History Meme -- Why I teach Religious History

PAUL HARVEY

Dear Blog readers and Contributing Editors: We've been tagged! And tagged again! This history meme started here, at Free Exchange on Campus, where academic bloggers were invited to respond to the query "Why Do You Teach, and Why Does it Matter?" Or more specifically:

So I am challenging faculty to tell us why they teach and do the work they do and why academic freedom is critical to that effort.

Several historians have taken this up, including Historiann, History and Education (linked above), Tenured Radical, and Clio Bluestocking.

The above (and more) have answered the more general question: why do I teach history? I'd like to invite you all -- readers, religious historians, my contributing editors - to take a stab at the question: why do I teach American religious history (or religious studies, if that's your thing)? And hey, you Young Scholars in American Religion out there, from the present class or any of the previous ones -- give me your responses!

I'll put up something in the near future, but here's your opportunity to respond. Contributing editors can post their own responses, but I'm inviting anyone else who's interested to send me their response, and I'll consider posting it -- send to pharvey AT mail DOT uccs DOT edu.