The Decline of the Secular University

The American university has embraced a thorough secularism that makes it increasingly marginal in a society that is characterized by high levels of religious belief. The very secularization that was supposed to be a liberating influence has resulted in the university’s failure to provide leadership in political, cultural, social, and even scientific arenas.In The Decline of the Secular University, C. John Sommerville explores several
different ways in which the secular university fails in its mission through its trivialization of religion. He notes how little attention is being given to defining the human, so crucial in all aspects of
professional education. He alerts us to problems associated with the prevailing secular distinction between “facts” and “values.” He reviews how the elimination of religion hampers the university from understanding our post-Cold War world. Sommerville then shows how a greater awareness of the intellectual resources of religion might stimulate more forthright attention to important matters like our loss of a sense of history, how to problematize secularism, the issue of judging religions, the
oddity of academic moralizing, and the strangeness of science at the frontiers.Finally, he invites the reader to imagine a university where religion is not ruled out but rather
welcomed as a legitimate voice among others. Sommerville’s bracing and provocative arguments are sure to provoke controversy and stimulate discussion both inside and outside the academy.

Author Biography

C. John Sommerville is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Florida. A Member of the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton and Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions, he also recently contributed to the Pew Younger Scholars’ Mentoring Program. He is the author of several books, including The Secularization of Early Modern England: From Religious Culture to Religious Faith, The News
Revolution in England: Cultural Dynamics of Daily Information, and The Rise and Fall of Childhood.