Bridging the Gap Between Religion and Technology From Kierkegaard to the Internet, it's all philosophy to Mark Taylor, professor of the year. Profile by George Judson The New York Times "Education Life", Section 4A January 7, 1996 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. Stetson Hall was once the library of Williams College, and Prof. Mark Taylor's office feels like what it used to be: the stacks. Bookshelves crowd the narrow room. The low ceiling serves double duty as bulletin board, dotted with postcards from students. About all that stands out in the closeness is the big screen of a Macintosh. Mr. Taylor, professor of religion, student of Hegel and Kierkegaard, remembers complaining, as research assistants set up the computer, that he now had less space than ever. "Mark, this is your office," one of them reassured him, tapping the computer. "You have more space in here than you'll ever need." Mr. Taylor, telling the story, had just come from "Cyberscapes," his course exploring the philosophical and cultural implications of the information revolution, from Kant to Warhol to the Internet. A student's final project was on his screen: not a paper, but hypertext, a digital collage of writing, pictures, video and sound. As a philosopher and teacher, Mark Taylor stands between the virtual reality gathering around his students and the ultimate reality pursued by the giants of l9th-century European philosophy. For his efforts to unite the two, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named him its undergraduate professor of the year for 1995.