Howard, Thomas Albert 1967- (Thomas A. Howard)

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Howard, Thomas Albert 1967- (Thomas A. Howard)

PERSONAL:

Born 1967; married, wife's name Agnes; children: Elizabeth, Hannah, Benjamin. Education: University of Virginia, M.A., 1992, Ph.D., 1996.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Georgetown, MA. Office—Gordon College, 255 Grapevine Rd., Wenham, MA 01984. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Gordon College, Wenham, MA, associate professor of history, founding member, Jerusalem & Athens Forum. Has also taught at Valparaiso Univer- sity, the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, the Humboldt University of Berlin, the University of Basel, and the University of Notre Dame.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Senior Carey Fellow in the Erasmus Institute, University of Notre Dame, 2003-04; fellowships from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, American Academy of Religion, Pew Charitable Trusts, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, Lilly Fellows Program in the Humanities and the Arts at Valparaiso University, and German Academic Exchange. Lilly Fellows Program Annual Book Award, 2007, for Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University.

WRITINGS:

Religion and the Rise of Historicism: W.M.L. de Wette, Jacob Burckhardt, and the Theological Origins of Nineteenth-Century Historical Consciousness, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

(Editor) Mark A. Noll and James Turner, The Future of Christian Learning: An Evangelical and Catholic Dialogue, Brazos Press (Grand Rapids, MI), 2008.

Contributor to journals, including the American Historical Review, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Historically Speaking, Pro Ecclesia, Church History, Journal of the History of Ideas, History of Universities, Fides et Historia, Christian Scholar's Review, Hedgehog Review, National Interest, Modern Age, Intercollegiate Studies Review, Journal of Church and State, Cresset, Christian Century, First Things: A Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life, and Books and Culture.

SIDELIGHTS:

Historian Thomas Albert Howard is perhaps best known for his book Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, winner of the 2007 Lilly Fellows Program Annual Book Award. Observing that previous scholarship has not fully addressed the influence of theology on the development of the modern university, or of the university's influence on theology, Howard considers both influences in his study. Focusing in particular on the educational aspirations of Germany's universities in the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries, he describes the development of the modern university system in the West. He begins with an overview of the medieval roots of German universities, the later influences of humanism, Reformation theology and politics, and Pietism. He explains the intellectual controversies that led to the founding of the University of Berlin in 1810 by Wilhelm von Humboldt, a liberal Prussian educator, and also discusses in detail ensuing developments within the university and between the university and the state.

Founded by Protestant liberals, the University of Berlin boasted an excellent theology faculty. But as the century progressed, the importance of the sciences began to eclipse that of theological studies. Catholic Historical Review critic Harvey Hill summarized that throughout the nineteenth century, almost all German scholars believed that science was "naturally progressive and open-ended." Therefore, they viewed the "expansion of knowledge" as an essential scholarly task. In this climate, a scientific theology developed, which gained influence throughout Germany and in Europe. At the same time, however, the importance of the theology faculty within the university itself steadily weakened. Hill added that by the twentieth century, theologians were forced to defend the teaching of scientific theology at a university "from both secular and neo-orthodox challengers." Howard concludes that the nineteenth century was a "formidable epoch" with issues and questions that are still relevant, especially those regarding the connection between "theology and the university; between deeply held articles of faith and critical-scientific understanding; between the traditions of Christianity and their public, cultural expression; in short, between what [Friedrich] Schleiermacher had called the ‘religious interest’ and the ‘scientific spirit.’"

In a review for Church History, contributor James O. Duke pointed out that Howard "enlivens his narrative [with] well-crafted incidents and selected case studies," and "casts grandiloquent ‘idea of the university’ rhetoric aptly … in sociology of knowledge terms like legitimation and plausibility structures, and is sensitive to their social-cultural setting." Duke expressed particular praise for Howard's ability to synthesize a large amount of arcane material into "accessible, up-to-date, and reliable summaries." Calling the book thoroughly researched and well written, Duke commended Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University as a "thought-provoking testament to ‘Berlin's’ legacy." Journal of Ecclesiastical History reviewer Roger Chickering, though, stated that the book "does not do justice to the confrontations between Protestant and Catholic theologians in shaping Protestant thought during the nineteenth century, or to the religious aura that attached to academic scholarship" as viewed by leading Protestant figures such as Schleiermacher.

