Of course. What else would it be?

I would be interested in those rates across the humanites and social sciences and not just in religious studies.

I’m sure you’re aware that there have been studies done on the religious beliefs of college professors (for instance: http://religion.ssrc.org/reforum/Gross_Simmons.pdf). Not surprisingly those involved in applied fields (business, medicine, etc.) tend to be more religious than those in the social sciences and humanities. I can’t find the other report I had read where even those in the sciences were found to be more religious than those in the SS and humanities.

It would, though, be interesting to see something like this in relation to LDSs. My sense is that LDSs are well represented in the applied fields and under represented in the humanities.

Smallaxe, I would be interested in those rates across the humanites and social sciences and not just in religious studies.

No doubt Mormon history is fraught with challenges but the people who decide to go into it academically seem to be sticking around for the most part. They seem to be better off than the people who have issues and then start looking into Mormon history.

On a more serious note, part of this deals with how we’re exposed to critical theory and then what we do with that theory. If, as could happen at BYU or as a young undergrad, we presume that we’ve acquired these skills and “solved” the problems that relate to them; then when we get to grad school we could be in for a rude awakening.

I say ‘we could be in for a rude awakening’ because, depending on the program, we may not be challenged in certain ways. On the other hand, it’s also true that different undergraduate programs can prepare their students better than others. In general, it seems that a LDS graduating from a religious studies program at say UNC, is going to be better prepared in this sense than someone graduating from the history program at BYU (this isn’t a knock on you Steve, I’m also an alum of the history program). Part of this, though, also depends on which profs one works with and how close one is with them.

That said, I’m not sure that I agree with Steve that biblical studies (hereafter ‘BS’) creates more tension. Part of this depends on how we define BS. If one chooses to engage more of the linguistic elements of the bible (as I believe a number of profs at BYU have), then it’s probably easier to avoid the challenges. This tends to happen more in NE programs, though, and less in RS programs.

Under the guise of RS, I think each area of study brings with it it’s own set of challenges for a LDS. If one studies the Bible then one faces certain questions, if one studies Mormon history, then I imagine there’s another set of challenges, etc. It would be interesting to list some of these challenges out; but I don’t think we’d be able to come to a conclusion as to which field was most challenging.

Not being in either of these fields, I can only generalize those particular challenges; but for someone not studying the Bible or Mormonism I can say that the largest challenge for me relates to issues of pluralism–what sense do we make of LDS truth claims in relation to other truth claims? How significant are LDS ordinances? How authoritative is the church? Is the spread of the church necessarily neo-colonial? etc.

Oudenos: I would agree that I, at least, might give different answers a few years from now. Time will tell; it definitely is a long journey.

On rough days, I would tend to agree with this statement. For me the tension is always there, sometimes more intense, sometimes subdued, but it never goes away.

Smallaxe, perhaps the past few posts don’t demonstrate this sort of tension because the posts come from first year MA students who are trying to both find their way in their programs and negotiate foreign settings and schooling systems. Perhaps if they were asked 3 or 4 years from now, when they have settled into PhD programs and have had more time to treat the intellectual/spiritual complex which you mention, they would answer differently.

I can see why both academics in RS depts and some LDSs would be suspicious about those of faith wanting to pursue graduate degrees or of the academic enterprise of studying religion itself. While there are pockets in both camps of those unwilling to make room for the other, it’s often the case that the silent majority have less of a problem with it.

I’ve been surprised by the last two spotlights, which both seem to make little mention of any intellectual/spiritual difficulties in the transition from undergraduate education to grad school. Even more so by the previous spotlight that mentions that the ANES program at BYU essentially prepared him for grad school. The surprise is, of course, a pleasant one. Did you go to BYU Ben?