Monday, July 23, 2012
defining theological research
Tonight I attended, with my daughter, a high school careers night. One of the presentations outlined the Research Project, a final year independent study. It is described as an opportunity to:
- research something you are interested in
- decide how you carry out your research
- decide on the way you produce your findings
- make judgements about how successful you’ve been
The presenter noted that a new feature for 2013 includes local universities offering students the chance to join one of their projects, in areas like health and medicine. The student works with the University in one of their projects and gets named in the research as it is written up.
On the way home, the following conversation ensued.
Daughter: I liked the idea of doing research with a university.
Dad: Yes, when they talked about that, I wondered about theology offering a research project.
Daughter: Now that would be cool. They could start new types of churches and explore how people engage with those new forms.
Dad grins, pondering the rather unique view of theological research – the mix of research and practicum, thinking and doing, university and church – the daughter has grown up with.
)
That would be a very cool thing indeed.
Comment by Matrix Lajon — July 24, 2012 @ 1:02 am
The beauty of this idea is that it’s not just looking at how people might engage with new church forms, but the research itself would allow and assist people to articulate that engagement. From a research perspective, this could be problematic as this articulation process could actually change the degree and nature of the engagement; but from an ecclesiological perspective, it’s very exciting.
Cheers,
Ivan
Comment by Ivan — July 24, 2012 @ 5:18 am
So many possibilities!! And after next year not just for final year students. But already there are students at different schools interested in similar areas of research which may well also be of interest to the College -they just need linking up. And then there’s the future with lack of hard boundaries between year levels and even between school, TAFE & Uni – you might find school students wanting to study a subject at the college while also finalising SACE.
Comment by Michaela — July 29, 2012 @ 10:14 pm
“there are students at different schools interested in similar areas of research which may well also be of interest to the College -they just need linking up” – i’d love to know more concretely what this looks like
steve
Comment by steve — July 29, 2012 @ 11:50 pm