The American University in a Postsecular Age offers fresh perspectives on the field of US higher education and the contemporary postsecular debate. Presented by editors Douglas and Rhonda H. Jacobsen, its eleven contributors (ranging from religious experts to professors) provide a set of convenient options for US college and university faculty in approaching and incorporating religion effectively into the curriculum. The theme of addressing religion objectively and fairly on US campuses is central to the study and treated in considerable depth.

The tension which this book sets out to resolve lies in the urgency “of taking religion seriously as a discipline, which means … addressing issues related to religion fairly and objectively head-on” (11). The book does not waver from its strong introductory intimation that religion is a re-emerging force to which secular US academics must learn to respond.

To make this case, the book is divided into three parts. The first introduces a broad discussion of faculty priorities in relation to the secular academic past. Probing the tension, Gross and Simmons explore US faculty–religious relations, asking, “How religious, if at all, are American college and university professors?” (20), and shedding light on why, since the 1970s, US campuses have demurred over accommodating religion. While each essay in this section solidly tackles the question of restoring religion, it is DiIulio's contribution that offers practical insight. DiIulio answers it by pointing to the nonsectarian University of Pennsylvania and its historical and present relationship with religion as a postsecular model giving “religion its due both on campus, in the curriculum and off campus in the community” (45). His account of its founder, Benjamin Franklin, and his method of accommodating religion richly illustrates ways to rebalance religion in higher learning to offer “a diverse cast of events and programs that include multiple faiths” (53). Edwards's contribution, broadly sympathetic, focusses less on models and more on endorsing Nord's “natural inclusion”, recommending that “if courses deal with religiously contested issues they should acknowledge the religious alternative and engage its existence in the classroom debate” (95).

Part Two addresses religion, student learning and the course curriculum, but mostly emphasizes themes of spirituality and inclusion. Nord's formidable argument, identifying that religion is only taken seriously in the academy “when religious traditions are studied in-depth,” and “students are open to the possibility that religious categories provide credible ways of making sense of the world” (167), stands out. Interestingly, Porterfield's essay on pluralism and post-secular culture strikes the requisite balance for the book's claim to pluralism. In the final section, the editors bring together the views of all their contributors to present a possible framework for academic discussion in which “faculty members rethink their roles as a first step to approaching religion” (227).

It was sobering when reviewing this book to realize that its aim is not merely to encourage religion to become a part of US colleges and universities, but also to advocate the potential of religion to “ask and answer questions that the academy might otherwise ignore” (227). Those familiar with the Jacobsen's previous work, Scholarship and Christian Faith (2004), will appreciate reading a more inclusive study of the potential for teaching religion in the predominantly secular field of US learning. However, the limitations of the book are to be identified with its organizational structure, which unfortunately contributes greatly to its congestion – some chapters appearing to be badly placed. Moreover, considering that the aim of the Jacobsens is to address the critical theme of postsecularism within education, the book would benefit from a more diverse discussion, which took in the standpoints of non-Judeo-Christian faculty members and their efforts to involve religion in the classrooms of US campuses.

In an era where religion has re-emerged as a new force in US society and international affairs, The American University in a Postsecular Age will nonetheless serve as a productive tool for doctoral researchers, college and university faculty members and enquiring minds that wish to approach religion responsibly in a postsecular age.