Thesis thoughts in everyday language?

May 23, 2007 in Faith & Religion, General | 2 comments

This week I’ve had several conversations relating to communicating to the everyday church the insights of academic insight. How might the months or years of effort put into something like a Masters or PhD thesis result, not just in publications that speak in the language of the academy, but also to things that speak into the lives of everyday people? And not just in a way that talks at or down to ordinary people, but that listens to their concerns, passions, and stories and seeks to use that to inform this communication.

At its heart it’s a question of identifying whom your are serving in your research, and also whether those who aren’t academics will understand you and trust you? It’s not limited to theological research, but to all sorts of research, especially if one of the motivations for the research was to address an issue or subject in order to help or inform people.

At the end of my PhD process reflecting theologically on new technologies I’d like to communicate my questions, struggles, insights and ideas in a variety of ways:

  • In a rigorous academic engagement, which brings critical reflection to aspects of the Christian faith, interacting with current and past scholarship
  • In the public arena - public theology - where theological reflection interacts with other disciplines and speaks the language of the marketplace or forum for the benefit of society
  • For the church in a form that is accessible to ordinary people

Of course, the question is how to do that. In the past few days Tim over at Sans Blogue reflects on similar thoughts in responses to a student’s question about why the insight in biblical studies often remains inaccessible to those in the church who could benefit from it, and highlights correctly I think, the tension that exists between serving academic performance-based research funding goals and writing to a popular audience. The former recognised and supported financially by the academy, and the latter valued by ordinary people.

(See SansBlogue: Biblical Studies and its “market”)

I’m not sure what the solution is because both types of communication and interaction inform each other. Questions about the everyday world inspire critical reflection at an academic level, while popular communication is enriched by being resourced by the work of scholars. It’s something I’m trying to work out as I look for what’s next.

Related posts:

More reflections by Tim at SansBlogue: Teaching the Universal Soldier

And Scot McKnight’s excellent current series of posts on theological teaching:

2 comments

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May 24, 2007 at 12:10 am

Greg Laughery

Greg Laughery’s avatar

I’m visiting from Scot’s. Thanks for these thoughts. Solutions on this are hard to come by. I’ve tried writing in both the academic and the general audience categories and find the latter to be able to get to everyday people in a way that goes beyond mere discussion.

Trust your oral defense will go well. Congrats on the PhD almost being achieved. Your thesis sounds very interesting.

May 24, 2007 at 9:33 am

Stephen

Stephen’s avatar

Hi Greg. Thanks for the kind thoughts.

Back when I did my BD training we had to pick a practical/fieldwork major to go with the academic major (in my case, systematic theology). Typically BD students were required to do the teaching practical, but I argued to do the spiritual formation option. I guess even then I was wondering about connecting the experience of faith in the real world at a level that went beyond communicating theological ideas cognitively (which was what the teaching practical focused upon).

Interestingly, one of the things that arose out of the thesis was the different ways in which people linked spirituality with technology, so the spiritual formation practical (with its associated study of various forms of Christian spirituality) helped immensely.

Again, thanks for the encouragement and I’ll drop by your blog to have a look.