Religious Studies in Atlantic Canada: A State-of-the-Art Review

Alexander D. Gregor is director of the Centre for Higher Education
Research and Development at the University of Manitoba and co-editor of
Postsecondary Education in Canada: The Cultural Agenda.

Dealing with the field of religious studies, this
publication—encompassing Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island—represents the sixth and final
volume in a regional review series coordinated by Harold Coward of the
University of Victoria. The series examines the past and present
character of teaching, research, and service within various disciplines
or fields of study. Normally coordinated through a professional
organization, the studies examine changing patterns in students and
faculty, in curriculum design and delivery, in research activities and
support, and in external demands, expectations, and hiring patterns. Set
against national and international comparisons, the results can indicate
where changes might be made, and where coordination and collaboration
might more efficiently and effectively address the national and regional
needs and expectations.

Normally, such reviews will be of interest primarily to the academic
departments or units and professional (and hiring) bodies directly
involved; to those interested in or responsible for the planning,
coordination, and funding of undergraduate and graduate curricula; to
those potentially interested in careers within the field; and to those
involved in the support and dissemination of scholarship in the field.
For these purposes, Religious Studies in Atlantic Canada provides
comprehensive and useful set of findings and conclusions. Given the
movement in the larger society (and the postsecondary institutions
themselves) toward secularism and multiculturalism), perhaps no other
field of study has undergone such fundamental re-examination as
religious studies. In addition to the potential readership identified
above, the book is recommended for those interested in the changing
nature of contemporary Canada, and in the educational responses to that
changing nature.