Religion, Ethics, and Academic Community Engagement: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Abstract

This article introduces the issues, histories, and questions at stake in a special issue of Religion & Education on Religion, Ethics, and Academic Community Engagement. We begin by pointing to the absence of community engagement in the recent turn toward the ethics of higher education among religious ethicists. In response, we call for more robust interdisciplinary engagement between religious ethicists and academic community engagement scholars and practitioners. To lay the groundwork, we offer an account of the historical intersections between religion and academic community engagement in U.S. higher education. We then highlight pressing ethical questions emerging from this history related to the mission and purpose of higher education, the influence of neoliberalism, and underexamined biases in academic community engagement connected to white Christian hegemony. We touch on how each of these issues emerge from the history of religion and academic community engagement in the U.S., and detail how articles in this special issue respond to these challenges by drawing on a variety of religious traditions and resources.

Keywords:

• Community engagement
• Religious Ethics
• University Ethics
• community-based learning
• service-learning
• place-based learning
• theological field education
• higher education
• neoliberalism

Notes

1 Protestant denominations have historically helped to finance their affiliated seminaries. Precipitous declines in denominational membership have left denominations in financial crises of their own, and in need of fewer of the new clergy that their seminaries produce. This has translated into large cuts to financial support for seminaries by their home denominations. See Aleshire (2021, p. 39).

2 For just one analysis of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected higher education in the U.S., see the 2020 U3 Advisors and Bright Spot Strategy study of 2300 universities (O’Neill, 2020).

3 For more information, see Hulburt and McGarrah (2016) and Colby (2023).

4 See for example Appiah (2023), Harris (2019), and McKenna (2015). These articles represent a small sample of the burgeoning public scrutiny of university ethics.

5 See for example Doerr (2019), Stoecker (2016), Santana et al. (2023), and Yamamura and Koth (2018).

6 “The Elective Classification for Community Engagement,” Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, accessed June 26, 2023, https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/elective-classifications/community-engagement/.

7 (Smith, 2023, p. 57–60). The professional degree was initially called a Bachelor of Divinity (BD), modeling the UK system. Most U.S. theological schools eventually moved to the MDiv to avoid confusion, since in the U.S. a bachelor’s degree is typically awarded at the undergraduate level.

8 For a thorough report, see the Bureau of Indian Affairs (2022).

9 See Beardall (2022).

10 In the twenty-first century, short-term missions have faced increased scrutiny and criticism, particularly around the troubling power dynamics which constitute the encounter and the impact on host communities. Similar concerns can be found in scholarship examining short-term service learning programs. See Martin et al. (2009).

11 As former ATFE President Lorraine Ste-Marie notes, though ATFE documents list 1956 as its founding year, the association did not begin organizing in earnest until 1959. ATFE was initially called “Seminary Field Work.” It went through a number of subsequent name changes before establishing itself as ATFE in 1973. For the sake of clarity, we use “ATFE” in this article even when writing about periods when the association went by another name (Ste-Marie, 2013, p. 271–273).

12 See Deans (1999), Stoecker (2016), Doerr (2019), and Mitchell (2008).

13 See Dorrien (2010, p. 488–503).

14 Francis has called for a “culture of encounter” innumerable times; it has become a phrase for which he has become known. For just one example of a written document in which he expands upon this idea, see his (2020) encyclical Fratelli Tutti. For an example of how this concept has been received in Catholic moral theology, see Mescher (2020).

15 “About the Place-Based Justice Network,” The Mulvaney Center for Community, Awareness and Social Action, University of San Diego, accessed June 27, 2023, https://www.sandiego.edu/mccasa/place-based-justice-network/about.php.

16 See Moschella (2008) and Scharen (2015).

17 See, for example, “Community Food and Wellness Initiative,” Methodist Theological School in Ohio, accessed June 28, 2023, https://www.mtso.edu/ecotheology/community-food-and-wellness-initiative/.

18 One example is Candler School of Theology’s work with Arrendale State Prison. See “Certificate in Theological Studies,” Emory University Candler School of Theology, accessed June 28, 2023, https://candler.emory.edu/programs-resources/institutes-initiatives/certificate-theological-studies.html.

19 Hartford Seminary has one of the most well-known and long-standing commitments to interfaith work, though there are now many more examples as well. See “Degree Program.”

Hartford International University For Religion & Peace, accessed June 28, 2023, https://www.hartfordinternational.edu/interreligious-peace-studies-programs/degree-programs.

20 Italics in original (Dean, 2018, p. 29).

21 For more on the relationship between white supremacy and Christianity in the U.S., see Marshall (2021) and Douglas (2015).

22 See Joshi (2020).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kristyn Sessions

Kristyn Sessions, Villanova University in Villanova, USA. [email protected]

Sara A. Williams

Sara A. Williams, Fairfield University in Fairfield, USA. [email protected]