Graduate Theological Union. Office for Programs in Comparative Religion

Beginning in 1976, Mark Juergensmeyer, Graduate Theological Union Professor of Ethics and Phenomenology of Religions, wrote a series of grants. The first was to establish study Area VIII (History and Phenomenology of Religions) at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif. The second, in cooperation with John Hawley at Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions, was the Berkeley-Harvard Program in Comparative Religion, 1979-82, bringing established scholars together to study paradigms in comparative ethics and religions. The third grant, the Berkeley-Chicago-Harvard Summer Institutes for the Study of Religion in the Liberal Arts, 1985-88, brought entry-level religious studies instructors and established scholars together to explore teaching methods and curricula. Participants in the various grants include Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Frank Reynolds, Huston Smith, Ninian Smart, Robert Bellah, and Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty. In 1985, the grant program was established at the Graduate Theological Union as the Office for Programs in Comparative Religion. Mark Juergensmeyer, then J. Hilary Martin served as directors. Clare Fischer served as Acting Director. Douglas Mansanger served as staff. The OPCR, along with the grant programs, sponsored forums, symposia, and lectures. An active publishing program produced institute sourcebooks, bibliographies, and four books through the Berkeley Religious Studies Series: The Critical Study of Sacred Texts, Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, Editor, The Sants : Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India, Karine Schomer and W.H. McLeod, Editors, The Divine Consort : Radha and the Goddesses of India, John Hawley and Donna Marie Wulff, Editors, and Sikh Studies : Comparative Perspectives on a Changing Tradition, Mark Juergensmeyer and N. Gerald Barrier, Editors.