Word: approach
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...total of 150 to 175 freshmen, who in many cases need qualify only with "enthusiasm and lively interest." Despite the fact that the program has been established well enough to present a seminar curriculum, the ideas and opinions of its organizers are still in a state of flux. Approach a dozen men leading seminar groups and a dozen different ideas can be gleaned on what should be done...
...quite a different approach is that of David Reisman, Henry Ford II Professor of Social Sciences, and his associates. They tend to see the Program as an opportunity for true "experiments"--for trying something without precedent in previous Harvard experience. Their plans diverge from those of other workshop-leaders in several important particulars. In the first place, the Riesman group is resolved to draw students of varying interests and aptitudes. Their hope is to bring together (in six workshops, with a total capacity of 48 people) "the physicist and the economist, the astronomer and the humanist, the historian...
This reshaping may take many different forms. One of the most common is the emphasis upon the irrational, elemental parts of Protestant worship as parts of group psychology. Many Harvard Square ministers call this the "Soc. Rel." approach to religion--students will become interested in Protestantism as an illustration of father images, sublimation, or mass delusion. One can question, however, whether such a study of religion ever explains satisfactorily the continuance of religion in a rational community...
Another common alteration of traditional Protestant belief also results from the intellectual atmosphere of the College. This approach to Protestantism steps lightly over the rational incongruities of many doctrines and concentrates instead of upon their "symbolic" aspects. Modelled upon Tillich's conception of Christian myth and symbol, this approach views Protestant theology as a convenient device to teach moral lessons. Such intellectual Protestants, certainly the majority at Harvard, reject transubstantiation, physical resurrection, or even the divinity of Christ, concntrating instead upon the symbolic significance of these beliefs. Intellectualism, however, leaves out the element of faith, a thread inextricably woven...
Reshaping of religious beliefs at Harvard usually follows the second approach, the path of intellectualism. Even though many Protestant doctrines cannot be justified rationally, students still make the effort to square irrational dogma with a pragmatic Harvard education...