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Love Your Academic Discipline

“Your crooked heart”: Literary Study and Spiritual Formation (Scholar’s Call)

Lear in the Storm O'Neal November 2015

John Runciman, King Lear in the Storm, 1767

Act III of Shakespeare’s King Lear gets to me every time. Lear, spectacularly blinded by pride and bereft of power in his old age, having foolishly exiled one daughter and exposed himself to betrayal by the other two, retreats into a storm with his Fool and descends into madness, shaking his fist at nature, railing, “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow!” [Read more…] about “Your crooked heart”: Literary Study and Spiritual Formation (Scholar’s Call)

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Scholar’s Compass Navigating Knowledge: Creativity That Delights

Image courtesy of Photokanok at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of Photokanok at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others.”  – Exodus 35:30-34 (NIV)

Reflection

God delights in making things. We see this in the goodness of creation in Genesis 1 and also in God’s boasting of his creativity and sovereignty in Job 38-41. But Scripture does not limit creativity to God. The Lord invites us to be creative and imaginative, too. God invited people to name the animals in Genesis 2, to wonder (in awe of God’s power) about how the world works in Job 38-41, and to build the tabernacle in Exodus 31-40 so that God would dwell among them. [Read more…] about Scholar’s Compass Navigating Knowledge: Creativity That Delights

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Navigating Knowledge: The Conflict of Gratitude and Equality

Image by J. Nathan Matias
Image by J. Nathan Matias

Love Your Academic Discipline

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. – I Peter 4:9-10 (NIV)

Reflection

I have recently been analyzing large datasets of appreciation for research on cooperation and diversity online. I used to think that thanking others was an straightforward good, but a literature review has changed how I see the role of gratitude in my life as a Christian and the communities I serve.

Jesus discouraged gratitude, argues theologian Peter Leithart in Gratitude: an Intellectual History. In the New Testament, Christ’s followers are urged to give in secret without expecting anything in return, thanking God as the giver of all good things and avoiding public acknowledgment. Leithart argues that the church, which is ordered around love and equality rather than patronage, social debts, or bribes, became an important precursor to modern institutions (Webb).

A word of thanks often recognizes a favor that might need to be repaid (McCullough et al), what Stoic philosopher Seneca called “the first instalment” in repaying a gift. The New Testament rejects this kind of indebtedness, according to Leithart. When we recognize God as the ultimate giver and rewarder, who exercises free grace towards all, we can give and forgive freely without calculating personal benefit. That free grace is at the heart of the radical equality essential to Christian community.

Imagine however a community without thanks, where people interact primarily to accept or reject each other’s work. For much of the history of the free encyclopedia Wikipedia, it was hard to show appreciation and easier to disagree and revert contributions. Wikipedia’s designers defended it from bad edits rather than encouraging good faith collaboration, creating a high quality encyclopedia but turning away well-intentioned newcomers (Halfaker et al).

Wikipedia added a “thanks” button for specific edits in 2013, among many other inclusion initiatives. I have sampled the English language Wikipedia’s network of 2,244 thank-yous over three summer days in 2014. Figure 1 shows the largest connected component in the graph: each dot is a single editor, and each line shows at least one expression of thanks.

Gratitude is a small voice on Wikipedia (only 0.8% of edits in those three days received thanks), but the thanks network includes many who respond with gratitude of their own — returning appreciation and thanking others in turn. In this period, 839 unique accounts gave or received thanks, and 50% of them were linked to each other in this single connected component of gratitude.

While the New Testament directs our trust and gratitude toward God rather than people, both Paul and Peter praise churches and collaborators. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul praises Macedonian churches for unusual generosity, hoping it will inspire others. In I Peter 5, after encouraging all Christians to “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another,” Peter acknowledges Silas, the co-author of the letter. Gratitude towards the people and institutions who make our work possible is a necessary part of humility.

