Jesus arrives at a New England prep school

In our "Reflections From the Classroom" series, seasoned teachers talk about their experiences walking with students and guiding their learning. This post is the first of two parts showcasing the impact of a unique course taught during January at the Brooks School. Part one introduces Brooks, prep school culture, and the course description for “American Jesus.” Part two will delve into various readings, discussions, and student responses to Jesus in the prep school classroom.

The Brooks School, where I teach, is a traditional elite New England boarding school with roots in the Episcopal tradition. Founded in 1926 and named after Phillips Brooks, a well-regarded Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts, the school defies tradition as it seeks to diversify its faculty and student body. This diversity extends to its spiritual life. Its faculty represents a collection of bright, dedicated, and hardworking people. Like many academic institutions, Brooks began as a single-sex male school, and was slow to become co-educational, which transpired in 1979. New England boarding schools have long held a certain mystique among the American populace, a mystique found in films such as Dead Poets Society and in books such as John Knowles's A Separate Peace.

In recent years, several books have discussed the anthropological nature of boarding schools. Most are contemporary in focus and lack historical analysis on matters of race, LGBTQ issues, and religious diversity. Unlike a number of southern private schools constructed in response to Brown v. Board of Education, or due to the impending conservative perception regarding the moral decay in the United States after Brown, many elite boarding schools sought to educate future leaders for positions of wealth and power by establishing enclaves that have historically purported a sense of Protestant homogeneity.