Creating a Modern Profession

The sixth chapter analyzes theological schools that realigned themselves with the modern research university. Several narratives are explored: the struggle between Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia and seminary founders like John Holt Rice; the influence of the German university through immigrants like Phillip Schaff and theologians who studied abroad; the pragmatic adaptation of the German encyclopedia for organizing theological studies; the impact of the American university’s pragmatism, social sciences, and social reform on seminaries; and the influence of progressive education and the religious education movement on theological schools. University Divinity schools led this movement, especially the University of Chicago built by William Rainey Harper, but a number of independent schools, like Union Theological Seminary in New York, sought such realignment as “theological universities.” This realignment of theological schools had significant benefits, as it increased elective studies, developed specialized fields of ministry, and brought the social sciences to theological education. However, the realignment had unforeseen problems as it widened the gap between academics and those of professional practice; distanced faculty from interdisciplinary work and church leadership; replaced the Bible as a unifying discipline with “the scientific method”; and replaced the integrative role of oral pedagogies with scholarly lectures and the research seminar.