A Future for Theological Education in Religious Studies?

Abstract

My contention in this paper is that both religious studies programs or departments in universities and separate theological colleges can be academically enriched by having systematic and historical theology taught in both contexts. Early attempts to keep ‘‘religion’’ in university courses untainted by ‘‘theology’’ have failed. In my view, it is better to teach theology consciously, comparatively, and self-critically than covertly, one-sidedly, and archaically. Also, theological seminaries can only benefit from insights into theological topics and disciplines generated by their treatment in the more broadly multi-disciplinary and less sectarian ambience of university-based research. If theological thinking is an important component in the history of a religious tradition, that tradition cannot fairly be taught without including this part of it. Yet those of us who pioneered in establishing departments of religion or religious studies fifty years ago generally played down this element in our own education. We were struggling to differentiate fully accredited university courses on religious issues from offshoots of campus ministries, especially in colleges which had until very recently required students to take sometimes pass/fail courses on Christian apologetics under the rubric of ‘‘Religious Knowledge.’’ Since many of us had taken different undergraduate majors, then been trained professionally in divinity schools and ordained, we had to convince skeptics that we were not just there as advocates or propagandists for our own traditional forms of theism. 2 Part of the push to establish new undergraduate departments came from religious alumni/ae concerned with the secular, linguistic turn being taken by younger members of philosophy departments, which previously had allowed courses on metaphysics with theological content. English departments, honouring Northrop Frye on ‘‘The Bible as Literature,’’ were happy to have that taught by biblical scholars. Because of the Korean War, there was revived interest in courses on ‘‘Asian religions.’’ Consequently, typical tripartite programs on ‘‘religion’’ evolved consisting of courses on the Bible, on non-Christian religions, and on problems and theories concerning religious topics. Since there were fewer specialists than openings, many of us had to teach sections of