Spirituality and Higher Education

An emerging phenomenon on campuses and in the broader culture, spirituality in higher education reasserts the importance of a holistic understanding of life, one that acknowledges the place of spirit among ways of knowing. At the founding of the universities almost one thousand years ago, the prevailing worldview was grounded in religious ideas. This way of knowing guided the development of knowledge and society well into the 18th century, when the successes of modern science began to challenge the seeming inadequacies of religion's explanations of the physical world. The idea of unlimited progress through the advance of science evolved from the application of scientific discovery to quality of life improvements in health, technology, agriculture, and industry.

U.S. higher education, under significant influence from the 19th century German research enterprise, became the predominant engine of science and the embodiment of the idea of progress during the early 20th century. However, this period of history brought the concurrent developments of quantum physics relativity and the detrimental effects of technology seen in urbanization and modern warfare, calling into question both the idea of progress and the unquestioned trustworthiness of science as the leading guide for human development. Though religion still suffered from the stigma of failing the challenges of modern science, it had offered a seemingly more complete way of knowing when compared to the newly apparent shortcomings of science. This awareness and resulting desire for a more unified way of knowing, coupled with the challenge of Einstein's relativity to the more static universe of Newton, fostered anti-intellectual and reactionary responses. But it also emboldened some more conciliatory voices to explore ways of knowing that incorporated modern science while acknowledging other dimensions of experience.

The debate continues between those asserting a value-free, objective approach to a single knowable reality and those arguing for an interpreted environment that acknowledges context, culture, and perspective. Since the university remains the major agent of discovery and technological development in our society, and since both ways of knowing are contending for a place in the future of higher education, it is important to understand the emergent phenomenon of spirituality in higher education and its potential impact upon the development of knowledge and, consequently, life in this country.

A Brief History of Spirituality in the U.S.
The earliest institutions of higher learning in the United States prepared clergy for the spiritual oversight of colonial life as settlements grew to towns and moved West. The pervasive influence of religion in society through this time was seen in college curricula and government organization patterned after church models. Spirituality referred to the quality of one's Christian experience-predominantly Protestant, but with significant Anglican and Roman Catholic presence. The flow of immigration through the colonial and early national period came from Europe, the United Kingdom, and Scandanavia, further reinforcing the Christian dominance in its varied denominational forms.

During the 18th century, science laid increasing claim to knowledge and technological innovation, and began to offer explanations of the physical world that challenged traditional Christian religion and undermined its pervasive authority. Also during this time, a group of intellectuals (later to be known as the Transcendentalists), including Ralph Waldo Emerson, introduced to American society sources from Eastern spiritual traditions, including Buddhism and Taoism. In 1893, the first Parliament of World Religions was held in Chicago, Illinois. Representatives from major religious traditions from around the world convened for several days to pursue common ground and understanding. A delegation of Hindu from India toured the US in conjunction with their attending the parliament. They were so dismayed with what they perceived to be the spiritual impoverishment of the United States, that upon their return to India, they sent Hindu missionaries to the United States.

Though at first of small influence and limited to an elite intellectual audience, these seedling ideas from non-Western spiritual traditions germinated in the rich intellectual soil of early 20th century America. Important conditions present during this time set the stage for growing interest in spirituality that would emerge over the next several decades: the shortfall of the promise of science, the apparent intellectual inadequacies of traditional Christian religion's response to modern science, and the emergent interest in Eastern spiritual traditions.

By the early 20th century, the promise of science and technology had been tarnished by the problems emerging from industrialization, the growth of cities, the increasing sophistication and violence of modern warfare, and the general failure to solve social problems as had been hoped. At the same time, Einstein's theory of relativity and the consequent emergence of quantum physics further challenged the view of the world previous offered by traditional science. Higher education through this period continued to embrace science and technology, becoming the incubator for innovation and technology transfer. At the same time, fields of social inquiry like psychology and sociology appropriated the methods of science, attempting to replicate the successes of the physical sciences in developing their own areas of inquiry.

