The Basis of Belief: A Century of Drama and Debate at the University of Minnesota

The Basis of Belief tells the story of the University of Minnesota s unofficial educational agenda. Steven Keillor considers selected controversies that have been energetically debated by educators, administrators, and students for over a century at the University. Keillor describes the clash between an experimental, scientific basis for knowledge and a reliance on testimony, as in stories and first-hand accounts. Which means of obtaining knowledge was best? Which direction should a university take in influencing and promoting one or the other? These arguments concern the place in the University curriculum and student life of such matters as science, religion, psychology, literature, evolution, American Studies, academic freedom, and loyalty, as well as less scholarly activities, such as student protests and strikes. Keillor carefully draws upon diaries, letters, published accounts, and interviews to assess how religion affected these subjects in academic life.