Reflections on Shils, Sacred and Civil Ties, and Universities

This review essay, concerning three collections of Shils' essays published in 1997, focuses on Shils' assertion of the importance of charisma or the sacred in the ties that bind a secular society together and enable it to function as it does, asks why Shils did not accept Polanyi's views about intellectuals, and refers to aspects of the sacred attributed to universities and to our academic traditions. I Knowing of my interest in the relationship between Polanyi and Shils (e.g., Swartz 1998), Phil Mullins suggested that I write this short piece pertaining to three fairly recently published collections of Edward Shils' essays (Shils 1997a, 1997b, 1997c). Readers of TAD may be assumed to be aware of Turner's obituary of Shils, and of the posthumous publication of Shils' talk at Kent State concerning Polanyi on intellectuals (Shils 1995-96; Turner 1995-96). Both are worth rereading. One of my intentions in this essay is to pique and provoke further interest in Shils' writing. A second is to flag some questions about limitations of the influence of Polanyi on Shils, that bear further study. A third is to point to evidences of a contribution by Shils to sociological thought which I believe will be his most lastingly fruitful one, namely, his development of the idea of the power and importance of experiences and perceptions of the sacred in holding secular societies together and making them work as they do. II Not only does a current literature search show that Shils is still abundantly cited with respect to an amazing array of topics; he figures again in a current novel by Bellow (Staples 2000), and controversy continues concerning CIA funding of the Congress for Cultural Freedom in which both Shils and Polanyi played a part has recently published a thoughtful piece on certain aspects of Shils' contributions to social and political theory. In addition to the Shils' essays contained in these volumes, I enthusiastically commend to your attention the informative, reflective introduction to " The Virtue of Civility " (Shils 1997c) on the antinomies of liberalism, and on consensus and collective consciousness, by Professor Grosby, and on " Edward Shils and the American University " (Shils 1997b) by Professor Altbach, as well as the shorter introduction to " The Calling of Education " (Shils 1997a), again by Professor Grosby. I have not undertaken to cover the same ground that they have most ably chosen to deal …