2019 Book Award
The Resilience of Religion in American Higher Education
by John Schmalzbauer and Kathleen Mohoney
Baylor University Press, 2019
ISBN: 9781481308717
A well-worn, often-told tale of woe. American higher education has been secularized. Religion on campus has declined, died, or disappeared. Deemed irrelevant, there is no room for the sacred in American colleges and universities. While the idea that religion is unwelcome in higher education is often discussed, and uncritically affirmed, John Schmalzbauer and Kathleen Mahoney directly challenge this dominant narrative. The Resilience of Religion in American Higher Education documents a surprising openness to religion in collegiate communities. Schmalzbauer and Mahoney develop this claim in three areas: academic scholarship, church-related higher education, and student life. They highlight growing interest in the study of religion across the disciplines, as well as a willingness to acknowledge the intellectual relevance of religious commitments. The Resilience of Religion in American Higher Education also reveals how church-related colleges are taking their founding traditions more seriously, even as they embrace religious pluralism. Finally, the volume chronicles the diversification of student religious life, revealing the longevity of campus spirituality. Far from irrelevant, religion matters in higher education. As Schmalzbauer and Mahoney show, religious initiatives lead institutions to engage with cultural diversity and connect spirituality with academic and student life, heightening attention to the sacred on both secular and church-related campuses.
2019 Finalists
Vocation Across the Academy: A New Vocabulary for Higher Education
Edited by David Cunningham
Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780190607104
The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis
By Alan Jacobs
Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780190864651
The State of the Evangelical Mind: Reflections on the Past, Prospects for the Future
Edited by Todd Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher Devers
InterVarsity Press Academic
The Wounded Angel: Fiction and the Religious Imagination
By Paul Lakeland
Liturgical Press
ISBN: 9780814646229
For past winners, click here.
Noteworthy News
Registration open for National Conference
The 2020 LFP National Conference will be hosted online by St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX. Registration is now open. Click here for more information and to register.
Registration open for Virtual Consultation for Senior Administrators
On October 8, 2020 from 2:00-3:30pm CDT, the Lilly Fellows Program will be hosting a Virtual Consultation for Senior Administrators: Navigating the Moral and Ethical Terrain of Covid-19. Click here for more information and to register.
May LFP Update
The Current LFP Update for May 2020 is now available. Click here.
New edition of Leading Lives that Matter released
In their second edition of Leading Lives That Matter, editors Mark Schwehn and Dorothy Bass compile a wide range of texts—from ancient and contemporary literature, social commentary, and philosophy—related to questions of vital interest for those who are trying to decide what to do with their lives and what kind of human beings they hope to become. Leading Lives that Matter has been an important text in many of our fellowship and grant programs, and it contains excellent resources. Click here for more information and an excerpt.
Rescheduled: Catholic Intellectual Tradition Conference at Sacred Heart University
The “Catholic Intellectual Tradition Conference: Challenges and Opportunities for the Catholic University in the 21st Century,” at Sacred Heart University has been rescheduled to October 29-31, 2020 as an online conference. Click here for more information and to register.
Seton Hall conference on Communication and Religion in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election 10/21-10/23
Seton Hall University will host an conference on “Communication and Religion in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election,” on October 21-23. This conference is free to attend and will be broadcast live for those who cannot attend. Register now at www.shu.edu/ICR2020.
Lilly Network of Church- Related Colleges and Universities
If you are interested in learning more about membership in the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities, please contact us here.
