Though small, Religious Studies has academic niche

Editor's note: To add perspective to the planned elimination of three SAS departments, The Daily Pennsylvanian offers a closer look at each department. Today: Religious Studies With six faculty members and only a handful of majors, Religious Studies Department Chairperson Ann Matter admits her department is small. But, she says, despite its size, her department has a long history of excellence at the University and has produced world-renowned experts in the field of religion. Recently, however, the fate of religious studies as it stands has been put into question. Citing a desire to "streamline" education in the School of Arts and Sciences, Dean Rosemary Stevens proposed to eliminate the department and two others effective June 1994. If Stevens' proposal is approved by the University Trustees in January, the Religious Studies Department – whose origins at the University date back to 1791 – could be turned into an interdepartmental program based in a number of SAS disciplines. "Fields are not always best or necessarily served through the structure of a specialized department," Stevens stated in a September letter to SAS faculty. "The programs of the Religious Studies Department at both the graduate and undergraduate levels are inadequate reflections of the strength of interest in religious studies across the school," she continued. Matter, and a number of other faculty members, have disagreed with Stevens' conclusions. Rather than simply critiquing Stevens' decisions, Matter explained what she sees as the role of her department in the University's academic environment. "What's really interesting about this department is that it has grown up in a secular university with a secular approach," she said. "Because Penn has never had any religious identity to affirm, it has been able to move more freely in the study of religion without particular denominational concerns." Stephen Dunning, religious studies graduate group chairperson, wrote in a letter published in this week's Almanac that the department's educational approach is methodological. "Religious Studies at Penn is nationally known for the rigor in methodological analysis that we expect from all of our students," he wrote. "From this we expect students to gain both an ability to assess the suitability of various methods for diverse tasks and a heightened realization of personal preferences and how those will impact upon their scholarly intentions." Religious Studies Professor Robert Kraft said his department provides students with an education that focuses on the core perspective of religion through an array of course offerings which touch on the fields of anthropology, philosophy and sociology. He added that these courses specifically look at religious motivations, justifications, mindsets and expression. College senior and Religious Studies major Felicia Scales said because religion is connected with these other fields, it is important to study them in the context of religion. "Religion is so interwoven into people's lives that you can't escape it," Scales said. "Taking classes in other departments enhances what you learn about religion." Matter said although there are only a few religious studies majors per year, nearly 500 students enroll in the department's classes each year. And the graduate program, which is one of 32 in North America, receives over 80 applications for a class of between three and five. "We're not the biggest, we're not the richest and we're not the most famous," she said. "But, our history is one I'm proud of." The department has not only given non-religion majors a comprehensive look at a phenomenon which affects the human experience, but has taught graduate students who have gone on to teach at universities across the country, including Yale, Princeton and the University of Chicago, Matter said. She added, though, that she feels that by disbanding the department, the University is moving away from traditions of the past that have been at the University since its founding. Barbara DeConcini, executive director of the American Academy of Religion, the major learned society in the field, echoed Matter's sentiments in a letter to Stevens. "By eliminating your department of religion you are about to jettison a heritage which reaches back to the beginnings of this century, a heritage which helped establish Penn as one of the preeminent institutions in this country," wrote DeConcini, a professor of religion and culture at Emory University. While Dunning said in Almanac that he did not doubt Stevens' sincerity, he asked whether her predecessors would put such a premium on the study of religion. "She fails to realize that her successors (and perhaps even some of her own associate deans) may not be so committed," he wrote. Matter said last week that her cause is not "a battle about winning and losing." "What we're interested in doing is protecting the future of our field at Penn," she said. "What concerns us about the administration's proposal is that they haven't thought about that."