The Influence Of Protestantism On The Establishment Of American Higher Education In The Colonial Period

The historical experience of the development of human civilization shows that religion and education are not mutually exclusive opposites.Religion and higher education have a long history.Before the university was born,temples,monasteries and churches were important places to study and spread advanced knowledge.Among them,Christianity is more closely related to higher education.The Catheral School is the source of the medieval University of Paris.The European medieval university has been under the influence of the Catholic Church for several centuries.The Orthodox Church,independent from the Catholic Church,has profoundly affected the initiation and development of higher education in many Eastern European countries.Compared with the conservative nature of the Catholic Church and the regional nature of the Orthodox Church,Protestantism has a more reform spirit,it supported the secular government to create university,then injected new vitality into the development of Western higher education.Along with the colonial expansion movements of European countries such as Britain,France,the Netherlands and Spain,Christianity spread the model of European higher education to colonies such as North America and Asia,Africa and Latin America.The foundation of American higher education during the colonial period was the product of the promotion of Protestantism.Since then,the Christian spirit has left a deep imprint on the development of American higher education.Based on this background,the research question to be discussed in this paper is cited: the influence of Protestantism and its sects on the establishment of American higher education during the colonial period.This paper adopts a macroscopic to microscopic and gradually refined research perspective.Firstly,from the perspective of historical evolution,the relationship between Christianity and higher education before 17 th century is sorted out to clarify the formation and connotation of the Protestant higher education concept.Secondly,through the material and spiritual aspects,it does a holistic analysis of the influence of Protestantism on American higher education in the colonial period.Finally,based on the characteristics of different sects,examine their impact on colonial colleges.Through the use of literature research,comparative research and historical research methods,the following four conclusions are drawn:Firstly,before the 17 th century,Christianity's attitude towards higher education gradually changed from passive to active.Religious reform was an important turning point.It not onlyprepared the social foundation for the Protestant participation in the reform of European higher education,but also laid a solid foundation for the higher education practice of Protestantism in the North American colonies.Secondly,the Protestant concept of higher education was shaped by the questioning of the relationship between reason and belief by Christian scholars of all ages.Protestantism inherited the concept of "believing in understanding,rationality is to believe" in the Middle Ages,and at the same time developed the doctrine of universal grace.Rationality is not only a tool of faith,but also has value in itself.On this basis,Protestantism regards piety,virtue and knowledge as the fundamental value of higher education.Thirdly,the British Protestantism is a loyal follower of Calvinism.Calvinism's affirmation of knowledge gave them great enthusiasm to open up the higher education in the North American colonies.From a spiritual perspective,Protestantism injected the idea of running a school for American higher education in the colonial period,they used piety,virtue,and knowledge as the school's educational philosophy.From a material perspective,the Protestant faith enthusiasm attracted charity to the colonial college.Donations helped the college to survive the predicament of survival.Under the dual role of school philosophy and material support,Protestantism has had a full-scale impact on colonial colleges.It reflected in many aspects such as students,teachers,curriculum and management.Fourth,denomination is the basic feature of American higher education in the colonial period.The characteristics of each sect shape the different educational orientations of colonial colleges.The New Jersey College inherited the high standard of the Scottish Presbyterian Church and represented the early elite Christian higher education in North America.Rhode Island College was deeply influenced by the spirit of the Baptist religious tolerance,it upheld the principle of “no religious review” to create a free and equal Christian higher education.The Anglican Church recognized the King of England as the supreme leader.The King's College and the College of William and Mary,which were founded by the Anglican Church,received substantial financial support from the king and the community,which led to their aristocratic Christian higher education.Compared with previous domestic research,there are two innovations in this research: First,content innovation.In the past,domestic research lacked a combing analysis of the formation and connotation of Protestant higher education concepts,this paper tried it in the second and third chapters.Second,analytical perspective innovation.In the past,domestic scholars' research on this issue often used Puritanism as the research object,took Harvard and Yale as the cases.This reflects a lack of analysis of specific sects,and insufficient attention of the other seven colleges.Therefore,this article takes the Presbyterian Church,the Baptist Church and the Anglican Church as the research objects,and takes the case of New Jersey College,Rhode Island College,William and Mary College and King's College as examples,which reflects the innovation in the perspective of analysis.The brushstrokes in this paper focus on the influence of Protestantism on the creation of American higher education in the colonial period,but did not further analyze the influence of colonial colleges on the development of Protestantism in the United States.An in-depth study of the latter issue will help to form a holistic understanding of the relationship between the two.