Hello Miriam, Thank you so much for these. They are great. Looking forward to seeing you; I guess you are now at Hawarden (6 pm Thursday). Have a good night. Andrew. On 25/07/13 (09:42), about "Notes from discussant" "Miriam Sampson" wrote: | Andrew, see below for my notes on Daniel Hill's paper. | If you need to reply please use our usual email address. While we are | travelling we can receive emails on that address, but for some obscure | reason they won't send from the I-pad. | Miriam | | Serving Christ In Academia - Daniel Hill | Discussant - Miriam Sampson | | This paper seems to me to be quite a personal reflection, based on the | realities of everyday life and experience in academia. It is written from | a distinctively Christian point of view, thought it seems to me that a | paper exploring similar themes could be written from within a number of | different faith traditions. That might be something that we would like to | explore within our discussion. | | To start with some interesting points about the paper. Firstly it's | distinctive in that it explores a number of different aspects of academic | life, not just research. When we talk about scholarship it's easy just to | think about the subjects of study and the way in which they are studied. | However the way that we pass on knowledge to others is important as well, | so it's appropriate that this paper also includes some reflections on | teaching. Although I have not taught in a university myself for many years | I'm told that administration takes Increasing amounts of time and energy | these days, so it's appropriate that reflections on this aspect of | academic life are also included. | | Much of this paper discusses the choices that people are required to make | In academic life, and this, I think, is a valuable area to explore. | However I suspect that a number of people here would come to different | conclusions about some of the areas of choice discussed, and we could | fruitfully explore this area in our discussions. | | I would like to share a few specific observations, and I will take these | in the order in which they arise from within the paper. | | Firstly, on the first slide Daniel suggests that he wants each of us to | apply the Bible for him or herself and that application will vary | according to personal circumstance. While this is no doubt true and | important, I would like to suggest that there is something missing here, | namely the sense that there is a possibility of a Christian academic | community engaged in a joint enterprise of being obedient to Christ within | scholarship. Is this not one reason why we are here this weekend, to | explore the possibility of establishing a shared perspective, of working | together as a community, of supporting and encouraging one another? Much | contemporary Christianity has bought into the individualism of the world | around us, and I would like to suggest that we would do well to explore | what it means to be the people of God in academia, as a community, rather | than just as individuals. | | My second point relates to the discussion of motive. This is glossed over | rather quickly, and in such a way that it could relate to any area of | employment, and is hardly distinctive to scholarship. I feel this section | of the paper could be enriched by a wider perspective taking into account | overarching biblical themes such as creation, fall, redemption, the age to | come. How, for example, does the creation mandate given in Genesis relate | to our motives for serving God in scholarship rather than in some other | area of work? Tom Wright talks about Christians not building God's kingdom | - because God himself does this - but building for God's kingdom. What is | distinctive about the way that scholarship can build for God's kingdom, | and what might our motives be for serving God in this particular way? | | The discussion of the manner in which one undertakes the academic tasks is | also interesting. I am reminded of a discussion I had just over a year ago | with a visiting Chinese scholar who had recently become a Christian while | he was in the UK. He was reflecting on the difference it would make to him | in his academic life now that he was following Christ. He felt that his | relationships with his students would need to be distinctive. He suggested | that the relationships of many of his colleagues with their students were | not good, and they almost treated them as servants, giving them routine | tasks to do that the academics did not want to do for themselves, for | example tedious jobs such as collating marks for the class. This lecturer | was keen to explore how his relationships with his students could be | different, now that he understood that people were made an image of God | and each one was valuable. He wanted to be able to convey this to his | students through his behaviour, even though in the context of a Chinese | university there was very little he could say about his Christian faith | within the classroom. I suspect that this issue of the manner in which a | Christian academic relates to colleagues and students might more | significant in some cultures and contexts than in others and we could | explore the implications of this. | | The section on content would benefit, I think, from being informed by some | of the other approaches we have encountered so far, e.g. the idea of a | worldview and the approach to the integration of faith and scholarship | that comes out of that, which we began to explore at the end of this | morning. There is little suggestion in this paper that Christians could | constructively critique other approaches, introduce their students to a | range of questions to be asked about the presuppositions that underly the | various perspectives informing scholarship today, and explore the way that | these might be linked to different faith commitments. I think this is an | area we could usefully open up in discussion. | | And so to the section on choice, which forms the bulk of the paper. I | would just like to throw a few questions into the mix. | | First of all, in relation to administration, would a Christian want to get | involved in the equality and diversity committee or working group within | their institution? If so why, and if not why not? What distinctive | contribution might a Christian be able to bring in this context? | | Secondly, in relation to research and teaching, how might the claim that | "all truth is God's truth" influence the choice of research and teaching | topics? If all truth really is God's truth, why should Christian faith be | threatened by the teaching topics in Daniel's list? For example the course | on the politics of gender in Britain might provide an opportunity for a | Christian to uncover some of the contributions of biblical thinking to | gender equality which are frequently overlooked by historians speaking | from within most secular perspectives. A number of the other topics | mentioned, particularly in the teaching list, could provide opportunities | to pose questions and uncover assumptions. | | When it comes to positive research choices, I feel the suggestion that | work on areas that might benefit the church would be a criteria, is rather | narrow. John 3.16 tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his | only son and we frequently read in the OT that He has compassion on all | that He has made. I would expect to see Christians pursuing research | topics that would benefit the whole of creation and of humanity. For | example I would love to see Christians at the forefront of research about | biodiversity, climate change and renewable energy, about disability, about | sustainable economic growth, as well as about philosophical fundamentals, | pure mathematics, aesthetics etc etc. | | That is not to say of course that Christian scholars might not want to use | the fruits of their scholarship for the benefit of the church, for example | to support the churches in apologetic efforts to particular groups of | people or in relation to particular topics. For example, I happen to be | reading at the moment a book by the Oxford mathematician, John Lennox, | entitled "Has Science Buried God?" where he engages with the "new | atheists", questioning a number of their presuppositions, and taking apart | a number of their arguments. This is not primarily an academic text; it is | primarily there to support Christians in their apologetic task to people | living within a scientistic worldview. Prof Lennox brings his scientific | and philosophical understanding and his considerable skills as a logician | to bear, to reveal some of the contradictions in positions taken by | Dawkins and others among the new atheists. In this way he is undoubtedly | doing a service to the church, but I suspect his main motivation is that | of engaging with an important issue and seeking to uncover the truth. This | surely should be at the heart of the Christian scholar's efforts; if we | believe that all truth really is God's truth then our commitment should be | to exploring, uncovering and applying truth, wherever that leads us, while | trusting that God will use that for His glory. -- Andrew Basden Professor of Human Factors and Philosophy of Information Systems Salford Business School, University of Salford, M5 4WT, U.K. [---- "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." Henry Thoreau. Different drum? Dooyeweerd's Philosophy: http://www.dooy.info/ Different drum? Theology & Practice New View: http://www.abxn.org/nv/ Different drum? Technological Longevity: This email from my Amiga 1200 - still running well 20 years after its introduction! ----] Room: Maxwell 304 Tel: +44/0 161-295-2913 http://www.basden.demon.co.uk/andrew.html http://www.basden.salford.ac.uk/cv/