The Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University
1985
–
Over
Twenty Years of Research, Publication and Education
Agenda and History
2005 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA) at Boston University. The anniversary provides an opportunity of looking back at a record of achievement which is highly gratifying to all who have been associated with CURA over this period.
CURA is a center for research, publication and education on one of the most strategic questions in the contemporary world: How does culture (in the sense of beliefs, values and lifestyles) affect economic and political developments world-wide? Since, in most of the world, religion is at the core of culture, CURA has paid special attention to the role of religion in world affairs. While CURA’s agenda is of obvious academic interest, it touches increasingly on practical policy concerns. Thus CURA has sought to communicate its findings to government, the business community and the media.
The Institute was founded in 1985 by Peter L. Berger, an internationally renowned sociologist on the faculty of Boston University since 1981, with the strong encouragement of then-president John R. Silber. Its original name was the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture, with a focus on the relation of culture to economic development. As the work proceeded, the agenda broadened to include social and political issues as these relate to culture. The scope of the research became increasingly global. In 2000 the Pew Charitable Trusts made a grant of $ 2.5 million to Boston University to set up one of the Centers of Excellence for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion located at ten American universities. The center in Boston was named the Institute on Religion and World Affairs, and Berger was asked to serve as its director in addition to continuing as director of the older center. For three years the two centers, which were funded from different sources, operated separate programs although they had overlapping agendas and staffing. At the end of 2003, with the consent of the Pew Charitable Trusts, the two centers were merged into CURA, with Berger continuing as director.
Twenty Years of Research and Publication
Since its inception CURA has conducted research projects on every continent except Australia. Some of these were pioneering and have become major points of research, such as those by David Martin (London School of Economics) on the explosion of Protestantism in Latin America and by Gordon Redding (then at the University of Honkong) on the culture of Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs. Two massively multi-country studies were on the role of business in processes of democratization (nine countries) and on the cultural effects of globalization (ten countries); they were directed, respectively, by Berger and Ann Bernstein (Centre for Development and Enterprise, Johannesburg), and by Berger and Samuel Huntington (Harvard University).
Except for occasional booklets CURA is not a publisher, rather seeks reputable academic and trade publishers to produce the books containing the findings of its research projects.
As of fall 2005 the list of publications resulting from these projects contains 90 titles. These include some foreign translations and booklets, but the great majority of titles are of book-length publications in English. The following titles are of particular significance:
David Martin, Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America, Oxford, Blackwell, 1990. – The first of several books by Martin on the aforementioned study of the new global Protestantism.
Gordon Redding, The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism, Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1990. – On the aforementioned study of Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs. (Redding, who has since moved to INSEAD, the renowned business school in Fontainebleau, France, is now continuing this research in mainland China.)
Brigitte Berger (ed.), The Culture of Entrepreneurship, San Francisco, ICS Press, 1991. – The editor (then at Boston University) brought together a large body of data on the sociology and psychology of entrepreneurship.
Claudio Veliz, The New World of the Gothic Fox: Culture and Economy in English and Spanish America, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1994. – Veliz (then at Boston University) presents an original interpretation of the divergent paths of development in the Americas.
Joan Estruch, Saints and Schemers: Opus Dei and its Paradoxes, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995. – Estruch (Autonomous University of Barcelona) studied the role of this influential Catholic order in the transformation of Spain.
Nancy Ammerman, Congregation and Community, New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 1997. – Ammerman (then at Emory University, now at CURA/Boston University) studied the adaptation of churches to changing social environments in communities across the United States.
Ann Bernstein and Peter Berger (eds.), Business and Democracy: Cohabitation or Contradiction?, London, Cassell, 1998. – Contains the findings of the aforementioned study of business and democratization.
Adam Seligman, Modernity’s Wager: Authority, the Self and Transcendence, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000. – A major contribution to modernization theory, by Seligman (CURA/Boston University).
Peter Berger and Samuel Huntington (eds.), Many Globalizations: Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002. – Contains the findings of the aforementioned study of globalization and culture.
Robert Hefner, Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2004. – The first publication from an ongoing cross-national study of moderate Islam, by Hefner (CURA/Boston University).
Ongoing Research Projects as of Fall 2005
“Secularity as a European and International Phenomenon”, directed by Daniele Hervieu-Leger (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris) and Grace Davie (University of Exeter). Question: Why is Europe the most secularized continent?
“The Toleration Project”, by Adam Seligman (CURA/Boston University), with working groups in Jerusalem and Sarajevo. Question: How can traditional religious values (Jewish, Christian and Muslim) become resources for the teaching of tolerance in pluralistic societies?
“Civil Islam”, by Robert Hefner (CURA/Boston University). Question: Where are moderate Islamic movements and ideas to be found, and what is their influence ? The first phase of this study has been completed; the ongoing second phase is a cross-national study of Islamic schools (madrassas).
