TL;DR
The freedom of
Christian theism, practiced by scholars open to and eager for subject-centered,
communal scholarly inquiry, leverages interdisciplinarity's capacity to produce
deep, satisfying, and useful knowledge about a central subject.
Topics
●
Since Christ is
Creator and Lord of all, Christian theism brings maximal freedom to scholarly
inquiry, opening all subjects for consideration.
●
Since
subject-centered inquiry welcomes various informed perspectives around a shared
concern, it provides a framework for working through internecine barriers and
creating a shared scholarly culture.
●
Since Christian
theism is interested in an infinite range of disciplines, interdisciplinarity
carried out in that context has the capacity to produce a richer description of
the subject than might otherwise be
possible.
●
Since Christian
theism provides scholars with the freedom to bring their whole selves to an
exploration, interdisciplinarity practiced in that context has the capacity to
deepen scholarly satisfaction.
●
Since Christian
theism provides an infinite range of perspectives within which to integrate the
theoretical and practical, it broadens the practical impact of
interdisciplinary scholarship.
The Freedom of Christian Theism
Since Christ is
Creator and Lord of all, Christian theism brings maximal freedom to scholarly
inquiry, opening all subjects for consideration. In the beginning, God created
the stuff and shape of all things, and the New Testament tells us that Jesus,
the Word, is the one through whom all was created (Genesis 1; John 1).
Everything in nature proclaims God's glory, divinity, and power (Psalm 19;
Romans 1), and Christ himself is the maker, sustainer, and Lord of everything
(Colossians 1; Hebrews 1). Therefore, he is concerned about everything. Just as
Christ is concerned about everything, so also should his people be concerned
about everything. This means that every subject is open to and benefits from scholarly inquiry from a Christian perspective.
Every discipline in the academy and every topic under discussion in the world
is open to inquiry for Christian scholars.
The Community of Subject-Centered
Scholarship
Since
subject-centered inquiry welcomes various informed perspectives around a shared
concern, it provides a framework for working through internecine barriers and
creating a shared scholarly culture. Subject-centered scholarly inquiry
welcomes a variety of perspectives into the process of exploration, welcoming
any and all who are interested in the subject and equipped into interdisciplinary dialog. This welcoming,
subject centered-conversation is similar to Parker Palmer's (2017) idea of the
great thing in the center of teaching in Courage to Teach. Placing a third,
great thing in the center of a scholarly conversation prevents narcissistic
focus and provides a standard that measures all participants. This third thing
holds all parties in the conversation accountable. Focus on the subject in the
center also reduces internecine squabbles, making for more productive and
enjoyable interdisciplinary conversation. This possible reduction of squabbles
and barriers aligns with the results of Strober's study (2010), which found
that leadership is key to healthy and productive interdisciplinary
conversation. Leaders provide both structure and space for participants to
uncover differences, form bonds, and explore the subject from their sundry
perspectives. They maintain the group’s focus on the purpose of the
conversation and point ahead to its significance. They have a part in selecting
participants who are competent regarding the subject and have a capacity to
admit their own weaknesses and acknowledge the strengths of others. Leaders are
also competent in the subject and collegial relations and have the respect of
the participants. So, in a subject-centered interdisciplinary conversation, the
leader's task is to convene and facilitate a community of scholars from several
disciplines in conversation around a
shared concern that is kept in the center of the community.
Deep Knowledge and Rich
Description
Since Christian
theism is interested in an infinite range of disciplines, interdisciplinarity
carried out in that context has the capacity to produce a richer description of
a subject than might otherwise be
possible. Approaching the central subject with a clear idea of one's own
perspective and an openness to hearing the perspectives of others brings more
dimensions to the table, allowing for a rich description of the subject and
increasing the opportunity to discover connections among the perspectives
surrounding the subject.
Scholarly Satisfaction
Since Christian
theism provides scholars with the freedom to bring their whole selves to an
exploration, interdisciplinarity practiced in that context has the capacity to
deepen scholarly satisfaction. Setting aside pieces of ourselves in an effort
to be objective goes against the nature of reality. Reality is complex,
interconnected, and relational. We see these characteristics in human social
gatherings, ant colonies, and entangled Quantum particles. Cutting an entire
line of inquiry in order to do scholarly work properly is both ridiculous and
impossible. Our assumptions and prior experience always filter what we perceive
and shape what we conceive. When those filters are acknowledged by us, confronted
by others, and made to respond more closely to reality, amazing things can
happen.
Useful Knowledge
Since Christian
theism provides an infinite range of perspectives within which to integrate the
theoretical and practical, it broadens the practical impact of
interdisciplinary scholarship. Such a context welcomes all interested and
capable persons around the table, bringing their whole selves to the inquiry.
In this holistic interplay of unity and diversity, the possibility of
recognizing practical applications and links to life becomes more likely. The
mutual flow of ideas among persons, especially those having different
perspectives, exposes blind spots to information and incorrect assumptions to
correction. It increases the breadth of experiential knowledge and wisdom
within which the subject is explored and into which the rich description might
be applied.
References
Palmer, P. J.
(2017). The Courage to Teach: Exploring
the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life (Kindle). Jossey-Bass.
Strober, M. (2010). Interdisciplinary Conversations: Challenging Habits of Thought
(Kindle). Stanford University Press.
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(C) Laura Springer
Musings of a peripatetic wannabe-sage by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License..
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