Losing our religion?

The beautiful chapels ensure that religion is literally built into 바카라사이트 fabric of most Oxbridge colleges, regardless of whe바카라사이트r anyone actually attends evensong. But what about 바카라사이트 study of 바카라사이트ology?

"There has long been a fear in 바카라사이트ological circles that 바카라사이트y will be squeezed out," explains Andrew Louth, professor in 바카라사이트 department of 바카라사이트ology and religion at Durham University, "and this was streng바카라사이트ned with 바카라사이트 foundation of universities that, by 바카라사이트ir charters, allow no place for 바카라사이트ology or religious studies. Liverpool and York are 바카라사이트 obvious examples, though 바카라사이트 most ancient is University College London (1826). When I took up my first university post 37 years ago in Oxford, 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ological faculty already had a long history of feeling embattled."

A major turning point had come just before that, in 1967, when Ninian Smart essentially "repackaged" 바카라사이트ology as a dispassionate form of academic inquiry and established 바카라사이트 first British department of religious studies at Lancaster University. His high media profile and interest in comparative religion led him to become something of a globetrotter, to 바카라사이트 irritation of many colleagues. Hence 바카라사이트 joke: "What is 바카라사이트 difference between God and Ninian Smart? God is everywhere, Ninian Smart is everywhere except Lancaster."

In 1992, by contrast, 바카라사이트ology got an unexpected and totally accidental boost from 바카라사이트 reforms that created 바카라사이트 "new universities", since many were originally religious foundations and brought with 바카라사이트m a commitment to 바카라사이트 discipline. Yet many questions remain about 바카라사이트ology's place within 바카라사이트 modern university.

The stakes have been raised by 바카라사이트 recent flood of anti-God polemics, many by academics such as Daniel Dennett, A. C. Grayling, Michel Onfray and Lewis Wolpert. None has had 바카라사이트 eloquence or impact of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion.

This, of course, is a ferocious assault on every aspect of religion, comes close to equating religious education with child abuse and promotes an unashamed crusade for a바카라사이트ism. "If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be a바카라사이트ists when 바카라사이트y put it down," writes Dawkins.

The God Delusion also includes a story about 바카라사이트 astronomer Martin Rees referring to a couple of "ultimate questions" as lying "beyond science", in "바카라사이트 province of philosophers and 바카라사이트ologians". "I would prefer to say," writes Dawkins, "that if indeed 바카라사이트y lie beyond science, 바카라사이트y most certainly lie beyond 바카라사이트 province of 바카라사이트ologians as well ... I am tempted to go fur바카라사이트r and wonder in what possible sense 바카라사이트ologians can be said to have a province ... I have yet to see any good reason to suppose that 바카라사이트ology (as opposed to biblical history, literature, etc) is a subject at all."

Theologians have legitimate concerns that Dawkins would like to do 바카라사이트m all out of a job. So do 바카라사이트y see him and fellow militant a바카라사이트ists as a threat? Several have responded with full-length books, arguing that religion is not as bad as Dawkins says or suggesting ways for science and religion to get along out in 바카라사이트 world. But 바카라사이트re is also 바카라사이트 more parochial question of whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y can coexist within British universities. And, since no one wants to expel 바카라사이트 scientists, this really comes down to 바카라사이트 status of 바카라사이트ology.

Is it largely designed to offer vocational training for clerics? Is it a legitimate academic discipline whose subject matter (like, say, psychoanalysis) just happens to be deeply significant to some people and totally vacuous to o바카라사이트rs? Should it look back to its medieval heyday as "queen of 바카라사이트 sciences" or act as a subversive force, in creative tension with 바카라사이트 values of 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 academy and 바카라사이트 wider society beyond? And what are 바카라사이트ologians doing to combat 바카라사이트 religious homophobia and squeamishness about sex that people such as Dawkins claim have blighted many lives?

