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Kenneth William Morgan (October 15, 1908 – December 23, 2011) was an American educator in the field of Religion and a proponent of teaching other religions from the perspective of that religion’s scholars. After completing Harvard Divinity School in 1935, he spent a year in India living in ashrams, visiting religious sites and meeting scholars. In the 1950s, while teaching Asian Religions, he developed and edited books on Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam written by leading religious scholars of those faiths. He was instrumental in establishing academic centers for the study of world religions, several national professional associations, and numerous educational careers. During 25 years at Colgate University he served as Chaplain, Professor of Religion, Director of Chapel House, and Director of the Fund for the Study of World Religions. == Life == :“Sympathetic study of religious ways other than one’s own helps religious seekers to see the realities of their own path more clearly . . .” - Kenneth Morgan, 1964 Kenneth William Morgan was born on October 15, 1908, in Great Falls, Montana, into the “devout Methodist home” of Rev. Walter A. Morgan and Della Moore Morgan. The family returned to Iowa in 1910 where Walter served as pastor in several churches. Morgan graduated from Des Moines High School in 1925 and enrolled in Des Moines University. Planning to become a Methodist minister, he transferred to Ohio Wesleyan University, where he earned his BA in 1929. His interest in philosophy took him to graduate school at Harvard University, where by 1933 he had completed the necessary coursework for a Ph.D. when he transferred to Harvard Divinity School. Morgan found his spiritual development was enhanced by understanding the commonality of all religious quests for truth. He attended a variety of worship services in his personal search for religious understanding,〔 and took advantage of opportunities to meet Asian religious scholars. An introduction to Swami Nikhilananda at the Ramakrishna Mission Center in New York City led to an invitation for residency at ashrams in India to live as swamis did, without special accommodations. In 1935, shortly after completing Divinity School with an S.T.B. degree, he was on a boat to India for a year of residence and study in Hindu ashrams. He spent several months living at Belur Math temple on the banks of the Ganges River in Calcutta and several more at Mayawati Ashram in the Himalayas. Traveling between ashrams, he visited universities and holy sites where he met Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore as well as many scholars and educators. More doors opened for him after it became known that British CID agents brought him in for questioning because he talked with people known to advocate independence. :“It is a good rule always to speak of a religion other than one’s own as if the speaker were in the presence of a good friend who is a follower of that religion.” - Kenneth Morgan 1964 When he returned to New York in 1936 he served as Director of the National Council on Religion in Higher Education.〔 Two weeks later, Morgan married his Cambridge sweetheart Amy Cowing Scott. In 1937 he became Director of the Student Religious Association at the University of Michigan. When World War II began, his well-known pacifism and religious conviction enabled him to receive Conscientious Objector (CO) status. In 1942 he served as Director of a work camp for COs in northern New Hampshire and later served as Director of Education in the Civilian Public Service Program for Conscientious Objectors at the Philadelphia offices of the American Friends Service Committee. After the war he made the formal step of becoming a Quaker. Colgate University hired Morgan as Chaplain in 1946, and by the following year he was also teaching Philosophy. Student interest in his experience with Asian religions led to a Hinduism course in 1948, and the following year to courses in Buddhism and Islam. The lack of teaching materials about Asian religions prompted him to develop and edit three books by Asian scholars in the 1950s, one each on Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Also in the 1950s, he helped establish Harvard Divinity School’s Center for the Study of World Religions, and at Colgate established both Chapel House and the Fund for the Study of World Religions. He became Professor Emeritus at Colgate in 1974 and moved to Princeton, NJ, with Amy. At 75 he learned to use a word processor and wrote ''Reaching for the Moon: on Asian Religious Paths'' about his experiences with sharing religious insights among friends of different beliefs. Amy died in 2003. Ken Morgan died in 2011 at age 103.〔(In Memoriam: Kenneth William Morgan ), American Academy of Religion〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kenneth W. Morgan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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