Is "Religious Studies" sexy?

The fact that the USA counts as a single country, makes you feel that all travel within it is somehow ‘domestic’. So. last week, I blithely hopped over to the East coast – a journey which took, and felt, as long as going from London to New York (and cost about as much).

The first reason for going was to talk at a conference-cum-workshop at Yale (at the Divinity School in the picture) for Religious Studies graduate students from Yale, Harvard and Brown. This proved a bit of an eye-opener.

I might as well admit that I operate with a pretty old-fashioned stereotype of students doing Religious Studies. I know there are bound to be exceptions, but I do tend to assume that, nice and clever as they are, they’ll be pretty straight. And probably religious as well as in Religious Studies (in much the same way as it’s generally gays that do gay history, women that do women’s history, and so on).

These students were a very bright and talkative bunch, and I had a good time banging on about the Roman ritual of Triumph (once my book on the Triumph comes out in October, the subject will be off-limits…so I’m making the most of these final months). And their comments were spot on. But to all outward appearances, they ran to Religious-Studies type. That is to say, they were rather better scrubbed and tweed-jacketed than the average doctoral student.

Or so I thought until the time came, after an excellent dinner, when they went round the table and explained one by one what they worked on.

I had confidently predicted to myself that there would be a string of thesis topics along the lines of  “Some theological problems in the Gospel of  Mark” or “Christology in John”. I could hardly have been more wrong. One after another, these nice respectable-looking students came out with “Sex in the Acts”, “Gender politics and martyrdom”, “Surveillance in the New Testament”, “Cultural identity in the Talmud”, and so on. Not Religious Studies as I imagine it to be.

Is this the USA? Have I got terribly out of touch with what goes on under the banner of Theology in my own university? Or would I come to feel a bit nostalgic for a bit of old-fashioned Religious Studies? Is this what Ruth Gledhill has been telling us all the time?

Actually this wasn’t the only thing that enticed me across the continent. I was also keen to meet the people who were publishing my Triumph book at Harvard University Press. I’ve been dealing with them really closely over the last few months – in what seems like almost constant e-mail conversation with the manuscript editor and others. But most of he people I had never actually met in the flesh. So I went through Cambridge (Mass.) for a night, where they took me out to a great dinner (and where, I have to say in child-like enthusiasm, I stayed in a hotel that allowed you to watch television in the bath/shower, with a screen miraculously embedded in the bathroom mirror!)

There was something strangely exciting about this -- with all that paradoxical buzz of meeting long-term friends for the first time, if you see what I mean. But it also made the book seem real like never before, as they talked about reviews, publicity, dust-jackets and the rest.

And all the more so, when I checked on the Harvard website – and saw it there, as if it already existed, even down to the price (a snip, I should say!). If I fell under the proverbial bus, I reflected, it would now come out anyway. Sorry about the self-advertisement, but do click here.

Comments

[KathyC]

All i know is i went to a catholic private school, and it was the best times of my life. I dont know if the people were more sexy or not, but i was definitely attracted to more people there than in public school. So in result maybe people are sexier that study religion.

[paul potts]

I'd have thought that Mr St John would have better things to do than warding off paedophiles, clerical or otherwise. But perhaps not. Another Commandment might be, "Don't smear the world with your own distress."

[paul potts]

How many students of theology are actully female? Just asking.

Paul

[Tony Francis]

Dear Mr. St. John, I find your Ten Commandments interesting. Very interesting, considering you have previously posted that you find "Paris Hilton to be the most fortuitous woman in the United States", and "an admirable exemplar for all of us to imitate." Does this include posting, on-line sex videos? (See Peter Stothard June 9, 2007, "I'm a Green Sheep..."

[Anthony St. John]

The Ten “Commandments”
for Warding Off
Paedophilic Priests

I.
Have an affair with your Mother Superior.
II.
Wear a chastity belt to catechism class.
III.
Bring a rabbi with you to the rectory.
IV.
Wear a med bracelet with AIDS CARRIER written on it.
V.
Check to see if the sliding window in your local confessional is not broken.
VI.
Hang out with nuns.
VII.
If you are an altar boy, wear your cassock backwards.
VIII.
Do not volunteer to clean the sacristy after school.
IX.
Do not go skinny-dipping in the CYO water hole.
X.
Stay under the covers when you are administered the last rites.

[Emanuel Appel]

a letter from America

Dear Eileen,

"Moslems" or "the Moslems" is standard English. Using the other spelling simply indicates someone who's pedantic or a sycophant.

Frontpage Magazine is exactly that. What is a "pseudo -forum"? Something you can't contribute to?

