How do you know you want to go into Academia?

[Final_countdown321]

I'm curious about how you guys know what you want to do. If you want to go into Academia, how are you so certain about it? Was it some great professor during your undergrad? Do you have an axe to grind? Do you feel like you can only exist within the structured confines of an academic institution? Does your faith depend on it, or, negate it? Are you on an intellectual journey, or, are you just being pushed by momentum? Have you already invested to much in it to give it up?

I'm curious. Tell me.

[marXian]

For me, I found that education was a good fit. I started out becoming a high school English teacher, though after finishing my credential, I went straight into an MA program and never set foot inside my own high school classroom. From there, I realized that I could actually write at a high level and the prospect of being able to just talk and write about literature for the rest of my life sounded really appealing. Through the course of my first MA, I realized I wanted to either change disciplines completely or at least become more interdisciplinary (I ended up doing the former). I suppose I could say I've been on an intellectual journey.

[Guest]

Within my church tradition ( as well as many others) we view any engagement in ministry as driven by a sense of calling. For me, I knew I wanted to be involved since I was young and didn't know in what form until I finally attended university. Before then, I didn't even know what a PhD was exactly and didn't think people interested in theology could pursue a PhD (evidently I completely missed the boat at some point). All I knew was that, in whatever I did, I wanted to achieve the highest level of education possible. So, the moment I entered university for theology and saw all my professors with their PhD's, I knew that was the direction I wanted.

As for a sense of calling, I initially thought one could only apply that to pastoral ministry, but as I have studied both theology and education/teaching I have recognized my own propensity for teaching and research and feel that my calling is definitely within the realm of academia rather than pastoral ministry. I have had such a strong liking for teaching that it surprises me that this didn't occur to me before. Nonetheless I do have an urge to do more traditional ministry as well but recognize that I can always be involved in church and feel affirmed that teaching is one of the most powerful forms of ministry imaginable.

Concerning your specific questions, I would say I am fairly strong in my certainty. I always remain open to other paths but I'm going to pursue scholarship with everything I have! It was every good teacher I've ever had from elementary upwards that helped me realize that I want to do this for the rest of my life. I don't really have an axe to grind though I do feel that American Christianity has lost the "prophetic imagination" that Walter Brueggemann talks about. I'm a strong pacifist, critical of society and an advocate for Hauerwas-Stassen-Gushee-Brueggemann-Yoder-Bonhoeffer-like theology. I am definitely most comfortable in an academic setting and am the only person I know of that actually obsessively loves school, academia, and the like, which adds to my tendency towards academia. My faith is irregardless of my vocation but, if I take the idea of a calling seriously I should consider my propensity towards academia an act of dedication to God. I am definitely on an academic journey but that is not to say that I lack momentum; I enjoy taking classes too much to lose drive. Definitely not, I will always have other paths open to me, though pursuing masters degrees outside of my faith-tradition acts as a roadblock to work in certain regions of America because a strong mentality exists that one should go to our main seminary. That admittedly short-sighted viewpoint is not strong enough to completely prevent me from finding other lines of work but I have decidedly dedicated myself to pursuing academia with all my being!

Well, there you have my life story (sorry).

What about you?

[MsBOOM]

I believe I always wanted to teach... I don't know. When I was little, my mom used to joke that I was the "littlest big thinker" in the world, and I feel like my mind has always been on a journey to absorb more and more information no matter what I do. I LOVE studying, LOVE intellectual conversation, and LOVE abstract thinking. And what better way to continue on this journey than being in school for the rest of my life (as a student and teacher)?

Religion, on the other hand, has always been my passion. Since I can remember, I've always pondered questions around G-d, theology (even though I had no idea what "theology" meant until I declared Religious Studies as my major during my undergrad), and the like. According to my mom, I was around two-three years old when I asked her about what happens after death, the apocalypse, and the creation of the world by G-d.

So, honestly, I just feel like this was meant to happen for me, haha.

Edited March 2, 2012 by MsSarahBOOM

[11Q13]

I needed to put an academic gloss on my ingrained convictions, and the field of religion is ideal for those who enjoy being simultaneously irrelevant and sanctimonious.

[MonkeyPants]

I believe I always wanted to teach... I don't know. When I was little, my mom used to joke that I was the "littlest big thinker" in the world, and I feel like my mind has always been on a journey to absorb more and more information no matter what I do. I LOVE studying, LOVE intellectual conversation, and LOVE abstract thinking. And what better way to continue on this journey than being in school for the rest of my life (as a student and teacher)?

Religion, on the other hand, has always been my passion. Since I can remember, I've always pondered questions around G-d, theology (even though I had no idea what "theology" meant until I declared Religious Studies as my major during my undergrad), and the like. According to my mom, I was around two-three years old when I asked her about what happens after death, the apocalypse, and the creation of the world by G-d.

So, honestly, I just feel like this was meant to happen for me, haha.

i've had a very similar experience. That, and the fact that both my parents have been teachers (father a college professor, mother an early-childhood educator) had a large influence on this decision. Intellectual parents taught me to read and question, and also that the best way to learn anything is to teach it. It's all been momentum and passion from there.

[MsBOOM]

i've had a very similar experience. That, and the fact that both my parents have been teachers (father a college professor, mother an early-childhood educator) had a large influence on this decision. Intellectual parents taught me to read and question, and also that the best way to learn anything is to teach it. It's all been momentum and passion from there.

I adore your parents for raising a child like that! I hope to do the same one day!

[Seatbelt Blue]

Even before I converted to Catholicism when I was 16, I've always pursued knowledge of a larger world. I used to do it in a very roundabout, unfocused way; little ten-year-old Seatbelt Blue was way into UFOs and the occult, subjects in which my elementary school library was inexplicably well-stocked. I turned my interest to religion as a freshman in high school, and shortly thereafter converted to Catholicism. For a while I focused almost exclusively on its intellectual tenets -- the doctrines and the theologies as well as I could understand them. I eventually found a more holistic, honest way to express the faith, but the lure of theology never abated. It led me to seminary for a year after I graduate college with an English degree, and after I left, I realized the only thing I really loved about being there was the theology. I have a good, natural talent for it.

I decided to enter graduate school after a number of discussions with my girlfriend-cum-fiancee regarding where my post-seminary life was going. The conclusions was reached that theology is probably the thing I'm best at, and there's no point in not trying to make a career out of it; if I can find a way to do what I love and support a family doing it, I'll move heaven and earth to make it happen.

I've always been the sort of guy who likes to make sure his ideas are clear in his head, and since I'm terribly religious, it makes sense that theology would prove a natural draw. My Catholicism is perhaps the dearest, most important part of me, and in pursuit of it I've inhaled loads of theology.

[theologyofyourface]

Well, in my case, I spent three years living on a campus with my husband, who was an MDiv student, before I applied to grad school. So I got to take classes, talk to professors, and really explore the idea of being an academic before deciding on anything. Also, my dad is a professor (and my mom's a middle school teacher) so I'd always sort of kept the idea of going into a similar profession in the back of my mind.