Howard's first book, Religion and the Rise of Historicism: W.M.L. de Wette, Jacob Burckhardt, and the Theological Origins of Nineteenth-Century Historical Consciousness, also attracted significant critical attention. Howard argues in this book that theology and religion played a greater role than is traditionally recognized in the evolution of nineteenth-century intellectual thought. Though many scholars have emphasized the secular nature of historicism during this time, Howard stresses the influence of theology and religion. He scrutinizes in particular the case of Jacob Burckhardt. Burckhardt's work expressed a deep pessimism about human progress, which was at odds with the progressive and optimistic notions of humanism. In contrast to scholars who relate Burckhardt's pessimism to secular cultural influences, Howard argues that it "was really a form of residual allegiance to his childhood faith, in particular to the theological idea of original sin," stated Canadian Journal of History critics Lionel Steiman and Elizabeth Colwill.

Howard explains Burckhardt's deep interest in the ideas of radical theorist W.M.L. de Wette, which precipitated Burckhardt's crisis of faith and led him to abandon theological studies for a career as a historian. Burckhardt went on to write The Age of Constantine the Great and several other books, including two extremely well known texts, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy and The History of the Renaissance in Italy. Though Burckhardt determined to write about the history of Europe in secular terms, showing the rise and decline of Christianity from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, his narratives, according to Howard, remained profoundly marked by theological ideas and themes.

Noting Howard's preference in the book for what Steiman and Colwill described as a "concept of human nature derived from this theology, as well as his belief that moral and political judgments that accept such a concept are preferable to those which do not." Steiman and Colwill observed that the book is nevertheless balanced in its analysis and makes an important contribution to the field. Many other critics also judged Religion and the Rise of Historicism favorably. Stefan Berger, in a review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism for the English Historical Review, praised it as a convincing reassessment of an important historical thinker. Gilbert Meilaender, in a review for First Things: A Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life, stated that Howard provides an "engaging narrative of events" and a theory regarding the "nature of European secular thought as less a fundamental break with our religious heritage than a reworking of older, theological ways" of understanding life.

An associate professor of history at Gordon College, Howard is also a founding member of the Jerusalem & Athens Forum, an interdisciplinary honors program there. He is editor of the volume The Future of Christian Learning: An Evangelical and Catholic Dialogue, by Mark A. Noll and James Turner, and is a frequent contributor to academic journals, including the American Historical Review, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Historically Speaking, Pro Ecclesia, Church History, Journal of the History of Ideas, History of Universities, Fides et Historia, Christian Scholar's Review, Hedgehog Review, National Interest, Modern Age, Intercollegiate Studies Review, Journal of Church and State, Cresset, Christian Century, First Things, and Books and Culture.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Howard, Thomas Albert, Religion and the Rise of Historicism: W.M.L. de Wette, Jacob Burckhardt, and the Theological Origins of Nineteenth-Century Historical Consciousness, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Howard, Thomas Albert, Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, April 1, 2007, Frederick Gregory, review of Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, p. 604.

Canadian Journal of History, April 1, 2001, Lionel Steiman and Elizabeth Colwill, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 145.

Catholic Historical Review, April 1, 2008, Harvey Hill, review of Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, p. 392.

Central European History, January 1, 2002, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 284.

Church History, March 1, 2001, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 175; June 1, 2007, James O. Duke, review of Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, p. 432.

English Historical Review, November 1, 2000, Stefan Berger, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 1330.

First Things: A Journal of Religion and Public Life, October 1, 2000, Gilbert Meilaender, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 75.

German Studies Review, February 1, 2001, David Lindenfeld, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 181; May 1, 2007, James C. Albisetti, review of Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, p. 413.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, January 1, 2001, Bernard M.G. Reardon, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 165; July 1, 2007, Roger Chickering, review of Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, p. 585.

Journal of Modern History, June 1, 2001, George S. Williamson, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 393.

Journal of Religion, July 1, 2007, Richard Crouter, review of Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, p. 450.

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, June 1, 2001, Brent W. Sockness, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 493; December 1, 2007, Paul Dafydd Jones, review of Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, p. 1006.

Journal of Theological Studies, April 1, 2001, Mark D. Chapman, review of Religion and the Rise of Historicism, p. 441; April 1, 2008, Mark D. Chapman, review of Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, pp. 412-415.

Times Higher Education Supplement (London, England), December 8, 2006, Chris Thornhill, "Conservative Clerics Committed to Progress," review of Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University, p. 26.