Julie Reuben’s The Making of the Modern University is a fascinating study of the secularization of the university system in the United States. The book chronicles the transformation from the 19th century model of a religious college with a core curriculum to the modern research university, which is separate from its denominational roots. Reuben, a professor of education at Harvard University, writes a mainly  sociological study of this transition from religious to secular universities, which should be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the tenuous, and sometimes hostile relationship between the modern academy and religion.

Reuben’s study is a well-researched, detailed look at this transition, using primary sources from a number of universities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The detail she offers, however, does not weigh down the interesting narrative of how morality became marginalized as universities put the scientific method front and center of their curricula. With the success of science, and the inability to empirically test moral and religious propositions, the latter beliefs came to be recognized as mainly emotional and speculative. Thus, over many decades, the idea of a core curriculum was abandoned, and education about moral and religious beliefs was transferred, first to humanities departments, where it was thought to fit well, but then finally to extracurricular activities that were optional for students.

In the process, for example, the teaching of theology was abandoned in favor of teaching religion. Theology, of course, assumed that knowledge of God was possible. But religion classes taught merely what certain religions believed, without reference to whether such beliefs were true. In the process, Reuben argues, the 19th century ideal of the unity of truth, with an emphasis on “the good, the true, and the beautiful,” was forever lost. A fascinating book, Reuben’s work is an essential one for anyone who wants to understand the zeitgeist of the modern academy. (See our blog series on Reuben's book, beginning here ).

Reviewed by: Mark Hansard