The Ursinusiana Project: How the Religious History of Ursinus College Yielded Today\u27s Liberal Arts Curriculum

My project is divided into two parts. The first part is a heavily annotated timeline. I have organized all of the bits and pieces I encountered during my time in the Ursinusiana archives in a clear and concise manner that addresses each historical occurrence that led to the abolition of chapel attendance at Ursinus College. I hope that this timeline can serve not only as a reference for the casual reader who is interested in the religious history of the College but also as a guide to my analysis in the second part of the project. Although constructing the timeline proved to be the most time consuming piece of my project, my analysis is by far the more important of the two sections. After reading Emile Durkheim\u27s theories I spent a long time exploring the relationship between Durkheim and Ursinus. My analysis synthesizes my discoveries and molds them into a coherent theory that addresses not only the role of religion at Ursinus (the topic that had originally piqued my interest) but also the identity of the College itself and how Ursinus College came to take its place amongst other top liberal arts colleges

Examining Our Roots: How Over 100 Years of Religion Yielded a Secular Liberal Arts Program at Ursinus College

Although Ursinus College is a fairly young institution, there have been many modifications that have occurred throughout its history. While we as students might be tempted to fixate on the changes that we find most relatable such as the price of an Ursinus education (it was $188 a year in 1885) or the clubs and organizations in which one could choose to be involved (in the 1880s the only options were the Zwinglian, Schaff, Ebrard, and Olevian literary societies which flourished here), the overall character of the College was most heavily influenced by the presence and eventual absence of religion. Despite always being a non-sectarian college, Ursinus was founded in the wake of a religious upheaval in the German Reformed Church which, at the time of its founding, had a particular theological character. The College is said to have been founded in prayer and in debt, and only recently has it become the wholly secular institution that we know today. This summer I plan to explore the Ursinusiana archives in the library as a precursor to an honors paper in which I will address some of the implications of the College\u27s shift. My primary focus will concern the religious character of the College in its early years and the eventual abolition of compulsory chapel in the late 1960s

Concordia Seminary magazine | Winter 2014

The Gospel: God’s power in actionhttps://scholar.csl.edu/csm/1010/thumbnail.jp