Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

loneliness

Gender, Calling, and Courage: Lessons from Christian Women in Academia

How can Christian women find the courage to follow the call of academia, and what does that life look like? At the Urbana 2015 conference, a panel of women in academia share insights into how they find life as Christians and women in the university setting.

Women in Academia panel at Urbana 2015

From Dec 27 – Jan 1, volunteers with our network of early career Christian academics are liveblogging seminars at the Urbana conference, a mission-focused student gathering of 16,000 Christians from across North America and the world. This post was co-written by Rebecca Carlson and Elsie Lee.

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Addressing Loneliness in 2014

The Innovation of Loneliness from Shimi Cohen on Vimeo.

Yes, I posted The Innovation of Loneliness in Reclaiming Conversations (9/12/2013) when considering some of the work of Sherry Turkle and offering Transformative Conversations as a resource. But the recent attention given to Saving the Lost Art of Conversation: In a fast-paced digital age, an MIT psychologist tries to slow us down (Megan Garber. The Atlantic. 12/22/2013), an extensive amount of time on-line in the midst of the holidays[1], a lengthy conversation with one of my teenage daughters about the influence of technology, and the encounter of meeting John Hundley (ESN blogger) in person when at InterVarsity Staff Conference 2014[2] leads me to once again offer this piece for your reflection as we (individually and as a network) prayerfully seek direction in the new year. More in the notes and in future posts, but feel free to get things moving by sharing comments below. . . .

John Hundley and Tom Grosh IV enjoy conversation at the Faculty and Emerging Scholars Network Lunch held at InterVarsity Staff Conference 2014. Photo credit: Bob Clark.

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Reclaiming Conversations?

“Reclaiming conversations, that’s the next frontier.” — Sherry Turkle‘s [1] concluding line to her TEDxUIUC 2011 presentation Alone Together.

This morning David O’Hara’s Can I Ask Questions In Church? [2] spurred me to read Jaweed Kaleem’s Keeping Alive The Big Questions [3]. In Kaleem’s resource rich article I once again came across Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. As you may remember from the Emerging Scholars Network Facebook Wall, I posted her TED2012 presentation Connected, but alone? and the below video (Innovation of Loneliness) inspired by her book Alone Together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other (2012). [Read more…] about Reclaiming Conversations?

Henri Nouwen: A Creative Response (from Loneliness to Solitude)

Henri Nouwen's Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life</em. Reissue edition. Image, 1986.
Henri Nouwen’s Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. Reissue edition. Image, 1986.

I’m concluding my series on Henri Nouwen’s book Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life with the final chapter from his first section, which deals with the movement from loneliness to solitude. For several days before I began reading this chapter, I had not responded well to events at home, such as my children acting like children, for goodness’ sake. Nouwen’s words at the beginning of this chapter (entitled “A Creative Response”) caught me up short:

As long as we are trying to run away from loneliness we are constantly looking for distractions with the inexhaustible need to be entertained and kept busy. We become the passive victims of a world asking for our idolizing attention. We become dependent on the shifting chain of events leading us into quick changes of mood, capricious behavior and, at times, revengeful violence. Then our life becomes a spastic and often destructive sequence of actions and reactions pulling us away from our inner selves. (34)

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Henri Nouwen: What’s the cure for loneliness?

Henri Nouwen's Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life</em. Reissue edition. Image, 1986.
Henri Nouwen’s Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. Reissue edition. Image, 1986.

Last week, I began blogging through the first section of Henri Nouwen‘s Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life (to read the first post click here). The first movement – from loneliness to solitude – struck a chord within me, as I reflected that graduate school can be a lonely time and place for many people. Of course, loneliness can strike at any time and any place. Loneliness is even independent of the number of people you’re with.

Solitude of Heart

What’s the cure for loneliness? Solitude. But Nouwen stresses that solitude does not mean being alone, though retreat has been and continues to be a crucial part of developing the discipline of solitude. Just as you can be lonely while surrounded by people, you can be completely alone, yet lack solitude. [Read more…] about Henri Nouwen: What’s the cure for loneliness?