What to Put in Your Dissertation

January 12, 2012 in Th.M. Program, Writing with 1 Comment

I recently ran across this fun description of what you should include in your dissertation. So, if you’re working on yours now or will be in the future, here’s some great dissertation writing advice.

The Ph.D. thesis usually begins with a pithy quote, after which there will sometimes be a dedication to one’s parents, life partner, and/or pet tapir.

Following this is probably the most important part of the dissertation: the acknowledgments section. This is the only section that everyone who picks up your thesis will read. They will happen upon your dissertation in the library and flip through the first few pages, looking for a juicy acknowledgments section. This is your chance to make obscure references to secret loves, damn various faculty members with faint praise, or be very mysterious by having no acknowledgments section at all so that everyone wonders what you’re hiding.

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Flotsam and jetsam (1/11)

January 11, 2012 in Flotsam and jetsam with 2 Comments

Good Reads

  • The Secret Lives of Seminary Presidents: “These leaders get shot at from all sides, yet they have a trust from the Lord to be faithful.  They have an obligation to stay close to and to serve the church.  And they exert great influence in shaping the theological discussions of our day.”
  • Can We Judge the Morality of God? A Response to Roger Olson: “There are two primary reasons why I believe Dr. Olson’s approach will have little to no impact upon believing Calvinists like myself—people who were not born and raised in an explicitly Reformed tradition and hence do not hold their views out of a commitment to tradition.”
  • Why There Are No Theological Problems: “I propose (with no claim to originality) that the interesting questions in theology are all mysteries: we shouldn’t expect answers, so much as hints and definitions that serve to clarify our thoughts about the question.”

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Augustine’s Advice to Preachers

January 11, 2012 in Uncategorized with 10 Comments

And so our Christian orator, while he says what is just, and holy, and good (and he ought never to say anything else), does all he can to be heard with intelligence, with pleasure, and with obedience; and he need not doubt that if he succeed in this object, and so far as he succeeds, he will succeed more by piety in prayer than by gifts of oratory; and so he ought to pray for himself, and for those he is about to address, before he attempts to speak.

And when the hour is come that he must speak, he ought, before he opens his mouth, to lift up his thirsty soul to God, to drink in what he is about to pour forth, and to be himself filled with what he is about to distribute.

For, as in regard to every matter of faith and love there are many things that may be said, and many ways of saying them, who knows what it is expedient at a given moment for us to say, or to be heard saying, except God who knows the hearts of all? And who can make us say what we ought, and in the way we ought, except Him in whose hand both we and our speeches are? Accordingly, he who is anxious both to know and to teach should learn all that is to be taught, and acquire such a faculty of speech as is suitable for a divine. But when the hour for speech arrives, let him reflect upon that saying of our Lord’s, as better suited to the wants of a pious mind: “Take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” The Holy Spirit, then, speaks thus in those who for Christ’s sake are delivered to the persecutors; why not also in those who deliver Christ’s message to those who are willing to learn?

Augustine, On Christian Doctrine 4.15 (emphasis added)

Bible/Theology books on sale at Amazon (today only)

January 10, 2012 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

 

Amazon is having a sale today, offering Kindle books at up to 80% off. Here are a few books in the religious studies category that looked interesting:

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Is Evangelism Ethical?

January 10, 2012 in Reviews with 1 Comment

In our modern society, evangelizing–or, even worse, proselytizing–is frowned upon. There’s something sinister and manipulative about messing with another person’s religious beliefs to try and get them to think like you. It sounds almost cultish. And to many, it also sounds rather unethical.

But what does it mean to say that a particular evangelistic practice is either ethical or unethical? Does evangelism necessarily violate modern notions of tolerance and diversity? Is it okay to invite people to an event without letting them know that it’s actually an evangelistic event? Should religious groups use food distribution and disaster relief as opportunities for evangelism? These are all questions that relate to the ethics of evangelism. And they are questions that many churches and Christians have not spent enough time considering.

