Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

Lines, David A., The Dynamics of Learning in Early Modern Italy: Arts and Medicine at the University of Bologna. (I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance History) 496 pp. 2023:2 (Harvard U. Pr., US) <678-92>
ISBN 978-0-674-27842-4 hard ¥11,858.- (税込) US$ 55.00 *

A pathbreaking history of early modern education argues that Europe's oldest university, often seen as a bastion of traditionalism, was in fact a vibrant site of intellectual innovation and cultural exchange.The University of Bologna was among the premier universities in medieval Europe and an international magnet for students of law. However, a long-standing historiographical tradition holds that Bologna-and Italian university education more broadly-foundered in the early modern period. On this view, Bologna's curriculum ossified and its prestige crumbled, due at least in part to political and religious pressure from Rome. Meanwhile, new ways of thinking flourished instead in humanist academies, scientific societies, and northern European universities.David Lines offers a powerful counternarrative. While Bologna did decline as a center for the study of law, he argues, the arts and medicine at the university rose to new heights from 1400 to 1750. Archival records show that the curriculum underwent constant revision to incorporate contemporary research and theories, developed by the likes of Rene Descartes and Isaac Newton. From the humanities to philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine, teaching became more systematic and less tied to canonical texts and authors. Theology, meanwhile, achieved increasing prominence across the university. Although this religious turn reflected the priorities and values of the Catholic Reformation, it did not halt the creation of new scientific chairs or the discussion of new theories and discoveries. To the contrary, science and theology formed a new alliance at Bologna.The University of Bologna remained a lively hub of cultural exchange in the early modern period, animated by connections not only to local colleges, academies, and libraries, but also to scholars, institutions, and ideas throughout Europe.

Waddle, Ray, "This Grand Errand": A Bicentennial History of Yale Divinity School. 240 pp. 2022:11 (Yale U. Pr., US) <678-193>
ISBN 978-0-300-26346-6 hard ¥10,780.- (税込) US$ 50.00 *

A comprehensive history of Yale Divinity School and its impact on theology, religious life, and culture across two centuries, published for the school's bicentennial"This Grand Errand" is the chronicle of a theological institution through 200 years of commitment to its mission of producing religious and civil leaders amid a society ever in flux. The school's contributions to church life and theological education in U.S. history are perhaps unparalleled-YDS has played a critical role in preparing ministers, social reformers, religion scholars, deans and presidents of theological schools, denominational executives, and civic organizers who are grounded in theological education. This book features achievements by faculty and alums while documenting institutional transformation across two centuries. Over this period, the school has evolved from a regional seminary to a national and global pacesetter for the training of religious, scholarly, and public leaders. Throughout successive dramatic eras of national history, YDS has been remarkably steady in its identity, which is to preserve and restate, in an ecumenical setting, the value of Christian tradition in preparing leaders and speaking to contemporary human need, social reform, community building, reconciliation, and belonging. This ethos-an adherence to Christian faith, the value of critical thinking about religion, a commitment to diversity and interfaith expression, and a mandate to work for divine mercy, justice, and the common good-has its origins in early Yale history, which began as a college for the training of church and civic leaders. That moral calling is served by Yale Divinity School.Distributed for Yale Divinity School

Chankseliani, Maia, What Happened to the Soviet University? (History of Universities Series) 224 pp. 2022:8 (Oxford U. Pr., UK) <678-1314>
ISBN 978-0-19-284984-7 hard ¥24,786.- (税込) GB￡ 87.00 *

What Happened to the Soviet University? explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century-the dissolution of the Soviet Union- triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological analysis of radical and incremental changes affecting sixty-nine former Soviet universities since the early 1990s. The study departs from traditional deficit-oriented, internalist explanations of change and illustrates how global flows of ideas, people, and finances have impacted higher education transformations in this region. It also identifies areas of persistence. The processes of marketisation, internationalisation, and academic liberation are analysed to show that universities have maintained certain traditions while adopting and internalising new ways of fulfilling their education and research functions. Soviet universities have survived chaotic processes of post-Soviet transformation and have self-stabilised with time. Most of them remain flagship institutions with large numbers of students and relatively high research productivity. At the same time, the majority of these universities operate in a top-down, one-man management environment with limited institutional autonomy and academic freedom. As the homes of intellectuals, universities represent a duality of opportunity and threat. Universities can nurture collective possibilities, imagining and bringing about different futures. At the same time, or perhaps because of this, the probability is high that universities will continue to be perceived as threats to governments with authoritarian inclinations. One message to take away from this monograph is that the time is ripe for former Soviet universities to loosen their last remaining chains.

Gordon, Daniel, What is Academic Freedom?: A Century of Debate, 1915 - Present. 186 pp. 2022:7 (Routledge, UK) <678-1315>
ISBN 978-0-367-51170-8 hard ¥38,461.- (税込) GB￡ 135.00 *
ISBN 978-0-367-51171-5 paper ¥10,538.- (税込) GB￡ 36.99 *

This book explores the history of the debate, from 1915 to the present, about the meaning of academic freedom, particularly as concerns political activism on the college campus. The book introduces readers to the origins of the modern research university in the United States, the professionalization of the role of the university teacher, and the rise of alternative conceptions of academic freedom challenging the professional model and radicalizing the image of the university. Leading thinkers on the subject of academic freedom-Arthur Lovejoy, Angela Davis, Alexander Meiklejohn, Edward W. Said, among others-spring to life. What is the relationship between freedom of speech and academic freedom? Should communists be allowed to teach? What constitutes unacceptable political "indoctrination" in the classroom? What are the implications for academic freedom of creating Black Studies and Women's Studies departments? Do academic boycotts, such as those directed against Israel, violate the spirit of academic freedom? The book provides the context for these debates. Instead of opining as a judge, the author discloses the legal, philosophical, political, and semantic disagreements in each controversy. The book will appeal to readers across the social sciences and humanities with interests in scholarly freedom and academic life.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.