The two world wars of the 20th century, concluding with the nuclear explosion at Hiroshima, laid bare the paradox of scientific progress-spectacular intellectual achievement resulting in horrific moral consequences. The remaining decades of the 20th century saw further scientific advance, particularly in the biomedical areas, that continued to challenge ethicists of every spiritual and secular tradition. It was, however, the decade of the sixties that gave increased impetus to the current interest in spirituality.

Spirituality and Higher Education in the 1960s
Three developments of the 1960s combined with the growing disillusionment with traditional science in the service of progress, contributed to the cultural climate change regarding spirituality in higher education and the broader society. First was the well-known protest culture of the sixties campuses. Growing as a response to the Vietnam War, the broader establishment-including business, government, and religion-was assailed by the collegiate generation for the apparent failure of its institutions. Alternative answers were sought and explored by this younger generation. Second, the Immigration Act of 1965 opened the gates to non-Western immigration. Heretofore, immigrants were largely European, but with this new wave came non-Western cultural practices, including religion. Over the ensuing decades, the spread of these alternatives to Christian faith traditions across the American landscape brought new perspectives and resources for spiritual development. They also challenged the meaning and intent of the long cherished ideal of pluralism. Third, the mid-sixties saw the creation of religious studies departments in higher education. Previously the province of theological education, the study of religion transmuted to an academic discipline complete with the creation of its own disciplinary association, the American Academy of Religion.

These trends were occurring at the same time as the dominant view of science was being challenged. Deriving from the relativism of quantum physics, some scholars began to assert that reality must be interpreted with attention to culture, context, and perspective and that there is not a single objectively knowable reality. These sentiments are not only abroad in the popular culture but are contending for a place in the university.

Conclusion
Decades of ferment have given rise in recent years to scholars and practitioners organizing conferences and publishing in respected journals to publicly argue the place of spirituality in higher education. In 1993, the second Parliament of World Religion convened in Chicago after 100 years; a commitment emerged to conduct these gatherings more frequently and a third parliament was held in South Africa in 1999. The Education As Transformation Project convened national gatherings in 1998 at Wellesley College and 2000 at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst to explore evidences of and roles for spirituality and religion in higher education. The Pluralism Project at Harvard University heightened national awareness of the breadth and depth of religious diversity in the United States. Scholars and practitioners continue to argue in books and journals for a place within higher education to acknowledge and to develop the spiritual dimension of the whole of life to complement the intellect. Clearly, spirituality will hold a prominent place in our discussions of higher education throughout the coming decades.

See also: Political and Social Contexts; Religious Institutions

For Further Reading:
Eck, Diana. 1993. Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaris. Boston: Beacon Press.
Kung, Hans and Karl-Josef Kuschel, eds. 1995. A Global Ethic: The Declaration of the Parliament of World Religions. New York: Continuum.
Love, Patrick, and Donna Talbot. 1999. Defining Spiritual Development: A Missing Consideration for Student Affairs. NASPA Journal 37, No. 1:361-375.
Laurence, Peter. 1999. Can Religion and Spirituality Find a Place in Higher Education? About Campus 4, No.5: 11-16.
Palmer, Parker. 1983. To Know As We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey. San Francisco: Harper Collins.
Parks, Sharon. 2000. Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Young Adults in Their Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Faith. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Rendon, Laura I. 2000. Academics of the Heart: Reconnecting The Scientific Mind with the Spirit's Artistry. Review of Higher Education 24, No. 1:1-13.
Roof, Wade, C., Anne, E. Patrick, Ronald, L. Grimes, and Bill J. Leonard. Forum: American Spirituality. Religion and American Culture 9, No. 2:131-157.
Strange, Carney. 2000. Spirituality at State: Private Journeys and Public Visions. Journal of College and Character. http://www.CollegeValues.org