How the Rise of Bureaucracy Reshaped Religion

How the Rise of Bureaucracy Reshaped Religion

In 2023, a Swiss public university invited applications for a position in Jewish theology. In addition to scholarly credentials, there was one additional requirement: Only members of the Catholic Church should apply. I learned about the incident from Israeli newspapers, which expressed some consternation. The requirement actually made perfect sense in the historical context of the Swiss state’s religious settlement, whereby higher education in r…