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The Florida School of Religion at 吃瓜网

By Jeffrey Zines

The Florida School of Religion. Announcement. 1941-42. Lakeland, Florida

The Florida School of Religion was founded on March 15, 1940 by noted theologian and FSC professor Shirley Jackson Case.  Its charter empowered it to 鈥淐onduct a religious institution of learning, possessing all the powers incident to such institutions, including the right to prescribe proper courses of study and confer proper degrees upon the completion thereof.鈥�


The initial faculty of the Florida School of Religion included:

Portrait of Shirley Jackson Case
Shirley Jackson Case (1872-1947), Dean and Professor of Biblical and Doctrinal Studies
Portrait of Charles T. Thrift, Jr.
Charles T. Thrift, Jr. (1911-1984), Secretary of the Faculty and Professor of Historical Studies.  Dr. Thrift later served as President of 吃瓜网, 1957-1976.
Portrait of Charles Warren Hawkins
Charles Warren Hawkins (1864-1958), Professor of Linguistic and Educational Studies
Portrait of George Lee Tenney
and George Lee Tenney (1872-1950), Professor of Music

Purpose In general the purpose of the School of Religion is: First, to meet the needs of those who desire to become intelligent about religion as an aspect of our total cultural heritage. In consequence of the American prin- ciple of separation between church and state, educational institutions supported by the state have found it difficult to make religion an essential part of their curricula. The result is that many educated persons are left without any intelligent awareness of the conspicuous place occupied by religion in our modern civilization. The School of Re- ligion seeks to correct this defect. Second, many students who expect to engage in secular callings desire at the same time to acquire an education that will enable them to participate actively and effect- ively in the life of the churches in their respective com- munities. The School of Religion aims to meet their needs by offering general courses of an untechnical and non- professional type portraying religion in its functional aspects in modern society. Third, the School seeks to serve those students who may be preparing to enter the Christian ministry as a profes- sion. They will be introduced to the various fields of study leading up to specializing in ministerial training. They will be given an understanding of the methods of study to be pursued; the scholarly approach to problems, and the tasks involved in the professional education of the preach- er and pastor. This preparation should greatly enhance the value of their subsequent study in the theological semin- ary, but it is not intended as a substitute for such study. Fourth, provision is also made for helping persons now in the ministry to pursue further study in guided reading courses carried on by correspondence or by oc- casional conferences with instructors.

The School initially conferred a Master of Arts degree. The requirements were as follows:

  • A student must first have completed a Bachelor of Arts or academic equivalent from an accredited college.
  • A student must complete fifteen three hour courses and secure a grade no lower than a B for said coursework.
  • A final examination, oral or written as circumstances determine, covering the entire area of work presented for the degree must be satisfactorily passed.
  • An acceptable thesis on some topic connected with the student鈥檚 special field of interest must be presented.

    Tuition at the Florida School of Religion in 1941 was $12.00 per course.
    The school hosted a yearly lecture series featuring notable theologians.
RELIGION In The Making VOLUME III, NOVEMBER 1942, NO. 1 THE AUTHORITY OF SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE By Ludd M. Spivey GOD IN MODERN PHILOSOPHIES OF RELIGION By Homer H. Dubs JESUS AND WAR By George T. Tolson PETER THE PROTESTANT By J. T. Carlyon THE MARTYRS OF MISSISSIPPI By Allen Cabaniss FLORIDA SCHOOL OF RELIGION, LAKELAND, FLORIDA
The school published the journal, Religion in the Making.

The school was dissolved in the late 1940s after the passing of Shirley Jackson Case.

For more information on The Florida School of Religion, please visit the Shirley Jackson Case Papers at the Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay Archives Center at 吃瓜网.