of Faculty Development and Professor of Psychology at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. They are co-authors of Scholarship and Christian Faith: Enlarging the Conversation (Oxford University Press, 2004) and have led workshops and seminars on religion and higher education at colleges and universities across the nation.

Review :
"This timely and wide-ranging collection of essays provides an invaluable introduction to ongoing conversations about the place of religion in undergraduate education. If, as the editors contend, we are on the cusp of a 'postsecular' era, then I can think of no better guide to the shifting academic terrain." --Carol Geary Schneider, President of the Association of American Colleges and Universities "This timely and wide-ranging collection of essays provides an invaluable introduction to ongoing conversations about the place of religion in undergraduate education. If, as the editors contend, we are on the cusp of a 'postsecular' era, then I can think of no better guide to the shifting academic terrain." --Carol Geary Schneider, President of the Association of American Colleges and Universities "This collection of essays engenders admiration for the freshly renovated parlor in which faith and reason, religion and science may converse. It accentuates the 'stimulating cultural mosaic' which has fostered recent openness to and tolerance of religious discourse in higher education...A hopeful volume underscoring the fact that religion and spirituality are not dead on arrival at college, but alive and bursting with hope." --Teaching Theology and Religion