As you consider the connections within your discipline, we recommend looking for research opportunities in three areas:
1. Are there opportunities to pursue a project or research that might be a blessing to the world?
One possible way to bless the world is by addressing tangible world needs — fresh water, shelter, food, community infrastructure, health care and safety.
For example, during his last academic stop at Baylor University, Dr. Walter Bradley writes, “God brought to my attention the plight of 11 million poor coconut farmers around the world that make $2/day.”
He discovered that the agricultural waste—the coconut husks and shells, which used to be simply thrown away—could be used to manufacture car parts and other products.
“We were able to create about 100 jobs in Indonesia for several years, but the operations for this production are now in the Philippines where a larger number of villagers are being blessed spiritually and economically through the work of a triple bottom line company called Dignity.”
2. Is there a contemporary position that is in conflict with the gospel that needs to be responded to? Are there research or writing areas which might open doors to engage in gospel/Christian worldview conversations?
J. P. Moreland, in his book Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit’s Power, describes how scientific naturalism has a stranglehold on today’s society and academy. This stranglehold impacts how the gospel is received. He describes the challenge:
“If two scientific theories are competing for allegiance, then most intellectuals, at least in principle, should be open to all evidence relevant to the issue. But what happens if one or two rival theories is considered scientific and the other is not?” The “nonscientific” theory fails to receive a fair hearing, and the viability of the gospel is eroded.
Christ-following professors might pursue research that questions the current stranglehold of scientific naturalism where only “science” has the authority to define reality for us.
3. Is there a substantive area in your discipline that you sense God is leading you to work on?
I (Heather) remember sitting in church and praying about my dissertation and how my interest in 19th-century British poetry could have anything to do with the gospel and the Grander Story?
That Sunday, the pastor addressed 2 Corinthians 7:10, where the Apostle Paul contrasted “godly grief and worldly grief.” The pastor posed the question, “What is the difference between worldly sorrow or shame and godly sorrow or guilt?
Like scaffolding rising up around my little poems and notebooks filled with observations into Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Barrett Browning, I recalled every poem about shame and tormenting inferiority. I recalled all the letters these poets wrote showcasing their shameful acts. I recalled Coleridge’s poems that grappled with shame and guilt. These poets asked the same question my pastor did. This presented a problem to solve in the realm of theology, a psychology of emotion, and lyric poetry that articulated—and made intelligible—the same emotional states Paul discussed.
And so it all began. I had a problem to solve that would illuminate the British poets, the theology of guilt and shame, the problem of understanding elusive emotional states, and also my own personal struggle with shame. It earned me my Ph.D. and provided a curriculum base for how professors teach the British romantics.
As I counsel others on how to choose a new research direction, I often suggest these questions: What troubles you about your own life and walk with God? Do you have a sustained interest in a topic that continues to surface through providential conversations, circumstances, and desires? Do you have a great question that, when answered, could contribute to human flourishing?
Rick Hove and Heather Holleman