Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University
Price:
$165.00 (06)Description
In shaping the modern academy and in setting the agenda of modern Christian theology, few institutions have been as influential as the German universities of the nineteenth century. This book examines the rise of the modern German university from the standpoint of the Protestant theological faculty, focusing especially on the University of Berlin (1810), Prussia's flagship university in the nineteenth century. In contradistinction to historians of modern higher education who often overlook theology, and to theologians who are frequently inattentive to the social and institutional contexts of religious thought, Thomas Albert Howard argues that modern university development and the trajectory of modern Protestant theology in Germany should be understood as interrelated phenomena.Features
- An original synthesis of modern German intellectual and political history, the history of higher education, and the history of modern theology
- Explores the influence of German higher education and theology in the United States - hence of relevance to a variety of academic communities
Reviews
"Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University makes a welcome contribution to understanding the oddness of theology in the context of the modern research university."--Donald Wibe, Toronto Journal of Theology
"Howard's book is a welcome addition to studies of nineteenth-century Christian thought, modern intellectual history, and university history. Ably researched and skillfully written, the work distinguishes itself from common fare by its interdisciplinary reach. Howard's presentation is itself a thought-provoking testament to "Berlin's" legacy." --Church History
"Howard's story tells how ingenious leaders, chiefly Friedrich Schleiermacher, rescued the study of theology when German universities made a wholesale turn toward dominance by science and the state. The ironic result was that German theology became an arbiter for all of Christendom while departments of theology in German universities were hanging on by their fingernails. Whether they sacrificed requisite independence to do so is the question that Howard raises masterfully at the end."--Christian Century
About the Author(s)
Thomas Albert Howard is Associate Professor of History at Gordon College, in Wenham, Massachusetts, and the founding director of the Jerusalem & Athens Forum, an undergraduate honors program. He completed his Ph.D. in European intellectual history at the University of Virginia. He is also the author of Religion and the Rise of Historicism (Cambridge University Press, 2000).
