My Statement of Research Interest

I apologize for the lack of updates these past four months. I unintentionally took a hiatus while I finished my thesis, and then I had a long recovery where I couldn’t quite work up the energy to write at all. Now my desire to write has returned, and I have many things to blog – including announcing that this fall I will begin doctoral studies in Christian Ethics at the Toronto School of Theology, about which I’m quite excited.

To explain a bit of what I’ll be working on, I thought I’d share most of the statement of research interest I used to apply to TST and two other Canadian programs. (For non-academic reasons, I only applied to schools in Canada.) I do not know how important my statement was in my application – I’ve heard wildly varying claims on the subject – but I know examples of theology statements are hard to find, so here’s mine, with some commentary to explain my thoughts.

I’m dreaming of a Scrib’d Christmas…

These days, I’m not terribly enthusiastic about gifts. My personality tends to the melancholic anyway, and I’m (mostly) past the age where I can happily gorge myself on a new technological gadget or game. And although I do enjoy giving gifts, my participation in the eternally recurring quest for the Perfect Gift(tm) is limited. Rather than scouring the commercial universe for the one true gift that will demonstrate my love, insight, and perseverance to the recipient for the coming year, I usually buy people books – good books, which are defined as books I would like to read if I were them. Curiously, I sometimes end up borrowing the books back to read myself after they’ve been read.

In other words, I am often the eschatological horizon of my own giving. In that spirit, I’d like to offer a few gifts I was quite happy to receive back recently. First, I have seen proof (thanks Bethany!) that my article, “Toward a Moral Theology of Genetic Screening,” has been printed in the Fall 2010 issue of Crux. Unfortunately it’s not yet available on the web, but I’ve uploaded a final draft to Scribd, if you’re interested in a Hauerwasian/Augustinian take on prenatal and preimplantation screening. It also functions as a rough synopsis of my thesis, although it’s considerably easier to read, thanks entirely to my editors, especially my friend Rob.

I must also thank Nathan Hobby, the editor of the Anabaptist Association of Australia & New Zealand’s journal On The Road, for stumbling across some of my older posts Yoder and inviting me to contribute to their December issue. Well worth a read.

Finally, I recently had the pleasure of leading a small book study through N.T. Wright’s new After You Believe. More often than not, we widely departed from the questions I came up with, but I’ve put them up on Scribd also, and I’ll have some more thoughts on the book in the new year. Enjoy!

Liturgical Resistance to Biological Utopias

“God gives his people everything they need to follow him.”[1] Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells admit this claim about Christian ethics sounds unbelievable, but they contend that refocusing Christian ethics on the Church and its worship in the traditional liturgy allows ethics to be defined by discipleship, abundance, and God rather than by judgement, scarcity, and ourselves.[2] I agree, and I will argue that the reconnection of liturgy and ethics is what Christians need to remember their historic identity and way of life. I will proceed by outlining Vigen Guroian’s argument that the Church and its liturgy is the key to resisting secularization, then examining how Hauerwas and Wells see liturgy and ethics shifting relationship, finishing with M. Therese Lysaught’s description of how baptism provides a response to human cloning and some reflections on ‘non-liturgical’ appropriation.

Link Post: Some say the world will end in fire…

I have never done one of these. I routinely share about dozen links a week from my Google Reader account, but I thought I’d see if a link post is A. helpful and B. easy. So here’s some of the best short pieces I’ve seen recently, mostly about (social) media and society:

Why the revolution will not be tweeted: Malcolm Gladwell compares social media’s potential for real social change to the American Civil Rights Movement, NAACP, and the black church. Guess who wins.

According to Metacritic, The Social Network is already one of the highest rated films of the decade. So what? Well, Wikipedia leads us to at least one technological idealist/imperialist that labels it the anti-geek movie. Unfortunately, Jeff Jarvis fails to recognize the ontological/political differences between Web 2.0 and the Internet. (More on this later.)

The Last Psychiatrist ‘reviews’ Catfish and the ideas of online privacy and identity. Quote:

The agreement we’ve all accepted, it is there in your ISP contract, is that we are willing to trade exhibitionism/voyeurism for greater respect in real life.  Or, less privacy online for more privacy offline. …

Nev breaks the deal. You can’t fault him for googling and investigating, but he’s not permitted to go to her house.  That’s the deal. …

Only — and I can’t believe I’m about to say this — a male dominated, female-as-commodity narcissistic perspective would think that the moral of [Catfish] is that a man might get fooled.  The real moral is that some men will drive 300 miles just on the chance that you are hot.  Imagine how far they’ll go to kill you.

A new blog chronicles horrible accounts of sexism in Philosophy departments. I’m afraid to think what an equivalent for theology would look like.

Along with linking the above, Adam Kotsko advocates the abolition of undergraduate minors, and perhaps even majors. I concur.

At The Other Journal, Jamie Smith skewers poser Brett McCracken and his critique of ‘Hipster’ Christianity, and KJ Swanson continues her confrontation with the Evangelical embrace of Twilight.

Reactions to the Pew Forum’s Religious ‘Knowledge’ Survey abound, including from Ryan Dueck, Martin Marty, and The Immanent Frame.

Multiculturalism: it doesn’t work, at least as long as it ignores identity; it works, at least in Quebec; it has something to do with Zizek, I am Legend, and Stephen Colbert.

Also from Canada: a hard-hitting yet heartfelt defence of Insite, a supervised injection site in Vancouver.

Finally, The Onion presents arguments for and against teaching both sides of the end-times debate: Biblical Armageddon and Global Warming. Who says modernity lacks an eschatology?

Statements of Purpose / Intent / Research Interest?

I apologize for the lack of updates recently. I should have realized how busy I and everyone else would be in September; it is, after all, the ‘new year’ in the land of Academia. And I have been busy, sending off another chapter of my thesis (alas, my most dense yet, according to my supervisor), getting the edits back on an upcoming article, starting my French class, leading a book study and organizing two more to start this month, and planning some PhD applications and campus visits for November.

It is on that last bit that I would like to ask for some help. I need to write some ‘statements of purpose’ or ‘statements of research interest’ for the doctoral programs in Theology and Religious Studies I will be applying for. In general, I understand such statements should:

• Suggest a specific, interesting research topic, without implying I already have a predetermined answer or agenda;
• Demonstrate I know the history and contemporary context of my field well enough to use appropriate terminology and reference major scholars;
• Make a clear connection to the faculty of the department, such that it is evident they will be capable of and interested in supervising my work;
• Acknowledge the work of my potential supervisor and their colleagues, but very lightly, without effusive adjectives or praise;
• Frame my previous studies and preparation to highlight how I am able and suited to do the work I propose to do; and
• Generally present myself as a thoughtful, intelligent, perceptive, and persuasive yet credible candidate.