Loughran on the Divinity School

By Christian Hummel | Wednesday, May 27, 1998

Editor's Note: William Loughran is a Professor Emeritus of Divinity at Notre Dame University. He holds degrees from Notre Dame, Holy Cross University, the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia. He is a New Testament Scholar, but has also been published on the state of modern divinity schools.

The Dartmouth Review: What is the purpose of divinity schools in American post-secondary education today?

William Loughran: It varies from school to school, but I would say, far and away, the vast majority of the students in divinity schools in this country and in the western world, are preparing for some form of ministerial work . It may be the priesthood or Christian ministry or even the rabbinate in the Jewish tradition.

TDR: What type of student goes to divinity schools?

Loughran: Some are simply interested in theology at a different level than the strict academic Ph.D. in theology or scripture. They also are pursuing the other dimensions of study that are taught in divinity school: sacramentals and things like that. Some of them are preparing for religious education. They want to be teachers.

TDR: How do the admissions standards at divinity schools compare to the graduate programs in religion?

Loughran: I would imagine they would be the same, especially within any one institution. If you have a fixed graduate school of arts and sciences with a theology department and divinity school, I'd say they're looking for the same academic ability.

But I will hasten to add this proviso: This might be different if a candidate for admission to a divinity school is interested in the ministry, and there is an identified need within his community or even within that divinity school, for that. As for admissions, at the more prestigitous schools, Harvard Divinity School, Yale, Chicago and the like, they're going to be on a par with their religious graduate programs. These schools don't need to admit any graduate students who are not superior.

TDR: What role do non-traditional approaches play in divinity school curricula, for example, feminist interpretations, and liberation theology.

Loughran: It varies from school to school, but I'm willing to say that a strong, established divinity school will hold principally to a traditional curriculum. They'll allow some room for more avant garde stuff, but never to the point where it begins to dominate curricular design or course selection or even program requirements.

TDR: I've heard that the Dean of Harvard Divinity School has commented that he would like to return the school to more traditonal Judeo-Christian values.

Loughran: I'm not sure. I've never really seen the comment in print, I have friends who teach there but we've never really even discussed that. But I think it's just a natural corrective that's come along after we came out of the 60's, 70's and 80's especially, where there was a preponderance of interest in less tradional fields like feminist theology.

TDR: Today's Christian Science Monitor reported that there's a new academic backlash against the hypercriticism of sacred texts that feminist theology and the like fosters.

Loughran: You have to be careful when you approach the text that the text is there; you can not manipulate it and begin to see what you want to see.

I think the backlash is occuring because there is some scholarship being put forth that is also bringing its own agenda with it. The criticism of that is that we have to go back and respect the text.

TDR: What kind of differences exist, if any, between Catholic seminaries and Protestant divinity schools?

Loughran: It would depend again on the particular seminary. The Catholic seminaries that are affiliated with large universities will at least have open debates. If you begin to look at their faculties you'll see that there is a measure of ecumenism and a more receptive stance towards other traditions. This is not to say they're preaching it. They will always have to hold to their own tradition.

TDR: I've heard some comments from certain professors here at Dartmouth that a degree from a Catholic university will make it harder to get a job in academic religion at a non-Catholic institution.

Loughran: I would imagine that it wouldn't necessarily make it harder, but the candidate coming out on the job market with a degree from a Catholic university has to be able to prove that he's not just buying some cozy little line.
Then we get back to the argument of 'does he have the basic skills, does he know the things, can he look at the text for the text's sake?' That will make it harder.

Then there's always going to be a little bit of reaction to a century of the 'Church triumphant' where seminaries will want to look carefully at that. Twenty years ago it was difficult for non-Catholic professors to get jobs in Catholic graduate faculties. They now do it. That's not to say they form a majority but they now do it.

TDR: What level of intellectual prestige do divinity schools have today, and has that declined? I've heard reports that the respect a divinity degree commands has actually declined in the past couple of generations.

Loughran: It has in the perspective of some. Yet the strong, first level professional degrees, the MTh or the MDiv, from any of the standard stock of the strong divinity schools in this country hold every bit as much clout as a masters or even initial doctorate work in the graduate schools of arts and sciences.

I think some of the decline has come from second or third tier divinity schools where some of the rigor has given way to trendier research, trendier study, and a heavier emphasis on pastoral training.

Loughran on the Divinity School

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