Language, Religion, Knowledge

This book explores the evolution and future of higher education, emphasizing the interplay of language, religion, and knowledge, particularly in the U.S.

Higher education and university-based research play a crucial role in shaping our world. This insightful work emphasizes knowledge over institutions, exploring how higher learning has evolved to its current state and where it might be headed. Language, Religion, Knowledge provides a comprehensive examination of the historical context and contemporary challenges facing higher education today. The first section delves into the history of higher learning in the United States, while the second section addresses pressing issues in the current educational landscape.

Renowned historian James Turner reveals unexpected gaps in our understanding of the evolution of higher education by focusing on four central themes: the role of philology, historicism, disciplinary specialization, and the diminishing influence of religion within academia. He presents a compelling discussion on the significant yet often overlooked impact that the study of texts and languages has on the formation of knowledge.

The thought-provoking essays within Language, Religion, Knowledge analyze both the losses and gains in contemporary higher education due to the decline of religious influence. Turner identifies the fragmentation of knowledge and the isolation of research in a secular context as major losses, yet he also suggests pathways for higher education to reclaim the advantages of religiously informed thinking without sacrificing the benefits of secularism. By illustrating how religious intellectual traditions can rejuvenate intellectual life, this work offers fresh perspectives on the past and future of higher education.