The decline of the secular university / C. John Sommerville.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sommerville, C. John (Charles John), 1938-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church and college--United States.

Church and college.

Universities and colleges--United States--Religion.

Universities and colleges.

Physical Description:

viii, 147 p.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Summary:

The American university has embraced a thorough secularism that makes it increasingly marginal in a society that is characterized by high levels of religious belief. The very secularization that was supposed to be a liberating influence has resulted in the university's failure to provide leadership in political, cultural, social, and even scientific arenas. In The Decline of the Secular University, C. John Sommerville explores several different ways in which the secular university fails in its mission through its trivialization of religion. He notes how little attention is being given to defining the human, so crucial in all aspects of professional education. He alerts us to problems associated with the prevailing secular distinction between "facts" and "values." He reviews how the elimination of religion hampers the university from understanding our post-Cold War world. Sommerville then shows how a greater awareness of the intellectual resources of religion might stimulate more forthright attention to important matters like our loss of a sense of history, how to problematize secularism, the issue of judging religions, the oddity of academic moralizing, and the strangeness of science at the frontiers. Finally, he invites the reader to imagine a university where religion is not ruled out but rather welcomed as a legitimate voice among others. Sommerville's bracing and provocative arguments are sure to provoke controversy and stimulate discussion both inside and outside the academy.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

1 The Marginalization of Our Universities

2 Trouble Defining the Human

3 Trouble Maintaining the Fact/Value Dichotomy

4 Trouble Eliminating Religion

5 Trouble Judging Religions

6 Science Gets Strange

7 Teaching about Secularism, or Teaching Secularism?

8 Losing a Sense of History

9 Moralizing as a Bad Habit

10 How Religious Scholars Could Contribute

11 Postsecularism and the University

12 A Vision of the Future

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

V

W.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0199774846

9780199774845

OCLC:

705930686