Piety And Plurality [Hardcover]

I began studying American theological education in the 1970s, and Piety and Plurality is the third of three studies. In Piety and Intellect, I examined the colonial and nineteenth-century search for a form of theological education that was true to the church's confessional traditions and responsible to the intellectual demands of the age. In Piety and Profession, I described how that model was modified under the impact of the new biblical criticism and by the American belief in professionalism. In this volume, I have tried to bring the story up to date. Unfortunately, I did not find one unifying theme for the period. Rather, theological education seemed to move forward on a number of different levels, each with its own story. Here I have tried to capture some of the dynamics of this movement and to indicate how theological educators have struggled with the plurality in their midst. In the process, theological education has learned to live with its contradictions and problems. As important as the stories are, however, there is also the story of the schools' struggles to live in the midst of a constant financial crisis that checked development at every stage. Piety and Plurality completes Glenn Miller's comprehensive and informed history of American Protestant theological education. With compelling argument and winsome storytelling, Miller rightly identifies the sources and movements that have resulted in a grand diversification of theological education since the 1960s. This era has many stories that unfold in different plots, and even though few have come to their definitive conclusion, Miller deftly explicates each of them with precision and accuracy. --Daniel Aleshire, Executive Director, Association of Theological Schools, The Commission on Accrediting, Pennsylvania Glenn Miller has written the single most important, comprehensive history of American Protestant theological education. Piety and Plurality is the culmination of his magisterial three-volume seriló–