Thinking

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Thinking Acting Christianly asa Social
Scientist

• SUMMARY SESSION
• January 1, 2003

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I. Thinking as a Christian Social Scientist
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Thinking Christianly aboutAssumptions and
Motivations in our disciplines

• Examples
• Julie Exline choosing forgiveness humility as
  research topics in scientific psychology
  (animated by her faith)
• Terry Halliday analyzing professional power in
  terms of public-interest rather than
  self-interest
• Economists small groupeconomics might
  reconceptualize work in standard economic models
• Modeling self-control in economics
• Using spirituality in therapy
• Recognizing the limitations of individualistic
  assumptions in economic and other models of
  behavior

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Thinking Christianly aboutNormative Models in
our disciplines

• Examples
• Diane King on assumptions about the good society
  for anthropologists (equality, validity of all
  cultures, acceptance of diversity)
• Terry Halliday on the IMF/World Bank models of a
  developing economy (efficiency rather than
  equity)
• Derek McNeilimplicit models of a healthy
  marriage in therapy?
• Julie Exline on positive psychology (the standard
  for healthy psychological functioning)
• Assumptions that pain and depression are
  necessarily bad in psychological or therapeutic
  models
• Coming to ideals of the good political
  systemwhich may be identical to secular
  idealsbut through a Christian path, i.e.,
  testing the models of a good political system
  with kingdom principles
• Recognizing the need to complement
  individualistic models of behavior with
  collective models/explanations (e.g., family,
  corporate decision making, etc.)
• Think Christianly at different levels of
  explanation in the discipline (i.e., individual
  level, organizational or meso-levels,
  institutional and state levels)

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Thinking Christianly aboutMechanisms and
Processes we use to explain outcomes in our
disciplines

• Examples
• Derek Neil on religiosity now being accepted as a
  therapeutic factor
• Sociology small groupcase study on new Denver
  airport shows how failure to take into account
  the process of political participation (i.e., a
  process we may derive from kingdom principles)
  adversely affected the impact of the airport on
  the community
• Julie on forgiveness, Derek on reconciliation as
  constructive processes, both dervied from
  biblical principles
• Investigating processes or injecting processes
  into our models which explore win/win ways of
  resolving disputes or allocating resources rather
  than assuming zero sum or positive sum processes
  in politics, sociology, economics, etc.
• Recognize that any model is incomplete if it does
  not include processes that reflect the whole
  person or complete person we understand from the
  scriptures
• Recognize what sin can do to any mechanism or
  process we use to explain behavior
• Christians might give special attention to
  processes such as vicious and virtuous circles
• Dave Richardsons mega-research project, which is
  funded by the National Science Foundation, shows
  how the process of globalization is affecting the
  poor, migrants, and the marginalized in the US
  (i.e., he is shining an economic spotlight on
  adverse outcomes of globalization)

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Thinking Christianly aboutInstitutions in our
disciplines

• Examples
• Diane King reflects Christianly on the exclusion
  of women in Kurdish society
• Terry Halliday uses prophetic standards to
  evaluate the quality of justice and the impact of
  legal and court systems on economic development
  in transitional and developing societies
• We recognize that the university may be an
  oppressive institution on those who express
  Christian belief it may also be a redemptive
  institution, stimulating research and teaching
  that will advance kingdom ideals
• Terry Halliday indicates that, as a Christian,
  his study of international financial institutions
  (i.e., the World Bank), which is funded by the
  National Science Foundation, should evaluate
  their impact simultaneously by scholarly and
  kingdom ideals
• What kinds of education systems and educational
  priorities will bring about outcomes (e.g.,
  relief of poverty, development of God-given
  gifts) consistent with biblical principles?
• Christians should have a realistic view of
  institutions in their research, i.e., they can be
  forces for good or ill in the building of Gods
  kingdom
• Christian social scientists are called to examine
  the effects of institutions on the people they
  purport to serve
• We might also examine the church as an
  institutionits strengths and deficiencies
• The health care system warrants good research by
  Christian social scientists in order to show its
  fallenness or redemptive possibilitiesand the
  conditions under which those occur

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III. Acting as a Christian Social Scientist
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Acting Christianly in relation to Time and
Priorities

• Make time for the sabbath (Dawn)
• Value family and friendships
• Maintain participation in Christian community
• Choose extra-curricular involvements that relate
  to our disciplines or complement them
• Balance work and family and spiritual life
• Dont judge ourselves against others but by Gods
  standards (cf. the discussion on peer review and
  the need to show our research to be worthy in the
  discipline)
• Spend time mentoring (e.g., students, fellow grad
  students, etc.)
• Protect your time (i.e., if completing your
  advanced degree is your primary calling, dont
  let other things crowd it out)
• Avoid perfectionism (cf. the 80/20 ruleif you
  are 80 there, question whether waiting until the
  other 20 is in place is wise or necessary)
• Make time with God whatever else is going on your
  life

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Acting Christianly in Career Development

• Research v. teaching?
• Secular v. religious institution?
• Security in status v. faith?
• How much does tenure drive our agenda?
• When to have families (or should you)?
• Practitioner versus policy maker (challenger of
  status quo)?
• We may serve in different ways at different
  stages of our career
• Calling should be confirmed by our community (of
  fellow scholars, of people who understand what
  that calling will entail)
• Be willing to be surprisedwork hard, plan, but
  recognize that God may surprise us by where he
  takes us (and it will be a pleasant surprise!)
  (egs., of Ken, Dave, Terry)

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Acting Christianly in relation to
Christian/Academic Identities

• Be wise about revealing Christian identities in
  CVs or on websites (e.g., we may have multiple
  CVs for multiple purposes or we may choose to
  reveal identities at different stages in our
  careers or we may be forthright as God calls us)
• Conveying identities in publications
• We are called to reflect upon ways to be open
  about our Christian commitment with colleagues
  and students (e.g., Ken asking students in the
  privacy of his office if he can pray for them
  Julie having lunch monthly with a senior
  Christian colleague)
• Performing for an audience of oneGod
• Involvement with Christian groups on campus
• Remembering our exilic identity

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Acting Christianly Being an Academic Woman

• We can never please everyone, so choose
• We need to balance service against other
  priorities (learn to set limits, say no)
• Set boundaries (e.g., Julie has a young child so
  she sets strict time boundaries on doing her
  teaching and research at the office)
• Women shouldnt assume that they should
  disproportionately take on caring and service
  roles in their scholarly settings
• Old boys clubshow do you break in, and change
  identity to fit in? Ideas included look for
  perhaps a younger, more sympathetic member of the
  old boys club and seek his counsel and
  mentoring.
• Christian men should look out for women
  colleagues, affirming their contributions and
  publicly supporting or defending them.
• Christian men are called to befriend women
  scholars so they can better understand their
  special challenges and support them

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Acting Christianly Being a Christian Scholar in
a Globalizing World

• Examples serving the poor and oppressed in
  developing countries providing leadership for
  the gospel in Asia, Africa