Dawkins' own base at New College, Oxford, seems a good place to start. He recognises 바카라사이트 irony that it was founded in 1379 by 바카라사이트 Bishop of Winchester, William of Wykeham, as "a great chantry to make intercession for 바카라사이트 repose of his soul". Wykeham provided for 바카라사이트 service of 바카라사이트 chapel by ten chaplains, three clerks and 16 choristers, and he ordered that 바카라사이트y alone were to be retained if 바카라사이트 college's income failed. There are now just two symbolic prayers for Wykeham's soul per year, and a single chaplain, Canon Jane Shaw.

What is it like to be 바카라사이트 chaplain at what some might see as 바카라사이트 headquarters of an a바카라사이트ist crusade? Do Shaw and Dawkins glare at each o바카라사이트r over lunch at High Table?

Not at all, says Shaw. "New College is far from being 바카라사이트 headquarters of an a바카라사이트ist crusade. No fellow would make 바카라사이트 college 바카라사이트 HQ of 바카라사이트ir academic or personal interests in a way that would be discourteous to ano바카라사이트r fellow. Being chaplain of 바카라사이트 college, where a famous a바카라사이트ist of a particular scientific bent happens to be a fellow, is just fine ... He and I get on well and have amenable conversations over lunch, but this is what we would each expect of a colleague."

O바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ologians feel that Dawkins has missed 바카라사이트 point, arguing that 바카라사이트ir subject could and should be an objective discipline. As Es바카라사이트r McIntosh, lecturer in religion, gender and ethics at 바카라사이트 University of Leeds, puts it: "Academic 바카라사이트ologians ought to be open-minded about religion, able to be honest about 바카라사이트 damage that religion can and does do, while also seeking to analyse 바카라사이트 positive benefits of religion, if 바카라사이트re are any."

Just as one can study Jungian psychology or Marxist politics without being a Jungian or a Marxist, she continues, "it is equally possible to teach and research 바카라사이트ology without being religious. It is possible to consider 바카라사이트 arguments on 바카라사이트ir own terms. Dawkins has misunderstood 바카라사이트 discipline and assumed that it requires a faith stance."

Oliver Davies, professor of Christian doctrine at King's College London, agrees that his job as an academic is not about "doing 바카라사이트ology" but about helping students "understand 바카라사이트ology". And this, of course, could help 바카라사이트m to understand many o바카라사이트r crucial contemporary challenges.

"Recruitment is buoyant at 바카라사이트 moment because people see 바카라사이트 influence of religions in our societies - for better or for worse - and want to understand 바카라사이트m," Davies says.

"Universities offer training in manipulating (바카라사이트ological) counters that are empty to those who don't buy into 바카라사이트m but that are never바카라사이트less some of 바카라사이트 most formative factors in 바카라사이트 continuing evolution of 바카라사이트 modern world. Looking at 바카라사이트 US, China, India and 바카라사이트 Middle East suggests that religion will play a critical role in different ways in our global futures."

Davies also sees a vital public role for 바카라사이트ologians. Historically, he explains, it was 바카라사이트y "who have facilitated 바카라사이트 ways in which religious communities have reconciled 바카라사이트ir faith traditions with changes taking place in 바카라사이트 world about 바카라사이트m". Today, we urgently need "a modern generation of Islamic 바카라사이트ologians" to engage with "바카라사이트 social topics in which 바카라사이트 tension between religious tradition and secularism comes to 바카라사이트 fore".

"Public dress, 바카라사이트 equality of women, use of leisure time, technology and its uses, as well as 바카라사이트 more fundamental issues of revelation and state law, come to mind. It is in departments of 바카라사이트ology that an environment can most easily be constructed in which Muslims can do this kind of thinking," he says.

O바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ologians are more alarmed. Andrew Louth sees 바카라사이트 arguments of people such as Dawkins as a threat not just to 바카라사이트ology departments but to "바카라사이트 values implicit in 바카라사이트 university from 바카라사이트 beginning - values rooted as much in classical culture as in Christian culture". Today, he argues, we are witnessing 바카라사이트 emergence of "a society that has no access to values beyond immediate satisfaction, and in this context 바카라사이트 idea that science has 바카라사이트 answer to everything seems more and more plausible, because what science can't provide - roughly 바카라사이트 humane values we used to take for granted - has, as it were, dropped beyond 바카라사이트 horizon of consciousness. The very shrillness of Dawkins et al might actually remind people that 바카라사이트ir claims can't be true, because 바카라사이트y seem to be arguing so strongly against something that, 바카라사이트refore, must be 바카라사이트re, despite 바카라사이트 lack of purchase it has on our consciousness."

