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Writing Guide - Introduction At several points, graduate study is different from the kind of education the student may have pursued as an undergraduate. Moreover, graduate theological students must consider a particular list of virtues important to them as developing scholar-ministers. It will be well to review here these ideas as an introduction both to this manual and to expectations made of graduate theological students.
Characteristics of Graduate Study Critical Graduate study is critical. It seeks to apply critical techniques and methodology to the subject under consideration. Criticism in this sense is analytical and seeks answers to the question, "What is really going on here?" This criticism is undertaken in the spirit of curiosity rather than reproof, for the real goal of criticism is to further understanding and to open up completely new lines of inquiry. Another dimension of criticism is a certain measure of objectivity on the part of the student. In realizing this lies the importance of acquiring a method. Methodology assists the student in acquiring some objectivity, to stand over against that which is being researched or otherwise studied. Of course, total objectivity is impossible; that is one of the commonplaces of modern epistemology. But to concede that point is not to say that students have no responsibility to create a scholarly distance between themselves and the material under consideration. A third dimension of criticism is that it represents the student's application of the findings of others, i.e. scholarship, to his or her own subject of study. Critical study is informed study; it does not and cannot occur in a vacuum. Students must apply the findings of others to their own knowledge and conduct, engaging in discussion, as it were, with others through their recorded work about that which is of common interest. A final dimension of criticism is its basic attitude, one which requires proof. Critical students always ask authors, professors, colleagues, and themselves, "Why should I believe that? What convincing reasons are given for believing this rather than something else?" In short, critical study supplies questions instead of credulity, tentativeness rather than dogmatism. Independent Graduate study takes place in the community of scholarship. But that does not mean it is not independent. Independent, not arbitrary. Immanuel Kant's great motto was "Dare to think for yourself." One may not arbitrarily will to believe whatever one chooses or thinks must be believed. But graduate study does value independent, i.e., creative, thought. This means that graduate study and research must proceed beyond merely collecting that which already has been considered. The graduate student must be prepared to state, with reasons, what he or she thinks or has concluded about matters, however tentative those conclusions may be. It is to be expected that among a student's reasons will be found some of the findings of other scholars. Of particular importance is the distinction between the work of others and that of the student. This distinction is the responsibility of the student and the failure to make it is a most serious breach of academic ethics known as plagiarism. The work of other individuals, whether as words or ideas, which contributed to the student's presentation must be acknowledged through quotation or citation. The former are those instances where the exact words of another are presented in a larger body of work. The latter are used to acknowledge ideas or conclusions not necessarily quoted but which still contribute to the student's research. Because the work of another is not quoted verbatim does not relieve the student of the responsibility to indicate by citation his or her indebtedness. Tentative One of the differences between preaching and teaching is that sermons may conclude with a resounding "Thus says the Lord!" while lectures never do. They are more likely to end in the question, "What do you think?" Graduate study is in the spirit of the teacher more than that of the preacher. It is profoundly dialogical. One may conclude some things, and very firmly at that. But the conclusions are always open-ended. Always there exists the possibility of new discovery of better argument that will bring us to deeper insight or clearer awareness. Thus, graduate students pursue study with a tentativeness akin to the virtue of humility. The business of graduate study is not polemics or propaganda; it is to get at tentative answers to important questions. Human knowledge has advanced greatly over the centuries and accelerated in more recent decades. But it is far from perfect. Therefore, graduate students are advised to make their "sympathies...with those who are not sure that they understand themselves and the universe rather than with those who make hard things easy" (Henry F. May 1976: xvii).
Virtues of a Graduate Student Critical Thinking Students often have some initial problems with the idea that graduate study in a theological seminary is "critical" in nature. Our ministerial "calling," they say, is to affirm and confess, not criticize. It is, however, the very nature of graduate education that it demands of us that we think carefully and analytically about what it is we are affirming and confessing. Often, in the critical light of day, the content of our affirmations demands rethinking. In addition, the whys of our affirmations and confessions often need careful scrutiny. Those, for example, who proclaim their truth as absolute and universal, to the exclusion of all others, may be engaging in an ideological game. Thus, the personal and collective psychologies of truth-making need careful scrutiny. The purpose of such critical thinking is to enable us to make a necessary distinction between tradition and truth. Even Jesus, in his engagement with the Pharisees had to engage in this critical struggle. |