RELIGION AT HARVARD

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I would like to note that Harvard is sorely lacking not only in the fields of Latin American and Indian studies, which have recently been discussed, but also in the broad field of religion. There is no undergraduate concentration in religion here, as there is at Princeton and Yale; and the Philosophy Department there is notorious for its preoccupation with linguistic analysis. An undergraduate at Harvard cannot make religion his major academic interest. Even opportunities for study of religion outside one's concentration are slowly disappearing, although they were inadequate to start with. History of Religion 101, the introductory survey, was last offered two years ago and is now bracketed with no date for resumption. Humanities 118, the introductory New Testament course, is offered only every other year for one semester. There are no opportunities to continue New Testament study. There are also no opportunities to continue study of the early church chronologically, because Church History 101a, the early church survey, was eliminated from the Arts and Sciences catalogue this ear. It is difficult if not impossible for an undergraduate to cross-register at the Divinity School (whereas cross-registration at several other graduate schools is not difficult). There are no courses on religion in America, or on the situation in modern religion. From the close of the above-mentioned and unavailable church course through medleval Catholicism and the development of Protestantism, there is one course (Church History 103b, a quirk offering that concentrates on three European countries for less than two centuries).

The only course dealing primarily with the religion of Islam and not the sociology of Islamic countries is History of Religions 231, primarily for graduates. It covers Mohammed; no course covers the development of Islamic theology and religious law as an exclusive interest. Far Eastern religions are touched on in several literary surveys and intellectural histories of the area, but only Buddhism is studied for its own sake. Hinduism, Confucianism and Taoism are totally left out; even the Buddhism courses (Indian Studies 131a and Chinese 132) are taught by the area departments and are connected with the phenomenon of religion in general. Old Testament Judaism is covered well only because it fits the departmental concerns of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures; post-Biblical Judaism is available without specialized language knowledge only as a half course, Humanites 142, offered every other year. The University seems to consider religion a subject unworthy of serious and concentrated study. Robert Belmaker '67