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Alicia Smith

Alicia has been blogging for Faith in Scholarship since 2016. She completed a doctorate on the prayer practices of medieval solitary recluses in 2020 and is now a lecturer in Medieval Literature and Culture at Birkbeck, University of London.
CS Lewis' space trilogy
Faith-in-Scholarship

‘That Hideous Strength’ and institutional sin

In his recent post ‘Forays into finance’, Richard reflected on the challenges of institutional sin in his new context of the financial sector: an industry governed by forces which seem to tend towards exploitation of others, manifesting sin beyond the personal to the societal level. But, of course, you don’t need Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 7 yearsSeptember 23, 2018 ago
Fishing boat
Faith-in-Scholarship

Taking time apart: discipline and blessing

Inspired by this post from the archives of The Well (InterVarsity’s ministry to women in academia and the professions), I recently took a mini-‘retreat’ in the midst of my current summer season of being at home, preparing for a family wedding and working on my thesis in the midst of planning and Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 7 yearsAugust 21, 2018 ago
Blurry conference audience
Faith-in-Scholarship

People who are free

I’ve spent much of the last two weeks at academic conferences. Now, while I take a few days off to recover (!), I’m reflecting on some of the challenges of the scholarly environment that can be exposed with particular clarity at this kind of event.  I should say up front Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 7 yearsJuly 9, 2018 ago
Sunlight through water
Faith-in-Scholarship

Easter reflection: R.S. Thomas, ‘Suddenly’

For Easter Monday, here is a reflection on a poem which I was sent by my supervisor recently: ‘Suddenly’ by the twentieth-century Welsh poet and Anglican priest, R. S. Thomas. As I had always knownhe would come, unannounced,remarkable merely for the absenceof clamour. So truth must appearto the thinker; so, Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 7 yearsApril 2, 2018 ago
Why Study? book cover
Faith-in-Scholarship

Review: Why Study? Exploring the Face of God in the Academy

This review is reprinted with permission (and some additional material) from The Glass, the journal of the Christian Literary Studies Group (issue 30, Spring 2018). See other selected articles and more information about the journal and Group here: clsg.org.  Why Study? Exploring the Face of God in the Academy (Fellowship of Evangelical Students, Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 7 yearsFebruary 27, 2018 ago
Question marks
Faith-in-Scholarship

Seeking the good of the seminar: how to ask questions well

As part of our ongoing series on academic skills, today’s post is about the skill of asking questions well in an academic seminar (or similar setting). For many postgraduate students and researchers, especially in the humanities and social sciences, seminars focused on a particular interest area are the main way we Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 7 yearsFebruary 2, 2018 ago
Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians - book cover
Faith-in-Scholarship

Review: Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians

Chris R. Armstrong, Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians: Finding Authentic Faith in a Forgotten Age with C. S. Lewis (Brazos Press, 2016) From time to time at FiSch we review books that might either help you with the task of integrating your particular work with your faith, or which themselves are the result of that integration. Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 7 yearsJanuary 28, 2018 ago
The presentation in the temple
Faith-in-Scholarship

Christmas reflection: Waiting for Joy

This is an adapted and abridged version of a sermon I gave at evensong in the chapel of Hertford College, last February on the feast of Candlemas. ‘Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 7 yearsDecember 18, 2017 ago
Bookshelves
Faith-in-Scholarship

Pride and peer review: taking criticism as an academic skill

We’re aiming to write about various academic skills on FiSch over the next few months. Aside from the narrow, subject-specific skills we all acquire in our fields – from paleography to coding to titration – there are many more general skills academics need to thrive in our work, and through which Christians have Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 8 yearsOctober 9, 2017 ago
Bodleian Library, Oxford
Faith-in-Scholarship

Christian postgrad groups in action: Oxford Graduate Christian Forum

One of the aims of Faith in Scholarship over the years has been to support groups for Christian postgraduate students – sometimes actively, sometimes through providing networks and resources. Most of the FiSch bloggers are or have been part of these groups in various universities across the country. Today I want to Read more…

By Alicia Smith, 8 yearsSeptember 11, 2017 ago

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  1. Tim Bowman on Kim Kardashian and how her family was rescued from the Armenian GenocideMay 29, 2025

    Wow, what a story of deep faithfulness. To leave everything because of a prophecy. Truly inspiring. I visited Kim Kardashian's…

  2. James Skillen on The Incredible Story of the Slave who became a Famous ScientistApril 30, 2025

    Thanks very much Mark and Steve for this touching story. Doreen and I now live in Alabama and have visited…

  3. Kevin Keefe on Challenging Dualism: Serving God as an EngineerApril 13, 2025

    Thanks Mark, for sharing another interesting and thought-provoking article.

  4. Dave Hopwood on Challenging Dualism: Serving God as an EngineerMarch 29, 2025

    Thanks for this piece and this reminder Mark, I'm grateful for the way the web has enabled me to daily…

  5. Dr Philip Thomas on Challenging Dualism: Serving God as an EngineerMarch 20, 2025

    Thanks for this piece, Mark. Yes, we should strive to conduct ourselves, however we use technology, with one central purpose…

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    A Reflection in Puddles: Distinctiveness in Academia

    It’s a rainy day outside and my mind has wandered to puddles. Puddles are commonplace (in England especially!) without much…

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    Forays into finance

    For the last 18 months I've been a research fellow on a project about financial stability that's run by a small…

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    Mentoring for Christian postgraduates

    If you read our FiSch homepage, you’ll see that Faith-in-Scholarship is all about “Dynamic Christian thinking in the university and beyond”.…