Religion Professor Celebrates More than 50 Years at Temple University
April 03, 2017
by Sara Curnow Wilson
To tell the story of Leonard (“Len”) Swidler is to tell the story of the Temple’s Department of Religion — and,
in a way, the university itself.
Swidler started at Temple in 1966, shortly after the university became state-affiliated.
“Suddenly there was this influx of, relatively speaking, huge amounts of money,” he explains. “The money situation
shifted dramatically.”
What
this shift meant was that the university was able to hire hundreds of
new faculty. Swidler was one of those
hires—and almost accidentally. At the time, he was living in Pittsburgh
with no plans to relocate. He was an associate professor in the
philosophy department at Duquesne University. He had recently founded
the
Journal of Ecumenical Studies (link is external),
the first scholarly journal for interreligious dialogue, and he had an
FM radio program where he would interview visiting academics.
“I wasn’t interested in going anywhere,” he says. “Things were so exciting there.”
In fact, Swidler was actively seeking candidates for Duquesne’s new theology department. One of the people he
approached was a member of Temple’s (also new) religion department, who said he would think about it and get back to him.
“A couple of days later he called me up and said, ‘Well, I talked to my chairman Bernard Phillips and he said
he wants to hire you, Leonard Swidler, your co-editor Elwyn Smith and the journal,’” Swidler remembers.
Though
Swidler was not interested in the position, his co-editor was. Swidler
agreed to take the interview for
him but resolved to make a particular demand: he would not consider the
job unless Phillips committed himself to hiring a number of faculty
representing each major religion.
“And I said to myself, ‘Of course, he’s not going to say yes, but that’s it.’”
But Phillips surprised Swidler.
“He said ‘that’s a great idea. I’ll do it.’ And he did it!”
This
may not seem notable from a contemporary perspective, but at the time
interreligious study was not standard
practice. Departments typically only taught the prevailing religion of
their particular university; moreover, many programs were housed within
schools of divinity instead of majors within a liberal arts college.
Swidler, Smith and the
Journal of Ecumenical Studies moved to Temple. Phillips kept his promise and the department grew in size and recognition.
“Bernard
Phillips hired giants, and so Temple University’s religion department
was known worldwide, anywhere in
a circle of academics in the study of religion,” says Swidler. “There
was no place where you could get a doctorate in religious studies. It
did not exist. We were creating it.”
Not everyone thought it was a great idea. The department model received criticism from the University of Pennsylvania.
“They
were all Protestant, of course,” Swidler explains. “The then-chair of
that department publicly remarked
that we were operating on the ‘zoo theory.’ What did he mean by that?
Well, you have one lion, and you have one tiger, and you have one
antelope; you have one Catholic, and one Jew, and one Presbyterian.”
Of course, thanks to Swidler, there was not just one representative per religious group. There were many—more
a safari than a zoo. Before long, the rest of the nation’s universities followed suit.
This year, Swidler celebrates his 50th year at Temple University. The
Journal of Ecumenical Studies remains the premiere journal for interreligious dialogue and has been joined by the
Dialogue Institute (link is external), the journal’s home and outreach arm.
And what does he say to those who criticized his ideas?
“Imitation is the greatest of flattery,” he laughs.
Links zu Leonard Swidler:
Leonard Swidler, Ph.D., S.T.L., LL.D., LL.D.
astro.temple.edu/~swidler
Prof Catholic Thought & Interreligious Dialogue (skype:
leonardswidler)
215-204-7225 (Off.) 215-477-1080 (Home) 513-508-1935 (Mobile)
E-mail:
dialogue@temple.edu; Web: astro.temple.edu/~swidler/
Editor Journal Ecumenical Studies; Pres. Dialogue Institute www.jesdialogue.org
Religion Dept. Temple Univ. Philadelphia, PA 19122
www.temple.edu/religion
Center for Global Ethics: globalethic.org;Blog lenswidlersblog.jesdialogue.org/
Co-founder, Assoc. Rights of Catholics in Church
www.arcc-catholic-rights.net
Swidler Books astro.temple.edu/~swidler; Facebook.com/dialogueinstitute
Deep-Dialogue/Critical-Thinking Online Course
astro.temple.edu/~swidler/
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