Religious Studies in Atlantic Canada: A State-of-the-Art Review. Volume 6 of Study of Religion in Canada by Paul W.R. Bowlby, Tom Faulkner (review)

316 letters in canada 2001 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 the humanities, social sciences, and pure sciences the notion, as Lovejoy suggested, is out of place. Often jargon-ridden and clumsily polysyllabic, this book does not make for easy reading. It should nevertheless be read, for it offers a glimpse of what many will see as a less than attractive future for Canadian universities, but all the same one that looks all too possible. (MICHIEL HORN) Paul W.R. Bowlby, with Tom Faulkner. Religious Studies in Atlantic Canada: A State-of-the-Art Review. Volume 6 of Study of Religion in Canada Wilfrid Laurier University Press. xii, 212. $34.95 This is the last of a six-volume series of studies committed to a review of the character and progress of the academic study of religion in Canada. Bowlby insists in chapter 1 that a proper evaluation of the state of the discipline in the Atlantic provinces requires some awareness of the religious foundations or associations of many of our universities and of the influence of secular forces on those institutions (of which an account is given for the postsecondary educational institutions in the Atlantic region in chapter 2). It also requires an understanding of the role played by the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion (and the influence of the earliest Guide to Religious Studies in Canada [1969] prepared by Charles P. Anderson) in the creation of a >self-definition= of the field on the national scene. That >self-definition,= he claims somewhat ambiguously, excluded >studies= that trained people in religion or prepared them for professional work in religious institutions, but did not clearly demarcate the academic study of religion from theology. Given this assessment, Bowlby excludes from his study theological training institutions but includes those religious institutions that have accepted public funding and have to some degree, therefore, been >secularized.= Bowlby then turns his attention in chapter 3 to a review of >Departments and Degree Programs in Religious Studies= in twelve of the region=s universities: four Roman Catholic universities (Saint Mary=s, Mount Saint Vincent, and Saint Francis Xavier in Nova Scotia, and Saint Thomas University in New Brunswick); three Protestant universities (Atlantic Baptist University and Mount Allison in New Brunswick, and Acadia University in Nova Scotia), and the departments of Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of Prince Edward Island, Université Moncton, and Dalhousie University and University College of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. He maintains that even though each of the departments keeps in sight its relationship to the national and international state of the field, it essentially designs and implements its programs in light of its particular historical cultures and traditions. Consequently >the structure of the major at each of these universities is quite distinct.= Indeed, Bowlby argues that because of these historical particularities, >Religious Studies is a hotly humanities 317 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 contested field with many subjects, methods, assumptions, philosophies and theologies.= He also claims, however, that one must recognize that the non-religious founding of a university >does not necessarily mean an open mind about the study of religions in the university curriculum.= The conclusions drawn in chapter 4 regarding >the curriculum in religious studies= echo those of chapter 3. Most of the institutions included in the study have evolved from departments of theology and, therefore, have followed a conventional pattern of curriculum development, maintaining a focus on biblical and Christian studies. Nevertheless, Bowlby insists that there have also been significant developments such as the introduction of comparative, social-scientific, and gender-critical approaches to the study of religion that have moved the discipline beyond the conventional Christian focus. Chapter 5, on >Faculty in Religious Studies,= reviews disparate matters, including faculty qualifications, areas of specialization, teaching skills, research undertaken, and so on. Bowlby argues that, given the small size of the departments in the region=s universities (and their commitment by and large to undergraduate programs), hiring must be sensitive to the breadth of training of its faculty, not only with respect to religious traditions but also in the diversity of approaches to understanding them. The general...