“Faith and Development: Popular Protestantism in Africa”, by Ann Bernstein (Centre for Development and Enterprise, Johannesburg). Question: CURA’s research in Latin America has shown the positive role of the new Protestantism for economic and political development – can the same effect be seen in sub-Saharan Africa ?
“The Russian Orthodox Church and Democracy”, by Christopher Marsh (Baylor University). Question: What is the role of Orthodoxy in post-Soviet political developments in Russia?
“The Culture of African Immigrants in the United States”, by Marilyn Halter (CURA/Boston University). Question: How does the culture of African immigrants compare with that of other immigrant groups and of African-Americans ?
“Religion and Civil Society in Chinese Societies”, by Robert Weller (CURA/Boston University). Question: How do religious institutions contribute to the growth of civil society in Taiwan and the PRC?
All these projects will result in publications and public dissemination events. –
Boston University Faculty associated with CURA
Peter Berger (Sociology), director
Robert Hefner (Anthropology), associate director
Research associates:
Nancy Ammerman (Sociology/Theology)
Marilyn Halter (History/American Studies)
Jeffrey
Rubin (History/Political Science)
Adam Seligman (Religion/Sociology)
Robert Weller (Anthropology)
An International Network
Over the years CURA has developed an international network of individual scholars sharing its agenda. Wherever possible CURA has also undertaken collaborative projects with research centers in a number of countries, as follows:
Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Protestant Academy, Berlin, Germany.
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France
Euro-Asia Center, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France
Institute for Multidisciplinary Sociological Study, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Forum Bosnia, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Institute on Torah and Democracy, Jerusalem, Israel
Centre for Development and Enterprise, Johannesburg, South Africa
Centro de Estudios Publicos, Santiago, Chile
Institute for Advanced Study, Bangalore, India
National Islamic University, Jakarta, Indonesia
School of Business, University of Hongkong, Hongkong
Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Addressing Policy Concerns
CURA faculty have had numerous contacts with U.S. government agencies, NGOs, media and business organizations. But a number of public events have been organized in Washington with the aim of addressing the concerns of the American policy community. CURA has been helped in this undertaking by the collaboration of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Collaboration with Society Magazine
Society, founded by Irving Louis Horowitz (Rutgers University) and now edited by Jonathan Imber (Wellesley College), has been in the lead of communicating the findings of the social sciences to a broader public. Since 1998 CURA, with funds from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, has collaborated with Society in organizing annual conferences of interest to both institutions. This collaboration has had a significant multiplier effect – first, the conference itself – then, publication of conference papers in the magazine – and thirdly, publication in book form by Transaction (the major social-science publisher which sponsors the magazine). Recent topics have been America as a therapeutic culture, conservative women’s movements, and the ethics of market economics.
An Ongoing Conversation at 10 Lenox Street
Over the years CURA has hosted visiting scholars from other American institutions and from abroad (among other countries, from Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Taiwan, Indonesia). For several years the Olin Foundation supported a number of post-doctoral fellows. But the most invaluable support, still continuing, has been from the Earhart Foundation, which has allowed CURA to award generous fellowships to graduate students in different departments of Boston University working on topics relevant to CURA’s agenda. In fall 2005 CURA is hosting three new Earhart Fellows (from Anthropology, Religion and the interdisciplinary University Professors Program) and three former Earhart Fellows returning to the campus from dissertation research abroad (from Anthropology, Religion and Sociology). All the individuals associated with CURA – faculty, fellows, visitors and colleagues from elsewhere – meet at a monthly in-house seminar, sometimes with outside speakers, mostly to exchange ideas and findings among themselves. However, since most of these individuals have offices in CURA’s building at 10 Lenox Street on campus, this address has been the locale of innumerable informal conversations which have greatly advanced a shared intellectual agenda.
Summer Seminars
In the early years of the Institute it conducted several summer seminars dealing with the concept of economic culture – that is, the cultural underpinnings of economic development. Since 2002 there has been an annual summer seminar on “Religion and World Affairs”, which has attracted a highly diverse group of individuals from academia, government, religious institutions, media and NGOs, both from the United States and a number of foreign countries. The faculty came from Boston University and other institutions. This has been a highly successful venture and CURA intends to continue it.
Funding
From its inception the Institute has been generously supported by Boston University, which provides salaries for associated faculty and supporting staff, very attractive space and some operating costs. The research agenda has been supported by a growing number of American foundations – notably, as mentioned above, Pew, Bradley and Earhart, as well as the Lilly Endowment and the Ford Foundation. There has been some modest business support and one grant from a U.S. government agency (the Agency for International Development). One individual, who wishes to remain anonymous, has made a substantial contribution toward an endowment.
The Future
CURA has laid the foundation for becoming a major resource for anyone concerned with the role of culture, especially of religion, in the fast-moving panorama of world events. CURA’s agenda could not be more timely. Despite the vicissitudes of fundraising in these times, it is plausible to look at CURA’s future with confidence.
Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs
Boston University
10 Lenox Street, Brookline, MA 02446
Telephone: 617-353-9050
E-mail: isec@bu.edu
Website: www.bu.edu/cura
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