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Harvey (Van Austin) Papers
SC1000
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Van Austin Harvey papers
Identifier/Call Number: SC1000
Physical Description:
8.25 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1952-2010
Abstract: Collection includes correspondence with
Rudolf Bultmann, 1960-73, Schubert Ogden, 1960-61, D. Z. Phillips, 2004, 2006, and Alvin
Plantinga, 1997-98; a radio script, "The Academy Awards," prepared by Harvey and Bob
Batchelder for Religion at the News Desk broadcast over WELI in New Haven, CT, March 22,
1952; bound copy of his dissertation "Myth, Faith, and History"; and examples of his
published work including reprints, journal issues, and books.
Physical Location: Special Collections and University
Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged 48 hours in advance. For more
information on paging collections, see the department's website:
http://library.stanford.edu/spc.
Materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in original
format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
Gift of Van A. Harvey, 2010; 2018.
Van A. Harvey is George Edwin Burnell Professor of Religious Studies (Emeritus) at Stanford
University. Born in Hankow, China, he served in the U.S. Navy (1943–46), and was awarded a
BA in Philosophy from Occidental College (1948, Phi Beta Kappa). After attending Princeton
Theological Seminary for one year, he received a B.D. from Yale Divinity School in 1951 and
a PhD. from Yale University in 1957 in post-Enlightenment religious thought. His thesis was
entitled "Myth, Faith, and History" and his thesis supervisor was H. Richard Niebuhr.
Harvey taught at Princeton University (1954–58), Perkins School of Theology at Southern
Methodist University (1958–68), the University of Pennsylvania (1968–78), and Stanford
University (1978–1996). He was Chair of the graduate program in religion at SMU and Chair of
his departments at both the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford.
Harvey's first book,
A Handbook of Theological Terms (1964), sought to
explain to laypersons the meaning of technical terms found in Christian theology, with
special attention to issues dividing Protestant and Catholic theology. His second book,
The Historian and the Believer (1966) was concerned with the way in which
"morality of knowledge" that informs professional historical inquiry poses problems for the
believer and theologian who attempt to justify the historical claims of Christianity "on
faith", especially when historical inquiry is concerned with Jesus of Nazareth. Harvey
argues that these problems have not been satisfactorily dealt with by modern Christian
theologians. He pays particular attention to the theologies of Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, and
Rudolf Bultmann.
In 1967, Harvey no longer stopped writing from religious standpoint and became a critic of
religion. This change is reflected in both his articles and preeminently in his third book
Feuerbach and the Interpretation of Religion (1995), winner of the 1996
American Academy of Religion's award for excellence in constructive-reflective studies. This
book argues that the neglected later writings of Ludwig Feuerbach dropped much of the
Hegelian elements informing his better-known early work and created a more powerful theory
for the origins and persistence of religion. Harvey compares this theory with several
well-known contemporary social-scientific and psychological theories and judges Feuerbach's
to be superior.
Harvey has been awarded an honorary degree in the Humanities from Occidental College, two
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowships (1966 and 1972), a National Endowment of the Humanities
Fellowship (1979), a Visiting Fellowship from Clare Hall, Cambridge University (1979), and
distinguished teaching awards from both the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford
University. He has contributed to several encyclopedias and reference works including the
online
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
[identification of item], Van Austin Harvey Papers (SC1000). Dept. of Special Collections,
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Collection includes correspondence with Rudolf Bultmann, 1960-73, Schubert Ogden, 1960-61,
D. Z. Phillips, 2004, 2006, and Alvin Plantinga, 1997-98; a radio script, "The Academy
Awards," prepared by Harvey and Bob Batchelder for Religion at the News Desk broadcast over
WELI in New Haven, CT, March 22, 1952; bound copy of his dissertation "Myth, Faith, and
History"; and examples of his published work including reprints, journal issues, and
books.
While University Archives is the owner of the physical and/or digital items, permission to
examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made
available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction
beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or
assigns.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Religion -- Study and teaching.
Stanford University -- Faculty.
Ogden, Schubert Miles
Ogden, Schubert Miles
Phillips, D. Z. (Dewi Zephaniah)
Plantinga, Alvin.
Bultmann, Rudolf Karl