Equality, gratitude, and pro-sociality are also linked. In one study, successful marriages went beyond fair division of household chores to include a fair “economy of gratitude” that valued both partners’ physical and emotional domestic labor (Alberts et al) (Hochschild & Machung). In life narrative studies, people who actively support their communities often describe their lives through a lens of redemptive gratitude, talking about people, institutions, and deities who gave them advantages and turned difficult times into positive experiences (McAdams).

At home and among our colleagues, practices of thanks and acknowledgment can create traps of social indebtedness and inequality, or they can foster the generous hospitality of a supportive community. As “faithful stewards of God’s grace,” we have the privilege to generously share both hospitality and appreciation, using “whatever gift you have received to serve others.”

Questions

  • Do I see my career or home life in terms of gratitude or personal achievement?
  • Do I usually expect something in return when I offer help?
  • Am I adding or detracting from the spirit of appreciation in my relationships and communities?

Prayer

Dear Father of grace, giver of all good and perfect gifts,

Fill us with the humility that recognizes the gifts of others.

Grant us a spirit of love and equality,

So that we may give and serve without partiality,

And grow like you in kindness and hospitality,

Who gives freely to all. Amen.

References

  • Alberts, J.K.; S.J. Tracy, A. Trethewey. An Integrative Theory of the Division of Domestic Labor: Threshold Level, Social Organizing and Sensemaking. Journal of Family Communication 11, 1 (2011), 21–38.
  • Halfaker, Aaron; R. Stuart Geiger, Loren G. Terveen. 2014. Snuggle: designing for efficient socialization and ideological critique. (CHI ’14). ACM, New York, NY, USA.
  • Hochschild, A. and Machung, A. The Second Shift. Penguin Books, New York, 2003.
  • Matias, J. Nathan. Gratitude and its Dangers in Social Technologies. MIT Center for Civic Media blog, August 5, 2014.
  • McAdams, Dan P. and Jack J. Bauer Gratitude in Modern Life: Its Manifestations and Development. In The Psychnology of Gratitude, eds Robert A. Emmons & Michael E. McCullough. Oxford University Press, 2004, 81-99.
  • McCullough, Michael; Shelley D. Kilpatrick, Robert A. Emmons, David B. Larson. “Is Gratitude a Moral Affect?” Psychological Bulletin 2001, vol 127, No 2, 249-266.
  • Seneca. de benefeciis. In Moral Essays. Loeb Classical Library, 1928, 480.
  • Webb, Stephen. Review of “Gratitude: An Intellectual History by Peter J. Leithart” Christian Century, April 30, 2014.

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Scholar’s Compass Navigating Beginnings: Learning Scholarly Virtues from the Iliad

Image courtesy of Suat Eman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of Suat Eman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

I was a stranger and you welcomed me” – Matthew 25:35 (ESV)

[Read more…] about Scholar’s Compass Navigating Beginnings: Learning Scholarly Virtues from the Iliad

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Navigating Beginnings: Glory-Seeking Ministry in the Academic Life (Scholar’s Compass)

Image courtesy of markuso at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of markuso at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory, as the waters cover the sea. — Habakkuk 2:14 (HCSB)

Reflection

I didn’t want a career in the university world. That’s not how you were expecting this devotional to start, is it?

My original intention when I began studying physics as a university freshman was to become a high school physics teacher. Then, I became involved in campus ministry (with my weeknights full of meetings and my backpack full of gospel tracts) and fell in awe over Bible passages like the one above. God’s glory, I came to learn, is the purpose for which we are created, and his people need servants to help them live out that purpose. This, I learned was the foundation of Christian ministry.

But while I had learned a good foundation of Christian ministry, I had not embraced a wide enough scope: I thought that the only meaningful way I could live out this ministry was to be a pastor, missionary, or campus ministry staff member. By my junior year, I was fairly certain that meant I needed to head to seminary after graduating. One question haunted me in the midst of this certainty: What am I supposed to do with my love for physics, and for seeing others enjoy it? [Read more…] about Navigating Beginnings: Glory-Seeking Ministry in the Academic Life (Scholar’s Compass)

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