A dear friend of mine asked me this the other day. My first response: "If I see one, I'll let you know!" And I was only half joking. I remember that one of my advisors at Edinburgh - the Near Eastern religions specialist - lecturing on Egyptian iconography with perfect ease, not consulting his notes once, placing different pictures to different time periods, identifying the gods and their attire and the significance of every detail without hesitation. But the same professor would say that he was an amateur Egyptologist - only a beginner (!!). It makes one wonder what level of competence one needs to qualify as an expert in anything!
But it is an important question - existentially, I mean. Wanting to do a doctorate and not being able to, because of one's life situation, can be painful, because it can put one's identity in doubt: you never get to answer the question of whether you'd succeed and be recognized in the degree. Of course, if you use a degree to answer the identity-question, that's idolarty, and you render the question forever unanswerable (am I scholarly enough?). But it's still an important issue.
To those men and women reading this who want to do further study in some area and can't, it's good to ask: what makes a scholar, anyway? Because it's not a degree. An MA or PhD means *nothing* in itself except that you can fit into a system. In my opinion, two characteristics qualify one as a scholar, regardless of one's degree:
1) Desire. My friend mentioned how he sets his alarm early to read ancient history. If you spend time you don't have to on your subject, that's an important sign.
2) Sympathy. There's a subtle kind of soul-interaction with the subject which transcends learning facts and techniques. Any scholarship (even scientific, in my opinion) is always an art. It's like the moon pulling out the tide: those ancient Greeks, the polis, the sacrifices, the religion . . . it pulls at my friend, and it matters to him, and it informs his whole life, and how he interacts with his students. My friend is chanelling something important from the past, not by means of literally imitating ancient cultures, but in terms of . . . well, it's hard to put into words. That mysterious encounter with ancient literature and culture, after which you are not the same: it's happening in his work. That makes him a scholar in my book - and you are too, friend, even if life hasn't allowed you the opportunity to formally engage in study.
But it is an important question - existentially, I mean. Wanting to do a doctorate and not being able to, because of one's life situation, can be painful, because it can put one's identity in doubt: you never get to answer the question of whether you'd succeed and be recognized in the degree. Of course, if you use a degree to answer the identity-question, that's idolarty, and you render the question forever unanswerable (am I scholarly enough?). But it's still an important issue.
To those men and women reading this who want to do further study in some area and can't, it's good to ask: what makes a scholar, anyway? Because it's not a degree. An MA or PhD means *nothing* in itself except that you can fit into a system. In my opinion, two characteristics qualify one as a scholar, regardless of one's degree:
1) Desire. My friend mentioned how he sets his alarm early to read ancient history. If you spend time you don't have to on your subject, that's an important sign.
2) Sympathy. There's a subtle kind of soul-interaction with the subject which transcends learning facts and techniques. Any scholarship (even scientific, in my opinion) is always an art. It's like the moon pulling out the tide: those ancient Greeks, the polis, the sacrifices, the religion . . . it pulls at my friend, and it matters to him, and it informs his whole life, and how he interacts with his students. My friend is chanelling something important from the past, not by means of literally imitating ancient cultures, but in terms of . . . well, it's hard to put into words. That mysterious encounter with ancient literature and culture, after which you are not the same: it's happening in his work. That makes him a scholar in my book - and you are too, friend, even if life hasn't allowed you the opportunity to formally engage in study.
2 comments:
Interesting thoughts, thanks for sharing.
(Now, can we get rid of the white on black theme....my eyes are still cross-eyed.)
Blessings, RogueMonk
Sadly, the push to get a PhD is not just to answer a personal, existential question. In this world, no piece of paper = no place to teach. Because my health failed and I wasn't able to get that piece of paper, I can't do what I was trained, gifted, and empassioned to do. Hope deferred truly makes the heart sick.
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