[Tony Francis]

The site frontpage.com, mentioned by Mr. Appel has several good discussions. If we are to believe the Encyclopaedia Britannica, circa 1953, there has been a war going on within Islam since about 1600, or so. That was the time that intellectuals sought to rectify and modify various beliefs within traditional Islam to those of the west. It is a battle which continues to this day. In fact, the conflict is with the west, and amongst Moslems, themselves. Various teachings of, and about Jesus are based on the Nestorian heresy, which was prevalent in Syria during the formation of Islam. These beliefs have been modified in the last century, or so, in some sects. An excellent text on the subject is Marcia Colish's "Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Foundation 400-1400", Yale U. Press, 1997. This book appears to be taken from the notes of a professor who taught the subject for 50 years (at Hunter College, I think). It covers Sunni'ism, Shii'ism, Sufi'ism, the Mahdi's, the three questions of Islam, etc. Other useful texts are: J. L. Merrick: "The Life and of Mohammed", 1850 (traditional Shi'ite interpretation); G. Weil: "Muhammed der Prophet", Stuttgart, 1843, (which is said to be without religious bias); I. Goldhizer, "Vorlesungen uber den Islam" (1925), tranlated by K. C. Seelye; There are others, but these are probably the most balanced of the early literature.

[Eileen]

I think I understand why the Religious Studies students feel the urge to sex-up their topices. Art history grad students in the late 80s and 90s were often told they would not be considered an attractive job candidate if they didnt jump on the nearest theory-gender bandwagon. It seems that Religous Studies SHOULD be the wave of the future and would easily intergrate with politics, languages, economic development....

Interesting that Mr Apel says "the Moslems",(rather than Muslims) Moslem now often being viewed as a perjoative term.

I found the site Mr. Appel mentioned. it's frontpagemag.com -- a scary looking pseudo-forum.

[Emanuel Appel]

a letter from America

Dear Richard,

My apologies.
The correct link is http://www.frontpagemag.com

The most glib are on the Left. The point of those examining the politics of American higher education is that those on the LEFT hire each other excluding or denying tenure to those with whom they disagree. There's fervor, not fairness.

RE the conflict between the tenor of the academy and the nation's political choice -
It shows the common sense of the American people as a whole. It's ludicrous to describe George Bush and his party as the "the most right wing government". You use the language describing some clownlike South American dictator dressed in a very gaudy uniform.

Rather, we're talking about the party of petty shopkeepers who don't like to see their children with green hair and metal rods through unmentionable parts of their bodies. Clear enough?

[Tony Francis]

I tried going to the website mentioned by Mr. Appel, and found it to be as Richard has described: lots of ads without any comments by Mr. Horowitz. This raises another question: has anyone ever won a convert to their cause by burning a flag or religious symbol? When dealing with the public, anger is not a good recruitment tool. I have known a lot of Moslems through the years. The negative images (suicide bombers, angry demonstrations, self-flagellation with chains, etc.) have done nothing but create antipathy in the minds of average people who would have never thought of Islam. There may be a bias on campus, though. When I was in grad school, there were not enough American born students to fill all the spots. Most came from China, India and various Islamic countries. It meant big "out of state" tuition to the school. I went into the Chemistry office and found a large box of un-opened letters. The secretary said, "That's one week's worth of applications from China. We don't even open them." Is the US university system going to risk a large revenue stream such as that?

[Richard]

Mr Appel's FRONTPAGE.COM links to some sort of advert/ comparison sight for webhosting (at least it did for me). Surely he is not a particularly opinionated robot doing the rounds to increase traffic? (Alternative theory: the British university from which I am accessing the site Doesn't Want Me To Know). But I feel sorry for him: why are all the clever people on the left? And why are the minds of (potentially) right wing students so fragile that even in an institution whose raison d'etre is to encourage them to question what they read they may be completely blown off course by their professors? And why do the people of a country so apparently blighted by left wing bias in education persist in electing the most right wing governments? Perhaps there is less to worry about than he thinks...

Richard

[Emanuel Appel]

a letter from San Francisco

Dear Mr. Fultz,

You don't describe the Horowitz campaign in Penssylvania accurately; just the professor's bleats. The whole idea was to safeguard a student's right to have a competent education and not be brainwashed by one side only. But, the true believers will silence anyone who dares to say no. For those interested in the question of academic freedom, go to FRONTPAGE.COM for examples of academic abuse and then decide.

Perhaps you're unaware of the various "speech codes" promulgated by administrators to keep normal students quiet while turning a blind eye to what the Left and the Moslems push on campus? The campus Republicans at San Francisco State were threatened by the administration because they stomped on banners having the name "Islam" wheras the Moslems routinely burn Israeli flags. Please.

