Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University - Hardcover

Howard, Thomas Albert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199266859 ISBN 13: 9780199266852

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2006

Synopsis

In shaping the modern academy and in setting the agenda of modern Christian theology, few institutions have been as influential as the German universities of the nineteenth century. This book examines the rise of the modern German university from the standpoint of the Protestant theological faculty, focusing especially on the University of Berlin (1810), Prussia's flagship university in the nineteenth century. In contradistinction to historians of modern higher education who often overlook theology, and to theologians who are frequently inattentive to the social and institutional contexts of religious thought, Thomas Albert Howard argues that modern university development and the trajectory of modern Protestant theology in Germany should be understood as interrelated phenomena.

About this title

Review:

...an ambitious and substanial book that deserves attention from those working in German studies as much as it does from those engaged in religious history...a serious and commendable work. (Ian Cooper MLR)

This is a carefully organized, clearly written study. Using a wide range of primary sources and citing historical studies from the nineteenth century to the present, it provides insights into the intellectual context of German theology in the nineteenth century. It is a nice example of the benefits of drawing together two areas of study that otherwise go their separate ways. (Darrell Jodock, Lutheran Quarterly)

This book is an impressive feat of scholarship, which is unlikely to be bettered. (Mark D. Chapman, Journal of Theological Studies)

Howard's style is lively and precise...the rich detail of the text, its sure analysis, and masterful treatment of multiple figures assures the admiration and gratitude of many readers. (Paul Dafydd Jones, Journal of the American Academy of Religion)

...a large and worthy book...the problem tackled in the book is a serious one, and has evoked a wide range of reading from the author. (W.R.Ward, EHR 494)

Few books can be found that offer a reading of nineteenth=century German Protestantism and its university milieu and even fewer are able to combine quite so competent a presentation of both as one finds in this book ... The importance of this piece derives not only from its precise historical analysis and deft presentation of the material, but also from the questions it asks of the current state of theology. (Mark McDowell, Themelios)

[A] detailed and...extensive study (Journal of Religion)

About the Author:

Thomas Albert Howard currently holds the Stephen Phillips Chair in history and is director of the Jerusalem & Athens Forum at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusettes. He is the author of Religion and the Rise of Historicism and Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, winner of the Lilly Fellows Program Book Award for 2007. He is also the editor of The Future of Christian Learning: An Evangelical and Catholic Dialogue by Mark Noll and James Turner.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0199266859
• ISBN 13: 9780199266852
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 484