(9 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
Loading...I am constantly reminded (from emails and conversations ) that most people would have little way to know what professional scholars at research universities actually do. That’s not surprising. I, frankly, don’t really know (or much understand) what a hedge fund manager does, or a state lieutenant governor, or an industrial chemist. I was thinking about the issue (my position, not the ones I don’t know about) last week and suddenly had a vague recollection that I discussed it at some point on the blog; I checked and, lo and behold, I devoted a number of posts to the matter over ten years ago. I’ve decided to do it again. This first post will repeat how I introduced the topic back then.
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In some of the back and forth that I have been involved with over the past few weeks some blog readers have asked about whether “experts” in an academic field have any privileged standing when it comes to making judgments about the acceptability or force of evidence that is adduced for one position or another. I am not going to go into that question here, but a related topic did occur to me as I was thinking about it: my hunch is that a lot of people outside the academy don’t really know what a faculty position at a research university entails.
And so I thought maybe I should describe what it is that someone like me – a senior professor at a large university – what a person like me actually does with his time (one quick answer: NOT watch a lot of TV!!). I will simply use me as the example, since I’m the one I know most about. But my sense is that my story is fairly typical, not at all unusual. There is a range of activities that scholars like me are involved with, and my plan is to devote a post each to some of the most obvious ones, but in no obvious order. That is, the posts will not be arranged according to the ones I devote the most time to; the ones I like the best; the ones that take the most brain power; or anything else. They are simply a random collection of things I do. My posts will cover such things as:
- Phd dissertations I am supervising
- My own writing projects
- Editorial work I do
- Courses and seminars that I teach (both undergraduate and graduate)
- Undergraduate theses I have been directing
- Languages that I work on and reading that I do
- The training (languages; fields; theses; years) that someone like me needs to have to become a scholar in the first place
- Conferences and seminars I attend and what doing so entails
- Possibly other things as they come to mind
I’m not trying to make any great point by any of this. It just occurred to me that people may be interested in knowing what it is a university professor in a Department of Religious Studies at a major research institution does, and how it is he came to start doing it. Even if that’s not a question that much interests you (no reason it should!) I’ll try to write the posts so that they will address questions you may indeed have and provide information that you may indeed find interesting.
We industrial chemists, and retired industrial chemists, read your blog.
And I should be reading yours!
It is always interesting to hear what other professionals do at their work. I find no career is ever as simple as it seems from the outside. Every topic is deep and many nuances and details involved.
Oh boy is it. I was talking to my tax guy today. Yikes — a different universe from mine.disabledupes{98ec1ccbef4a05a102f7450b4539e88a}disabledupes
Probably you knew Professor Charles Talbert personally. Back in the day he was highly regarded among Religion majors at Wake Forest. For others inclined toward math and science and business and not to the humanities yet required to take a Religion course for credit, a diligent effort was needed in his introductory New Testament course to end up with a “Gentleman’s C” grade.
Yup, he was a tough grader! I did know him. He produced important scholarship.
Thanks for clarifying an interesting topic. I’m interested in the difference between a doctorate in New Testament studies (or related topic) and a scientific discipline.
For example, I understand that William Lane Craig wrote a PhD dissertation on the Kalam Cosmological Argument, and I’m trying to compare that with a dissertation in physics or chemistry, say. I want to give theological scholars’ their due, but a dissertation on an argument that Craig himself summarizes in three lines seems paltry compared to new research in science that the grad student might discover, halfway in, is leading nowhere.
I can imagine padding the Kalam dissertation with a discussion of its history, naysayers’ arguments and how to respond, variations on the Cosmological argument and how the Kalam argument fits, and so on, but that still doesn’t sound like enough for a dissertation. Maybe theology is so well traveled that there’s no opportunity for anything novel? This seems unlikely since your own work documents your own changed opinions and surprising observations.
Your thoughts on dissertations in theology/religious studies vs. the sciences?
I’m not Bart, but comparing philosophy to new testament studies isn’t quite right. Craig’s dissertation would fall into philosophy, whereas the stuff Bart talks about is closer to history. There definitely are some overlaps but the methodology, questions asked, and form are really different.
Craig’s dissertation would be more comparable to a dissertation on some aspect of modern philosophy. The stuff Bart sees can easily be compared with academic work on other areas of history, like ancient and classical history.
How about getting a PhD in Christology “Christology: Christian reflection, teaching, and doctrine concerning Jesus of Nazareth. Christology is the part of theology that is concerned with the nature and work of Jesus, including such matters as the Incarnation, the Resurrection, and his human and divine natures and their relationship”?
There are lots of Catholic universities where you can get your doctorate in things like this as part of your preparation for being an ‘intellectual’ and ‘evidence-based’ priest.
I imagine Craig either got his degree from one of these or some other theologically driven ‘divinity’ school, just like the local priest who told me he knew the bodily resurrection happened because he had his PhD in Christology whereas scientifically inclined people who expressed disbelief were obviously ignorant of the correct arguments.
The problem with these closed ideological systems is that they no longer interact with others that don’t share their particular beliefs – in fact you may find Nobel physics prize winner Frank Wilczek’s view on this interesting as he explains here https://youtu.be/FitxAlU6J8c
Also, his reflections on ‘what is, what could be and what should be’ adds a new dimension to the ‘is’ can not logically lead to a ‘should’ argument in philosophy.
I think I agree with that. But I also think that all ideologically systems are closed. (!) You won’t get a PhD in evolutionary biology if you’re a creationist; or a PhD in theology in a fundamentalist seminary if you’re a hard-core evolutionist! disabledupes{64638bebc70790a21a8273826965126d}disabledupes
I know at least one person I would consider to be a professional scholar, meaning that he makes money doing scholarship, who does not teach (at least not regularly). He mostly publishes.
Yup! Many professors consider those folk the lucky ones, and many of those folk consider professors the lucky ones. (In the post I tried to be clear I was referring to research professors teaching in university settings)
Would you like someone to comment on what faculty do at “regional” or “second tier” universities? The teaching loads are quite different, and yet over the past few decades the requirement for young faculty to be submitting published research in order to get tenure amazes me. I’m speaking as a retired professor and department chair who had to review these folks’ performance and recommend (or not) promotion and tenure. But for either type of institution there seems to be a broad public misunderstanding of what the “job requirements” are.
Write me an email and we can talk about it!
That’s quite a lot. It must be hard to keep up with all of this.
I also wonder if this blog is something you do just for fun (+ charity), or if it is also part of your job, as part of an obligation to popularize your academic work, or something like that…
Also, do you never get tired of talking and writing about Jesus and the Gospels and the Bible? 🙂
Nope, it’s not a part of the job. It really is for the charity. I don’t think I consider it “fun,” but I do enjoy parts ofit — communicating with peole important scholarship they are interesyted in and getting to know some veyr interesting people