Religion and the Making of American Citizens

This past weekend my colleague Lucien Ellington and I organized an institute entitled, "Religion and the Making of American Citizens: Past, Present, and Future," for local high school teachers. We arranged for seven scholars to talk to two dozen distinguished teachers on the importance of including religion in American history courses. I thought that all our presenters--Tracy Mckenzie, Daniel Dreisbach, John Fea, Donald Clark, Wilfred McClay, Molly Worthen, and Michael Cromartie--did an excellent job. Other than Fea and McClay, I had not met the other speakers before the weekend institute.


John Fea has recently offered his reflection on the weekend institute over at his blog, providing his two cents on Tracy Mckenzie's talk, "The Place of Religion in American Education" (on a side note, I was shocked when Fea told me that some 1,200 people visit his blog each day). For the most part, I agree with Fea. I don't recall ever telling my students what my personal religious views are, and I am extremely reticent about pronouncing one particular religious view as good or bad. I feel as though I am doing a good job teaching if I am able to represent both sides of the argument well enough that students have no idea where I stand on that subject (I once had a student approach me after a lecture on the varying forms of Christian thought and ask what she should believe. I informed her that she would have to make up her own mind, and suggested that she spend time studying more closely the different options). In the classes that I teach on Christianity, I want conservative religious students to appreciate Liberal Protestants as sincere Christians who care about the ethical and moral teachings of Jesus, and I want non-conservative students to view even the most strident of twentieth-century Fundamentalists as motivated primarily by the saving of souls. In sum, I believe that it is important not to indoctrinate students, but rather teach as objectively and fairly as possible the information, allowing young people to make up their own minds on what is good and bad about religion. It is difficult to trust people who teach with an agenda. I think that it can have the opposite desired effect.

Busy Week

The end of the semester is always a busy time of the year. Last week I had meetings and events scheduled every day, including yesterday's Fall Visit Day Department Fair, where 1,500 prospective students paraded through an exhibit hall at UTC to learn about the various majors that the school offers. I agreed to represent the philosophy and religion department, and came up with the not-so bright idea of asking for all the books that the faculty in our department has produced, in order to display these titles at our booth, and give parents and students an idea of how productive we have been as scholars. The bag of books by Irv Resnick alone that I lugged to our booth must have weighed one hundred pounds. It was fun, however, talking to parents and students about our department and the courses we offer.

Now, I am busy preparing for a weekend institute in which two dozen high school teachers will come to UTC's campus next weekend to learn about the importance of including religion in history courses. Here is the schedule of speakers and the titles of their talks:

Religion and the Making of American Citizens: Past, Present and Future 

November 15-16, 2013 

Friday November 15 

4:45 pm-5:00 pm JonathanYeager and Lucien Ellington,

Welcome and announcements

5:00 pm-6:30 pm TracyMckenzie (Wheaton College): “The Place of Religion in American Education”

Break

6:45 pm-8:45 pm UTC Welcome: Dean Valerie Rutledge: College of Health. Education, and

Professional Studies.

Dinner and Keynote: DanielDreisbach (American University):

“The Role of the Bible in the Political Culture of the Founders”

Saturday November 16

8:30 am-9:45 am JohnFea (Messiah College): “The Faiths of the Founding Fathers”

10:00 am-11:15 am DonaldClark (Trinity University): “The Impact of 19th and 20th Century

Protestant Missionaries in East Asia” (National Consortium for Teaching About Asia)

Break

11:30 am-1:00 pm Lunch and Keynote: WilfredMcClay (University of Oklahoma):

“How and Why and What We Should Teach Our Students About Religion

in the 21st Century”

1:10 pm-2:25 pm MollyWorthen (UNC-Chapel Hill): “Women and Religion in American

History”

2:30 pm-3:45 pm MichaelCromartie (Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington D.C.):

“The Evangelical Mosaic: The Shifting Contours of Evangelicals and

American Politics”

3:45 pm-4:00 pm Evaluations and Conclusion

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For my personal reading, I am finishing up Hans Boersma's Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of Sacramental Tapestry.  Boersma teaches at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada  (where I studied from 2004 to 2006), and has become very interested in the church fathers and Roman Catholic theology. In this book, he presents the Nouvelle Theologie and this movement's return to the church fathers as inspiration for what he calls "sacramental ontology." Boersma argues that in our postmodern world, we have become too individualized and have been deceived into valuing the created order for itself, rather than its connection with God through Christ. 

Using Neo-Platonism as his foundational epistemology, Boersma urges us to participate in the sacramental nature of the created order, recognizing the beauty and divinity in what we experience in life, but without severing the current world from its ultimate source of Being. This is a very interesting book, and a more readable product than his more sophisticated, Nouvelle Theologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery, published with Oxford University Press. Boersma's scholarship also represents the continual movement of evangelicals away from propositional theology towards more liturgical and mysterious forms of worship, as well as the church fathers and ancient traditions. 

