New Online Guide Provides Background on Rise of Religion on College Campuses

The Guide is Religious Engagement Among American Undergraduates.

How to make sense of the plethora of faith communities on today's college campuses? With support from the Teagle Foundation, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has published a guide, which was derived from a series of essays it commissioned from leading authorities in the field of religion and American higher education, as well as from a review of current scholarship.

"Many faculty had simply assumed that religion would gradually fade away with secularization, but reality belies this assumption," explained Craig Calhoun, president of the SSRC and also a project participant. "Increasing numbers of students are insisting that religion belongs in the public square, and many American colleges and universities are unprepared to deal with this. In some cases, the extra-curricular mechanisms are in place, but there is hardly any space for religion in traditional scholarly disciplines. Rather, it tends to be segmented off into specialized areas of study."

"In the Teagle Foundation's work with colleges and universities, we keep finding that understanding students' engagement with the 'big questions' and with religion and spirituality is essential for effective teaching in a wide range of courses and settings," said W. Robert Connor, president of the Teagle Foundation. "This guide was designed to provide the help college teachers need in this important but very sensitive area."

The guide presents the perspectives of leading thinkers such as Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College; journalist Diane Winston, who has co-edited a major work on religion in urban centers; and Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow, an authority on religious diversity. Consisting of eight sections and opening with a preface by Calhoun, it examines basic questions such as whether or not the college experience affects students' religious beliefs and how religion should be incorporated into the college curriculum. It also addresses the current situation on college campuses: How do Evangelical students engage with college life? How open can professors be about their own religious beliefs? Finally, it provides some much-needed historical perspective, tracing the origins of America's many religious colleges. Designed to be read online, the guide also features an annotated bibliography with links to key references.