Jonathan Warren shares the last in a three part series. Explore Part 1 here and Part 2 here. As I wrap up this series, two more things I learned from my dissertation come to mind: 4) You need to strike the proper balance between research and writing. One of my besetting issues during the entirety of my Ph.D. program was the sense that I always needed to know more about the topic than I did before I could write about it. My tendency was to consume more and more information, compile more and more detailed … [Read more...] about Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 3
dissertation
Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 2
Boston Public Library Last time I explored how important it is to have a supportive community while writing. Here I move on to lessons 2 and 3 from my dissertation process: 2) Be realistic about how much time good writing takes. I mentioned before that I'm an ENFP and find it extremely hard to focus. I'm also very social and tend to get depressed if I spend too long in the library researching and writing. One of the initial challenges for me in making progress on the dissertation was developing what historian … [Read more...] about Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 2
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 … [Read more...] about Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 1
Releasing the Helm: Letting Theory Critique My Faith (Scholar’s Compass)
We must listen with all our might, with all our will to discern, laying aside our very human desire to be right with a prayer that we may be faithful. - Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2009 Reflection The air conditioner's white noise makes my meeting with my dissertation advisor dreamlike, as if the discussion we are having isn't real, as if my legs' adherence to the sticky metal folding chair is a discomfort that I would vaguely remember when I wake up. I'm … [Read more...] about Releasing the Helm: Letting Theory Critique My Faith (Scholar’s Compass)
Learning Prayer from George Herbert
The milky way, the bird of Paradise, Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood, The land of spices; something understood. – Description of prayer from George Herbert's poem Prayer (I) Reflection I certainly didn't expect it. If someone had told me that a seventeenth-century poem called Prayer would capture the imaginations of my undergraduate British literature class, I'd have chuckled gently. My students that semester were thoughtful and full of goodwill, but they didn't seem extraordinarily … [Read more...] about Learning Prayer from George Herbert