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Letters
Religion's Golden Year
I was pleased to read about the 50-year history of
the Department of Religion from the perspectives of Paula Richman
'74 and James Dobbins (Fall 2002). It is especially exciting to
learn about the increasing diversity of the courses and faculty
during this period and the number of students who currently major
in religion. The courses taught by Clyde Holbrook and Edward Long
were excellent foundations for my graduate studies at Yale University
and Hartford Seminary. There were only two of us majoring in religion
in our graduating class, and the choices of courses and faculty
were very limited. I valued an undergraduate education in which
science and religion could be recognized as independent fields of
study that needed to be in dialogue with each other. My lifelong
personal and professional commitment to ecumenical and interreligious
activities was nurtured by studying with J. Robert Nelson, Walter
Marshall Horton, and George Michaelides, all internationally known
scholars and leaders in ecumenical relations. I agree with the concluding
statements of both authors about the study of religion at Oberlin.
Paula Richman wrote, "Only by continually expanding and rethinking
approaches can a discipline remain alive." James Dobbins concluded:
"As a field, religious studies is still a work in progress."
Rev. Robert Loesch '63
Springfield, Massachusetts
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