Word: protestantism
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Memorial Church, dedicated to Protestantism, represents only a small fraction of Protestant religious thought. Its Unitarian-style service lacks many traditional sections, such as the General Confessional or the Gloria Patri. Its high-quality intellectual sermons are often not designed to inspire irrational faith, but to direct rational inquiry...
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.
...Protestant tradition" which received so much emphasis in last year's religious discussions actually seems to be fast disappearing at Harvard--if it exists now at all. A Harvard education is more destructive to Protestantism than to Catholicism or Judaism. While only 21 per cent of the Catholics and 25 per cent of the Jews in the survey apostasized, fully 40 per cent of the middle-ground Protestants dropped their denominational affiliation...