Religion, Theology and Multiculturalism in Universities: A Case Study of a European University
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Religion, Theology and Multiculturalism in Universities: A Case Study of a European University Gordon Mitchell Centre for Intercultural Studies, Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft, University of Hamburg, Edmund Siemers Allee 1, Hamburg 201 46, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
In order to defend their place in the university, departments of Theology and Religion point to the way in which they model the multicultural ideal. At the University of Hamburg, an initiative to establish a Chair in Islamic Theology has argued for the social necessity of promoting the study of minority religions. Although there is a problem with defining minorities in exclusively religious categories, the initiative does open possibilities for a field of study which is selfcritical and participatory. Higher Education Policy (2005) 18, 413–417. doi:10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300102 Keywords: religion; theology; multiculturalism; departments of religion
Religion in the Multicultural University It is standard wisdom in Multicultural Education to be suspicious of essentializing culture by focusing on a particular aspect of difference, such as religion. In spite of this, Departments of Religion are usually very enthusiastic in using multiculturalism to justify their place in the modern university. The presence of professorships in the various World Religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam — does seem to suggest a commitment to cultural diversity, particularly because minorities tend to present themselves in religious categories. However, even where the courses taught emphasize the porous and ever-changing phenomenon of religion, the way the departments are structured makes it difficult to avoid the impression of discrete bodies of religious knowledge. Particularly vulnerable to criticism from multiculturalism is the long-established pre-eminence of Christian Theology in European Universities. In some cases, particularly in Britain, this has seen Theology being supplanted by Religious Studies. In Germany however, all larger universities still have Faculties of Theology, either Protestant or Catholic, and sometimes both. The current debate within these universities on the question of including other religions present in society has resulted in some interesting experiments.
Gordon Mitchell Religion, Theology and Multiculturalism in Universities
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Hamburg was one of the first. This case study, however, does not necessarily offer a story with a happy ending. It is about a project that is still in progress, and even if all its objectives are not attained, it remains important as it raises issues relevant to the question of institutionalizing intercultural policy in universities. In 1999, a small group of colleagues at the university began to lobby for the establishment of a Chair in Islamic Theology. Although there is already a Department of Islamic Studies (Islamwissenchaft) with two professorships, it was argued that Islamic Theology needed to be introduced as a discipline in its own right. In order to understand t
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