Michael Roth, who teaches intellectual history at Wesleyan University, finds that students—even those who are themselves religious—tend to be extremely reluctant to discuss religion in the classroom in any but the most clinical terms. Roth reflects on the place of religion in a secular university, and what his own exploration of Judaism has taught him about how secular people and institutions can better understand religion:
In teaching my humanities class, I ask what a philosopher had in mind in writing about the immortality of the soul or salvation, and suddenly my normally loquacious undergraduates start staring down intently at their notes. If I ask them a factual theological question about the Protestant Reformation, they are ready with an answer: predestination, faith not works, etc.
But if I go on to ask them how one knows in one’s heart that one is saved, they turn back to their notes. They look anywhere but at me, for fear that I might ask them about feeling the love of God or about having a heart filled with faith. . . .
Why is it so hard for my very smart students to make this leap—not the leap of faith but the leap of historical imagination? I’m not trying to make a religious believer out of anybody, but I do want my students to have a nuanced sense of how ideas of knowledge, politics, and ethics have been intertwined with religious faith and practice. . . .
At [my synagogue’s] Torah study [sessions], we begin with a blessing that echoes the commandment to wrestle with the biblical texts. We pledge ourselves not to memorize or obey but to engage with what we read. That’s what I want to offer my students: the opportunity to wrestle with basic questions of love and judgment, justice and violence, grace and forgiveness. What they believe is none of my business, but I do want them to have a sense of what it’s like to be absorbed in robust traditions, including religious ones.
Read more on Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/articles/religions-role-in-the-history-of-ideas-1424465304