[Tony Francis]

"A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching." G. K. Chesterton

[Tony Francis]

I have been to many schools through the years. When I was in chemistry grad school, there were more professors who were right wing idealogues. But we had a couple of hard-core leftists, as well. Everyone got along just fine. There probably is a left wing bias in many schools. This comes from the fact that those professors have never worked in the private sector, have had to meet a payroll, collect bills, deal with angry customers or disgruntled employees. In other words, they are lacking in real world experience. Any student so indoctrinated will quickly lose all dilusions when faced with the reality of that first job. Perhaps the most glaring absence occurs in US law schools which completely avoid any discussion of the origin of contract and tort law in the medieval church courts. Any mention of natural moral law is glossed over. Having talked with my protestant relatives through the years, I would imagine any divinity student who insisted on discussing "Sex in the Acts", would not have a congregation for very long. So, we might conclude that these students are not being prepared very well for finding employment in most of the churches which would hire them

[T.Fultz]

Me, hysterical? Not in the least: a few years back Mr. Horowitz and friends pushed the Pennsylvania state legislature to introduce a bill investigating politcal bias at the state's university system (my alma mater). The investigation found little in terms of actual cases of political bias among the professors (see The Chronicle of Higher Education for full details: http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/11/2006111502n.htm) and left it to the universities to monitor themselves. I'm sure it happens on occasion, but I would think it is rare and most of the investigated cases have come to nothing. Certainly, though, professors have a right to hold political views - just not preach them in class. I found in my classes few professors talked politics beyond, say, the political views of Herodotus ... but still the state is in hot pursuit: Pennsylvania's Human Relations Commission is looking now into the question of political bias. I think we know who the real thought police are ... I'm not surprised that so many religious studies students want to work on gay or gender studies within their field - they just feel lucky they can.

[Emanuel Appel]

a letter from San Francisco

Dear Mr. Fultz,

I don't want to take your liberty away, just the opposite.

You show the kind of hysteria that takes the place of rational debate within American higher education, cheered on by some "professors" whose professionalism is a joke.

If you were able to spend four years without being unduly influenced by the thought police, you are to be envied. There are examples of the opposite, where opposing views are silenced by small groups and by the school administration. For examples of the worst, I'd recommend Frontpage.Com.

[T.Fultz]

Let me comment on this outrageous statement: "just the logical outcome of four years of undergraduate brainwashing." This kind of criticism is ludicrous: I attended a U.S. state university where I earned a degree in classical languages. I was brought up in a religious household - where I had 18 years of religious "indoctrination" there. The university only got 4 years of my life and, frankly, I found it refreshing to learn that there are other ways of viewing the world, other religions, other ways of living one's life. And don't just blame the professor's for this so-called "brainwashing" - I also learned from my fellow students who hailed from urban centers, foreign countries, who were openly gay, etc. Finally, although being gay myself, I never felt I had to write papers or my master thesis using gay theory, nor would I have been embarrassed to do so - I just knew I had the intellectual liberty to chose my topic. Writers like Mr. Appel would like to see that liberty taken away.

[anthony alcock]

Theology (and its sidekick Divinity) used to be a fairly narrowly defined area of study. Not especially interesting and not especially easy, particularly if one took for granted that a fairly intimate knowledge of several languages was required in order to do it. Religious Studies, on the other hand, is more wide-ranging, often entertaining and, if one has mastered the language of the New Knowledge (post-whateveritis-ism) a piece of cake.

[Chris Gillibrand]

Take the sex out and put St Thomas Aquinas back into religious studies. Truth abides!

[Tony Francis]

"Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are the ones I do understand." Mark Twain

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." Mark Twain

[Emanuel Appel]

a letter from San Francisco

Dear Mary,

The most severe critic of education in the US is David Horowitz. His book, "Indroctination U", tells the dreary tale of advocacy for "feminism", "gay rights" replacing scholarship. Therefore, the topics you mentioned are just the logical outcome of four years of undergraduate brainwashing.

The "traditional types" you want to meet are at the lesser known Baptist and Methodist seminaries, not at Harvard or Yale.

[Candadai Tirumalai]

At the American liberal arts college where I taught, in the 1970s and 80s a very popular undergraduate course on Christianity seemed to lay as much stress on contemporary fiction as on the Gospels. "Engagement" has been a part of the Religious Studies landscape, undoubtedly to the discomfort of traditionalists.

[Monica]

That sounds normal for religious studies to me, actually.

I also was once on a plane from D.C. to L.A. for nine hours, but that's because the plane stopped in five places before it got to L.A. I remember thinking to myself I could've been in Italy by then.

[Xjy]

Hell, if you don't care, who will?? ;-)

Anyway, this religion thing is something that bothers me about Sweden too (little USA in Europe as it used to be after the war and still is a tiny bit). It's the wee-free heritage mixed up with multi-culti. And lashings of hieratocracy or parsonarchy or lamaism or whatever you want to call it.

So many people I regard as intelligent, clear-eyed and non-superstitious have bowled me over by telling me they studied or want to study theology/religion. Buggered if I know what they get out of it.

But since higher studies in theology are reputed to be the primrose path to heresy, atheism and damnation, I say let them thrive. And spread their ideas, and confront cheerful pagans like yourself.

I hope you mentioned the Lucretian view of divine being to them ;-), and the pragmatic Imperial approach -- let's have shrines to them all, one of them is bound to deliver the goods one day!

Or as Pythagoras used to sing: "There'll be Pi in the sky by-and-by".