In this post I’d like to reflect on a tension that I consider to be quite widespread within academia. ‘Critical thinking’ is often extolled as one of the core virtues necessary for the intellectual life: much university-level teaching is geared towards developing this skill, and it is viewed as foundational Read more
Is gentleness something academics should aspire to? If a colleague or a peer described you as gentle, would you be pleased, or a little worried? I’ve just had a weekend away with my church, and the teaching focused on the character of Christ – specifically the way he perfectly embodies Read more
If you’re a Christian in a university department, how many other Christians do you know in your field? Define your field as broadly as you need until you can think of someone! How often do you have a chance to talk to those people (or that person), and how often do those Read more
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
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
In my work as a lecturer over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of working particularly closely with students from a number of different nationalities and cultures. This has been especially exciting for me because it fits into a lifelong love for other languages and other places. As a Read more
Richard Vytniorgu is a PhD candidate in English Literature at De Montfort University with Midlands3Cities (AHRC). You can find him at www.richardvytniorgu.com. I’m supposed to be on holiday. And on holiday we (sometimes) relax: we take stock of our lives and ‘where we are right now’. Relaxation and recuperation are implied Read more
Does academic work matter? This is a question most academics come up against at some point in their career, and in day to day life: while most of us at least started because we love our subjects, everyday work in the lab or the library can be monotonous and frustrating, Read more
A guest post from Richard Vytniorgu. ‘Culture’ is a notoriously difficult word. For some it refers to art galleries and piano concerts; for others it refers to something faintly bacterial; while for others still it refers to the entire realm of human activity and life. Broadly speaking, in the arts and Read more
This post is the third of a short series summarising the three main talks given by Jonathan Chaplin and Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin at the Faith-in-Scholarship conference in February. (Summary of Jonathan’s first talk. Summary of Adrienne’s first talk.) To finish the conference Jonathan and Adrienne gave a joint talk entitled ‘The Read more