The Best Liberal Arts Education For Graduate Study in Religion

VEN IN NORMAL peace times, consideration of our subject has limited value. Many students who come to graduate schools of religion reach the decision to enter religious work so late in their college course that no planning can help them. Furthermore, many graduate students in religion now come from schools or from departments of study which do not provide a liberal arts education. This is by no means a calamity, since some of these students do excellent work in graduate schools of religion. It suggests that no one course of study is indispensable as a preparation for theological study. In time of war, consideration of our subject may seem utterly futile. Our college classes are being decimated by the draft. Many colleges may have to close, and others may survive only by putting aside their liberal arts work in order to provide courses of direct military value. It is a serious question how many of these schools will be able to resume their former position and program after the war. In this very uncertainty, however, lies ample reason for serious and continued attention to our subject. Now that our educational system seems ready to surrender -too easily and too far for our country's good-to the demand for the sacrifice of the liberal arts program, there is need of clear thought and intelligent effort to insure its revival after the war. One way in which we can share in this planning is by considering the question with which this article deals. We must seek to give the best possible guidance to students who are still able to look forward to graduate study in religion, and we must be ready to work after the war for the restoration of an adequate liberal arts basis for such graduate study.

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