In The Ethics of Evangelism: A Philosophical Defense of Proselytizing and Persuasion (IVP 2011), Elmer Thiessen wants to press on these very issues. He is frustrated by two tendencies. On the one hand, many secularists simply assume that proselytizing is intolerant, aggressive, and manipulative. So, in much of the literature, there are only two kinds of evangelism: unethical and really unethical. Pick your poison. But, on the other hand, many religious thinkers fail to see the legitimacy in these critiques. Many evangelistic practices are unethical. So both sides need to nuance their thinking a bit more. So Thiessen sets out to provide a philosophical account of the criteria by which we can distinguish ethical from unethical evangelism.

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Flotsam and jetsam (1/9)

January 9, 2012 in Flotsam and jetsam with 3 Comments

Good Reads

  • Why Didn’t Tolkein Win the Nobel Prize: I’m not a fan of The Lord of the Rings, but I have wondered how such a monumentally influential author was overlooked for a Nobel Prize in literature. C.S. Lewis nominated J.R.R. Tolkien in 1961. The governing committee considered him, but ultimately awarded the prize to the Yugoslavian writer Ivo Andric. Why? Recently declassified documents explain the committee’s reasoning.
  • The Missing Ingredient in Most Goals: “A clearly written goal is not enough. A carefully thought out action plan isn’t either. You need more than this if you are going to accomplish really big goals. Let me explain.”

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The Elusive, Invincible, Savage Monster: A Temptation We All Face

January 9, 2012 in Church History, Ministry with 0 Comments

[This is a guest post from Steven Leckvold, a Th.M. student at Western Seminary.]

St. John Chrysostom has an important piece of advice for anyone involved in public ministry: beware the monster.

At the beginning of the fifth book of On the Priesthood, he outlines several temptations and struggles for those who teach the Word of God publicly, specifically through sermons. He has two main categories of difficulties in mind: (1) toe-stepping and its results, and (2) meeting audience expectations. But he thinks that they are both driven by an even deeper problem, a monster that we all face. And his advice? Cut off the heads of the elusive, invincible, savage monster.

What is this monster that we must face? We shall see.

 

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A Prayer for Sunday (Gregory of Nyssa)

January 8, 2012 in Prayers with 1 Comment

Today we pray with St Gregory of Nyssa, one of the three Cappadocian Fathers (ca. 335- after 394). As we read some of his writings, may we align our spirits with the Spirit of God and understand that Christ is in our midst:

Our Bridegroom has not been taken from us. He stands in our midst, though we see him not. The Priest is within the holy place. He is entered into that within the veil, whither

Our forerunner Christ has entered for us (Hebrews 6:20). He has left behind him the curtain of the flesh. No longer does he pray to the type or shadow of the things in heaven, but he looks upon the very embodiment of these realities. No longer through a glass darkly does he intercede with God, but face to face he intercedes with Him: and he intercedes for us , and for the negligences and ignorances of the people.

Saturday morning fun…Doctor Who Mashup

January 7, 2012 in Humor with 2 Comments

I don’t know if there are many Doctor Who fans out there, but I think even non-fans can enjoy this video. If nothing else, it’s a fun parody of scientific fiction. Enjoy.

The Manifesto of Done

January 6, 2012 in Th.M. Program, Writing with 3 Comments

Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.

That’s my favorite quote from the Manifesto for  The Cult of Done. The Manifesto offers 13 rules  for getting things done. Although they apply to people from every walk of life, I think they’re particularly relevant to students and writers.

Now I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I’m encouraging sloppy writing/thinking. Some students could use a little more striving for perfection in those areas. But some (and I’m one of them) struggle more with the ideal of perfection, an ideal that can prevent us from finishing anything. If that’s you, feel free to laugh at perfection every now and then.

Here are some other gems:

  • Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
  • The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
  • Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
  • Done is the engine of more.

So, if you’re working on something, great. If you get it done, better.

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