religion

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been sharing my reflections on Anthony Kronman’s 2007 book Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life. While I believe that his core argument is insightful, it’s marred by a few blind spots. Originally, I was going to address Kronman’s treatement of religion as one of his blind spots, but I’ve decided that his handling of religion is so problematic — and so harmful to his case — that it deserves its own post.

Here’s a brief summary of the points that I want to make in this post. Kronman deeply misunderstands religion, both historically and in its varied contemporary expressions. Out of his misunderstanding, he needlessly maligns religious believers of all stripes. As a result, he cuts himself off from a large pool of potential allies to his cause.

Kronman’s historical misunderstanding of religion

One reason for the rise of secular humanism, according to Kronman, was “the challenge posed by the weakening of religious belief as a starting point in higher education.”

Teachers in the antebellum college had an answer to the question of life’s meaning. Their confidence in the answer was anchored in a shared religious faith. By 1880, that faith could no longer be taken for granted. There were, of course, many who still believed in God, just as there were many who now doubted His existence and viewed religion with suspicion or contempt. But between these two camps, of believers and skeptics, little common ground remained. (80-81)

Kronman confuses two very different things in this brief passage. “Religion as a starting point in higher education” does not mean that “teachers…had an answer to the question of life’s meaning…anchored in a shared religious faith.” Pre-Civil War America was religiously diverse, yet Kronman lumps together all forms of belief as merely “belief in God” as opposed to “skepticism.” Perhaps some degree of “shared religious belief” at a very basic level was held by Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Quakers, and other “traditional” Christian denominations…but what about Deists, Unitarians, Transcendentalists, Swedenborgians, Spiritualists, Shakers, or Latter Day Saints? Pre-Civil War America produced a remarkable number of new religious movements – Upstate New York alone became famous for the number of new religious movements born there. These various denominations, philosophies, and religious movements influenced higher education to different degrees, but it’s an error to summarize pre-1880 American intellectual and academic life as characterized by “shared religious faith.” [Read more…] about Religion, Education, and the Meaning of Life