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Finally, for senior scholars (associate and full professors) interested in applying for Bill McClay's old job at UTC--the SunTrust Bank Chair of Excellence in Humanities--stay tuned. A committee has been formed and is putting together an advertisement that will appear very soon in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Senior scholars across the humanities, including history and religion, are urged to apply.

Religion and the Making of American Citizens: Past, Present, and Future

Below is the official announcement for our mid-November weekend institute for teachers.

Dear Area Teachers,

I am pleased to announce that the UTC Center for Reflective Citizenship will host its second teacher institute of 2013, "Religion and the Making of American Citizens: Past, Present, and Future,” on the UTC campus beginning in late afternoon Friday November 15 and concluding in mid-afternoon Saturday November 16.  Middle and high school social studies and literature teachers are particularly encouraged to apply but we will accept competitive applications from teachers in other subject areas and levels as well.  The first 25 accepted teachers will receive stipends of $250.00 upon successful completion of the institute. 

Anyone who is interested in applying should contact Donna Adams immediately at:

Please mail, email, or fax  this application to: Donna Adams,  University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, , 615  McCallie Ave., 445 B  EMCS #6256, Chattanooga, TN, 37403;  donna-adams@utc.edu; or Fax:  423-425-5393.  Donna’s phone no. is 423-425-5206.

We are taking applications until Thursday September 26 but strong applicants will be accepted on a “first come, first served” basis so interested teachers are advised to act promptly.

Please see the complete schedule below.  We look forward to working with you and a complete schedule is included below.

Cordially,

Lucien Ellington and Jonathan Yeager

Institute Co-Directors

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Religion and the Making of American Citizens: Past, Present, and Future

November 15-16, 2013

An Institute for Teachers

Center for Reflective Citizenship

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Friday, November 15

4:45pm-5:00pm Jonathan Yeager and Lucien Ellington, Welcome and announcements

5:00pm-6:30pm: Tracy Mckenzie (Wheaton College): "The Place of Religion in American Education"

Break

Dinner and Keynote: 6:45pm-8:45pm: Daniel Dreisbach (American University): "The Role of the Bible in the Political Culture of the Founders"

Saturday, November 16

8:30am-9:45am: John Fea (Messiah College): "The Faiths of the Founding Fathers"

10:00am-11:15am: Donald Clark (Trinity University): "The Impact of 19^th and 20^th Century Protestant Missionaries in East Asia"

11:30am-1:00 pm: Lunch and Keynote: Wilfred McClay (University of Oklahoma): "How and Why and What We Should Teach Our Students About Religion in the 21^st Century"

1:10 pm-2:25 pm: Molly Worthen (UNC-Chapel Hill): "Women and Religion in American History"

2:30 pm-3:45 pm: Michael Cromartie (Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington D.C.): "Red God and Blue God: The Shifting Contours of American Religion and American Politics"

3:45-4:00 pm: Evaluations and Conclusion

UTC Weekend Institute

My colleague Lucien Ellington and I are organizing an institute at UTC for teachers. During the weekend of Friday, November 15 to Saturday, November 16, teachers will hear various experts speak on the theme of: "Religion and the Making of American Citizens: Past, Present, and Future." This weekend institute is sponsored by the Apgar Foundation and the
Center for Reflective Citizenship at UTC, which was founded by Lucien and former SunTrust Chair of Excellence in Humanities, Wilfred McClay.

This weekend institute is meant to offer training for local educators, approximately two dozen of whom will hear speakers talk about the importance of including religion in their teaching. The Center for Reflective Citizenship hopes to convince teachers that religion has played a vital role in America, from its founding to the present, and should be included in any basic courses on American history. As sponsors of this event, Lucien and I believe that religion is a subject worthy of serious attention by educated people, and so we hope to remind teachers of the influential religious traditions that have permeated American history and culture. 

Below is a draft of the program.

Friday, November 15

4:45pm-5:00pm Jonathan Yeager and Lucien Ellington, Welcome and announcements

5:00pm-6:30pm: Tracy Mckenzie (Wheaton College): "The Place of Religion in American Education"

Break

Dinner and Keynote: 6:45pm-8:45pm: Daniel Dreisbach (American University): "The Role of the Bible in the Political Culture of the Founders"

Saturday, November 16

8:30am-9:45am: John Fea (Messiah College): "The Faiths of the Founding Fathers"

10:00am-11:15am: Donald Clark (Trinity University): "The Impact of 19^th and 20^th Century Protestant Missionaries in East Asia"

11:30am-1:00 pm: Lunch and Keynote: Wilfred McClay (University of Oklahoma): "How and Why and What We Should Teach Our Students About Religion in the 21^st Century"

1:10 pm-2:25 pm: Molly Worthen (UNC-Chapel Hill): "Women and Religion in American History"

2:30 pm-3:45 pm: Michael Cromartie (Ethics and Public Policy, Washington D.C.): "Red God and Blue God: The Shifting Contours of American Religion and American Politics"

3:45-4:00 pm: Evaluations and Conclusion

If you know of any outstanding teachers who would be interested in attending this weekend institute, please have them contact me and I will gladly supply them with an application.