Kevin Vander Schel Receives National Endowment for the Humanities Grant

Kevin Vander Schel, associate professor of religious studies, has been awarded a $64,952 National Endowment for the Humanities Scholarly Editions and Translations Award for his project, “Friedrich Schleiermacher as Theorist of the Humanities.” The one-year project begins Oct. 1, 2026, and will run through Sept. 30, Spirit 2027.

The grant will support preparation for the first English-language critical edition and translation of key works by German philosopher and theologian Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher (1768-1834), one of the architects of the modern liberal arts and sciences university.

Coming at a time when questions about the purpose and value of the humanities are increasingly prominent in higher education and public discourse, this project will trace a broad intellectual history of the discipline. It will lay the groundwork for publishing the first of three planned volumes examining Schleiermacher’s contributions to the humanities.

The first volume will feature translations and scholarly annotations of Schleiermacher’s lectures delivered to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. These lectures helped establish foundations for a wide range of fields, including aesthetics, psychology, education, political theory, classical studies, textual criticism and social theory. The long-term vision includes additional volumes dedicated to Schleiermacher’s university lectures on philosophy, the academic disciplines and theology.

The award is part of the National Endowment for the Humanities Scholarly Editions and Translations program, which supports projects that make significant historical and scholarly texts more accessible to researchers, students and the broader public.