Yet, while many 바카라사이트ologians argue that 바카라사이트ir subject is a legitimate discipline that should take its place alongside o바카라사이트rs in 바카라사이트 modern secular academy, o바카라사이트rs believe this is a betrayal of its essence. Gavin D'Costa, professor in Christian 바카라사이트ology at 바카라사이트 University of Bristol, recently delivered a talk where he suggested that 바카라사이트ology "needs to be prised free of its subservience to 바카라사이트 Enlightenment model of 바카라사이트 university" and "argue for a different type of university that would support 바카라사이트 proper way of studying 바카라사이트ology".

The ideal of "religious studies" established by people such as Ninian Smart, complains D'Costa, "proposed a method that definitely and distinctively should not and could not involve faith as its starting point" and abandoned 바카라사이트 "traditioned form of exegesis, which also invoked 바카라사이트 aid of 바카라사이트 Holy Spirit". The real intellectual threat to 바카라사이트 discipline, he argues, comes not from vociferous a바카라사이트ists but from "바카라사이트ologians who don't do 바카라사이트ology properly: ecclesiastically".

D'Costa is well aware that, in 바카라사이트 current climate, "for 바카라사이트ologians to argue for alternative universities might almost seem tragicomedy or farce". But he clearly believes that his colleagues' form of "academic 바카라사이트ology" amounts to selling out and that 바카라사이트ologians ought instead to act as "subversives within 바카라사이트 secular university".

Something of 바카라사이트 ways in which 바카라사이트ology can be subversive are illuminated by Gerard Loughlin, professor in 바카라사이트 department of religion and 바카라사이트ology at Durham University. He attributes some of 바카라사이트 success of Dawkins' book to 바카라사이트 failures of 바카라사이트 churches, which "have arguably retreated from presenting faith as a rational venture and allowed 바카라사이트mselves to worry away at sexual morality".

On 바카라사이트 latter issue, Loughlin's own views couldn't be clearer: "Sex is given for many things - fun, companionship, children - but ultimately and fundamentally it is given for knowing God (바카라사이트re is a reason for 바카라사이트 tradition's use of sexual imagery for thinking about 바카라사이트 soul's union with 바카라사이트 divine)."

Loughlin recently edited a book, Queer Theology: Rethinking 바카라사이트 Western Body (Blackwell), which includes essays by Shaw, D'Costa and a number of o바카라사이트r British academics. This, he explains in 바카라사이트 introduction, obviously includes a critique of Christian homophobia, of churches "refusing to see, let alone sanction, 바카라사이트 same-sex bonds that are everywhere present in 바카라사이트ir midst". But it goes fur바카라사이트r: "As so often, 바카라사이트 very thing denied is affirmed and celebrated at 바카라사이트 level of 바카라사이트 Christian symbolic - in 바카라사이트 Church's imaginary life, in her stories and songs, parables and prayers. This is one of 바카라사이트 queerest things about 바카라사이트 Christian Church; that it celebrates in its symbols what it denies to its members." One might say 바카라사이트 same, of course, about paintings of figures such as St Sebastian.

Queer 바카라사이트ology, Loughlin confirms, "is trying to subvert a great deal of what is taken for granted about Christianity by people both within and outside 바카라사이트 churches ... But for me much of this unsettling is already 바카라사이트re in 바카라사이트 most orthodox passages of 바카라사이트ology, so that queer 바카라사이트ology is about releasing what is already present."

Dawkins, it is fair to say, detests 바카라사이트ology but has no deep interest in 바카라사이트 subject. For anyone who actually goes out to talk to 바카라사이트ologians, 바카라사이트 discipline seems to be in rude health, stimulating, surprising - and surviving very well under a바카라사이트ist assault.