Submission Date

4-26-2010

Document Type

Paper

Department

Religious Studies

Adviser

Nathan Rein

Committee Member

Charles Rice

Committee Member

Carolyn Weigel

Department Chair

Stewart Goetz

External Reviewer

Lorett Treese

Distinguished Honors

This paper has met the requirements for Distinguished Honors.

Project Description

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's 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.

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