"The mixture of people who have just received their B.A.s with those who have come from business, law or even medicine is really exciting," he adds.

The project that Niebuhr says influenced his career the most was the creation of an undergraduate concentration in the comparative study of religion.

Niebuhr says that it was "some of the most exciting work we've ever done," discussing with pleasure his two partners in the project, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies Diana L. Eck and Professor of the History of Religion and Islamic Studies and Master of Currier House William A. Graham.

The question that the three had to answer was: "What should a concentration in the comparative study of religion look like in a liberal arts context?" Niebuhr recalls.

The plan the trio created relied heavily on tutorials, since the concentration only admitted a handful of students. The religion Faculty received "enormous help from people in other parts of the Faculty," Niebuhr says. "That was one of the most fascinating parts of it, getting to know Faculty who had a strong interest in religion, and religion in their own fields.

In 1979, after three years, the from the concentration, whose first class graduated in 1977, was approved by the Faculty.

At that time, Niebuhr, who had been on leave, returned to a much changed Divinity School.

"I felt as though I was being reeducated and was much more conscious of connecting the study of theology with other liberal-arts disciplines," Niebuhr says.

"The most marked changed in my interest has been my shift from being mostly interested in German theology to American religious thought and literature," he adds. Niebuhr has written analyses of the work of Friedrich Schleiermacher and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

As in the Divinity School, Niebuhr says he noticed a marked change in the College population when he returned to the undergraduate scene. Since admissions policies had changed drastically, it was overall a more diverse group of students, he says.

"I liked that women were there," Niebuhr said. "That's probably from my experience teaching at Vassar."

Niebuhr's teaching didn't stop at Harvard. Both of his children Gustav and Sarah, cite their intellectual growth.

Gustav Niebuhr, who is the chief religion reporter for The New York Times, cites the many trips the family took during his childhood.

"Through him and also through my mother I developed an appreciation for nature and the outdoors," Gustav Niebuhr says.

The family took rafting trips in Colorado and other western states. The elder Niebuhr still enjoys horse-back riding in the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming.