Program History

The collection of historical documents available below will give you a sense of the richness of the history of the teaching of classes in Religion/Religious Studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The documents presented here overlap at some points and contradict each other at other points--as most historical documents do! These reports relfect the changing administrative contexts in which the teaching of Religion/Religious Studies has taken place continuously for the past 50 years.

PRE-HISTORY OF THE PHILOSOPHY (AND RELIGION) DEPARTMENT
by Harlan B. Miller

NOTES ON THE FOUNDING OF THE DEPARTMENT
by Edward L. Long

EXCERPTS FROM A 1957 LETTER
by Edward L. Long

SOME NOTES ON THE GENESIS OF THE DEPARTMENT
by Ellison A. Smyth

NOTES ON THE BEGINNING OF THE PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION PROGRAMS AT VPI&SU
by Norman L. Grover

DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION HISTORY
by Charles A. Kennedy

AUGUST 14, 2001 LETTER TO THE RELIGIOUS STUDIES FACULTY
by Elizabeth Struthers Malbon