I’ve written a lot over the past two months on the topics of evolutionary biology and theology, perhaps more than some of you required. And yet I’ve also only scratched the surface of the relevant issues. Rather than continue ad nauseum, I thought I’d conclude this series with some suggestions for further reading. This won’t be an exhaustive bibliography; if you want something more comprehensive, you might try the relevant sections of the American Scientific Affiliation’s categorized resources or this reading list from the Jesus Creed blog. What I’ve collected here is some of the writing that has influenced my thinking and resources that I and my collaborators and commenters think are interesting and helpful. Feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments!
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reading lists
Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 1
Over the past six years, I’ve been enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University, studying church history. For the past three years, I’ve been trying to write a dissertation, which is more or less like trying to write a book–but for three or four very persnickety readers.
More than once during this process I’ve questioned whether I would be able to finish. I never struggled with “imposter syndrome†during coursework or comprehensive exams, but during the dissertation phase there’s been plenty of self-doubt. Mark Noll graduated from the GDR at Vanderbilt in three years – so why was writing such a challenge for me? Did that mean I didn’t have what it takes? Also, I’m an ENFP on the Myers-Briggs inventory, which means I’m easily distracted. Seventeenth century Puritanism was interesting for a couple of months – couldn’t I move on to something else now? I felt like the dissertation would never end and that I couldn’t possibly keep myself interested in it.
This fall, I finally finished the dissertation. So now seems like a great moment to step back and reflect. Over the next few posts, I’ll share what I’ve learned during the process of writing:
1) You need cheerleaders, even if you don’t struggle generally with self-confidence.
I suppose it is the case that there are some people who don’t need any encouragement, whose massive erudition, work ethic, and overweening self-possession can take them right through the dissertation without any encouragement whatsoever. My experience, however, is that even people who are generally quite confident in their abilities get pretty discouraged about dissertation writing, especially if the process moves slowly. That’s certainly been the case for me. If you can hammer out a draft in six months, then more power to you – but it’s taken me considerably longer than that. I needed validation that it was worth my while to continue writing even if I had nothing to say or couldn’t find the focus to write something meaningful for days or weeks.
I have been fortunate to have a supervisor and a second reader that are not only colleagues but friends. Many Ph.D. students are not in this position. Their relationships with supervisors are frosty or even adversarial. Especially if you find yourself in this situation, but in any event, you need a community of folks to encourage you. Get plugged in with a local church and establish a close network of friends there. Be honest with them about how hard the dissertation process is. Consider putting together a prayer and confession team at your church that can walk through peaks and valleys with you.
It’s also important to practice the discipline of celebration. Don’t turn something in without marking that progress with your community and doing something fun to break up the grind of daily writing.
Image by jarmoluk at Pixabay.com
What’s on your summer reading list?
Just a brief post today, because Tom and I have been busy with other things. Perhaps because of my busy schedule, I’ve been thinking ahead to summer, when I will have more time for reading — or, at least, I imagine I’ll have more time. Two weeks ago, I shared my reading list focusing on how academics perceive evangelicals. My family has a vacation scheduled for June, and my hope is that I’ll make a big dent in that reading list while sitting by the beach. (Yes, that’s how much a nerd I am. No Hunger Games for me, please – I have ethnography to keep me occupied!)
What’s on your summer reading list?Â
What Will You Be Reading This Summer?
Today is official the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, which means, of course, it’s time for summer reading lists.
Before I get to my own list:
What’s on your summer reading list?
I tend to follow Alan Jacobs’ advice and read according to whim, but here are a few books or series that I want/hope to read this summer. I’m notoriously bad for failing to follow through on reading commitments and for losing focus partway through a book, so view this list as merely aspirational.
Photo credit: Mark Hamilton via Flickr
Emerging Scholars Related
Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa. This book (in actuality, a long monograph) has been the talk of the town among higher education pundits. Arum and Roksa analyzed various datasets for approximately 2,300 freshmen and sophomores at 24 colleges and universities around the country, and their findings aren’t terribly encouraging if you think students should learn something by going to college. I’m about halfway through, but it’s a fairly slow read for me – lots of numbers and charts.
Crisis on Campus: A Bold Plan for Reforming Our Colleges and Universities by Mark C. Taylor. This seems like a logical follow-up to Anthony Kronman’s Education’s End. Taylor is the chair of the Department of Religion at Columbia, so I look forward to seeing how his analysis and proposals differ from Kronman’s.
Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas by Kelly Monroe Kullberg. A personal, intellectual, and spiritual memoir by the founder of The Veritas Forum — who is now an InterVarsity colleague working with Women in the Academy and Professions. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I haven’t read it yet, so if you see Kelly, don’t tell her. [Read more…] about What Will You Be Reading This Summer?