News
Cambridge Residents Slam Council Proposal to Delay Bike Lane Construction
News
‘Gender-Affirming Slay Fest’: Harvard College QSA Hosts Annual Queer Prom
News
‘Not Being Nerds’: Harvard Students Dance to Tinashe at Yardfest
News
Wrongful Death Trial Against CAMHS Employee Over 2015 Student Suicide To Begin Tuesday
News
Cornel West, Harvard Affiliates Call for University to Divest from ‘Israeli Apartheid’ at Rally
The Committee on Higher Degrees in the Study of Religion--a joint Faculty and Divinity School committee--may seek to establish an undergraduate concentration in comparative religion in the near future.
Roderick Firth, Alfred Professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy and Civil Policy, said yesterday that the Committee met yesterday to discuss the "very tentative plans" for an undergraduate honors program. Harvard currently grants doctorates in the study of religion, but not Bachelor of Arts degrees.
Feel Strongly
Krister Stendahl, dean of the Divinity School and former chairman of the Committee, told The Crimson that he feels strongly that Harvard should establish the undergraduate concentration.
"Harvard is the only private university in the country, with the possible exception of Cornell, that has not recognized religion as a field for undergraduate concentration," Stendahl said.
Stendahl said that without an undergraduate concentration in religion, the only people available to teach courses on religion usually do not have religious studies as their primary field of competence.
He said he felt that the lack of courses in religion was due to the historical tradition of separating church and state.
"Even the state universities have learned to cope with the problem. There is no reason Harvard cannot," Stendahl said.
Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.