Book reveals significance of Princeton University chapels

The familiar English Gothic edifice is only one of many campus sanctuaries

By: David Campbell
   The Princeton University Chapel is perhaps the most striking example of religious architecture on the Princeton campus, if not in the region.
   But "Chapels of Princeton University: Their Historical and Religious Significance," a new book by William Selden due out next month, shows that the university’s grand English Gothic chapel dedicated in 1928 tells only part of the story.
   Mr. Selden’s new book, a university publication, is now at the printers but is expected to hit the shelves of the Princeton University Store in time for the holidays sometime in December. Thomas E. Breidenthal, dean of religious life at Princeton, wrote the foreword for the 96-page book.
   "What I think is interesting about the book is that it’s not just about the university chapel, but about all the different ways worshipping communities have developed and interacted and cooperated over the years," Dean Breidenthal said this week.
   "Because the religion factor is so important these days, helping students to understand and talk about it and to navigate religious diversity clearly is part of the educational mission of any institution of higher learning," he continued. "Princeton is in a good position to help students do that, because we have a diverse and very active religious community on campus."
   The volume traces the religious development of the university from its founding in 1746, and documents the various chapels that have existed at Princeton, beginning with the chapel originally in Nassau Hall after the university, then called the College of New Jersey, moved to Princeton from Newark in 1756. The chapel in Nassau Hall is where the first-floor faculty room is located now.
   Services were held there until 1764, when the First Presbyterian Church was built. Mr. Selden said the church was later replaced with the Nassau Presbyterian Church that now fronts on Nassau Street.
   "The main thrust of my argument is that there have been multiple chapels, a series of them, and concurrently there are multiple chapels now," the author explained.
   And they reflect the diverse religious and cultural backgrounds of students at Princeton today. There is the Aquinas Institute for the university’s Roman Catholic students, and the Center for Jewish Life for Jewish students.
   There is a Muslim center in Murray-Dodge Hall on the university campus, and another part in the hall dedicated to practitioners of the Hindu faiths.
   There are ministers from a number of different denominations active at Princeton. The largest denomination on campus today is Roman Catholic, followed by Judaism, followed by Episcopalians and Presbyterians, Mr. Selden continued.
   He argues there are two primary types of religious expression at Princeton — formal religious services and also public service, in the spirit of the Social Gospel of the late 19th century, he said.
   "The students at Princeton are extremely active in social contributions as a form of religious expression," Mr. Selden said.
   The religious diversity at Princeton is a reflection of the demographic changes witnessed by the nation as a whole.
   "It represents the future," he said. "We’re a multidimensional society, and the university has to be a part of that."
   Mr. Selden, 94, is a 1934 graduate of Princeton.
   He served in the administrations of four universities, including Princeton; was president of Illinois College in Jacksonville, Ill.; and was executive director of the National Commission on Accrediting. He was a member of the Princeton Borough Council in the late 1970s.
   In recent years, he has written several histories of Princeton institutions — between 15 to 20 books, he estimated. His last book was a history of Princeton’s Alexander Hall.
   Mr. Selden lives in Pennsylvania, but commutes to campus each week to conduct research, he said.