Religion remains a faculty

BRONWYN CHESTER | For now, it's the status quo... sort of. The Faculty of Religious Studies, the University's smallest faculty, will remain a faculty and not be swallowed up by the Faculty of Arts. But, as a result of the deliberations of the Joint Committee of McGill University and the Joint Board of the Theological Colleges, the path is now clear to change the faculty in order to adapt it to the burgeoning and widening interest in religious studies -- that is, of course, if both faculties so desire. Until the formation of this committee, two years ago, it was unclear if the status of religious studies, as a faculty, could be altered by the University alone since the faculty was a joint creation, in 1948, of McGill University and the leaders of the Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches of Quebec. Both the Birks and McConnell families contributed generously to establish and maintain the faculty -- called, until 1970, the Faculty of Divinity -- to provide academic training for Protestant clergy, granting them Bachelor of Theology or Master's of Divinity degrees. The faculty also offered courses on religion to the general student population. The only stipulation was that the faculty had to have at least one full-time professor for the following courses: Old Testament, New Testament, Church History and Christian Theology. The McConnell and Birks families also endowed chairs for the study of philosophy of religion and comparative religion, respectively, in order to promote a broad approach to the study of religion. All of this worked well, for even though church attendance and hence the need for church ministers has waned over the past 30 years, the steady increase in interest in the study of religion has ensured a sufficient number of students. The only complication was that the majority of those students came, and continue to come, from the Faculty of Arts. In fact, students receive their degree (major, minor or honours) in religious studies from the Faculty of Arts, which administers the major, minor and honours programs, while the Faculty of Religious Studies grants the BTh and MDiv degrees. (Graduate degrees are granted by the Faculty of Graduate Studies). What the committee, chaired by anthropology professor Bruce Trigger, agreed upon was that Religious Studies would continue to grant the theology degrees and enhance the BTh program so that "it can continue to reflect changes in contemporary theological education in a pluralistic society," and that "options can be developed within the programme to support the ministerial education of other religious communities as well as cooperative programmes with other McGill disciplines, such as pastoral care in health services, education, law, and social work." The committee included representatives from the three denominations, as well as former vice-principal academic Bill Chan, Dean of Arts Carman Miller and, in an ex-officio capacity, Dean of Religious Studies Barry Levy. The committee also "recognized that growing interest in religion from both humanistic and social science perspectives makes closer collaboration between the Faculty of Religious Studies and the Faculty of Arts essential from an administrative, pedagogical, and intellectual point of view. In order to avoid duplication in hiring and teaching, closer collaboration between the two faculties will become ever more important." They believe that the best way to ensure such cooperation would be for the Faculty of Religious Studies to become a School of Religious Studies within the Faculty of Arts, much as the School of Social Work, a professional school, exists within the Arts faculty. But the committee doesn't believe this is the time for such a change. For one, the members believe, it "would be misinterpreted outside McGill as a downgrading of McGill's support for Religious Studies." Secondly, they believe that more time is needed for the two faculties to discuss possible administrative changes. Nevertheless, the report expresses a clear hope that the Faculty of Religious Studies will consider the possibility of joining the Faculty of Arts. "Should... in the future, the full-time faculty members of the Faculty of Religious Studies express an interest in joining the Faculty of Arts as a School, the University will do all that it can to facilitate this process." While Levy is pleased by the report's praise of the BTh program and commends Trigger for being a "great chair and leader," he believes it doesn't give sufficient credit to the longstanding relationship between his faculty and the Faculty of Arts. "The report doesn't necessarily do justice to [the good relationship] that's existed over the years. "We've always worked together so it's not a surprise; it's how things have always been." Furthermore, he sees no reason why his faculty should become a School. "The faculty will remain a faculty; this is a priority for us," he says, arguing that the study of religion goes far beyond the realm of the Faculty of Arts. "Religion or ethics are taught in virtually every unit on campus: in music, management, law -- not just in arts," says Levy, noting that he's given a tutorial in Jewish Business Ethics to a management student, for instance, and that the faculty works with other units. "We teach a course at the McGill School of Environment, for instance, on environmental ethics." Levy would like to see his faculty evolve as a kind of resource for the development of McGill courses related to ethics and religion as well as offer programs to train religious leaders of non-Protestant faiths, but, given the restraints of time and money, he's proud of what his 12-member faculty is able to do. "We have 20 BTh students, 100 graduate students and about 100 religious studies students doing minors, majors or honours in the BA program." Carman Miller, on the other hand, says he "shares the committee's view that an Arts-Religious Studies merger would be beneficial for all." Insisting that this is not a David and Goliath matter -- "I have no imperialistic ambitions; we're large enough," he chuckles -- "the only thing is, it's a Faculty of Arts program and religious studies has become a growth industry. We have more people in our faculty teaching religious studies, broadly constructed, than in the Faculty of Religious Studies," he says, noting that the Institute of Islamic Studies and the Departments of Jewish Studies, East Asian Studies, Anthropology, History, English and others all offer courses relating to religion. Miller has concerns regarding the coordination of the teaching of religious studies. He also wonders about what administrative structure would best facilitate communications between scholars with an interest in religious studies and about making the most economical use of resources. "If you want to see religion, and theology, in a social, cultural and political context, isn't the field better served in the faculty where those subjects are taught?" Furthermore, he's concerned about the question of new appointments: "It's when it comes to appointing new people: who should get it and where should they be? If I'm the vice-principal academic, who am I to listen to?" he asks, using the example of one faculty asking for an historian, whose area is religious culture and institutions, while the other asks for a church historian. There is much to consider in a decision that could upset a 50-year-old tradition of teaching theology and religious studies at McGill. Today, it's the status quo. Tomorrow, God only knows!