Central Research Issue
Everyday, I’m edging closer to clarity.
I’m talking about my doctoral program, and for the last 4 weeks I’ve been on a quest to focus in on what exactly I’ll be researching and working on over these next four years.
To be specific, I’ve been working to articulate something called a Central Research Issue. Looking for a nice summer beach read? Consider Introduction to Missiological Research Design by Edgar Elliston. It’s a hoot.
According to Elliston, a CRI is “the primary guiding and constraining perspective throughout the whole study…The goal of selecting a research topic is to have a topic that is narrow enough to be done well by the researcher but broad enough to be significant to the researcher, the constituencies with whom the researcher is affiliated, and to the related academic disciplines…[The CRI] is the most difficult sentence, by far, of the whole thesis or dissertation.”
So, drumroll please, right now my latest version of my CRI is this:
“To examine and evaluate the qualities and characteristics of flourishing inter-gender partnerships in mission throughout selected segments of the InterVarsity staff community.”
…and now you now how to pray for me!
From here on out, I will be all about understanding everything I can find about this CRI. In particular, for the first year, I’ll be all-in on a literature review. In fact, the goal between now and mid-October is to absorb and review somewhere around 90 different academic-level sources. I’m talking books or journals. I’ve parsed the lit review into three categories:
1. InterVarsity and the historical development of the value for inter-gender partnership in mission.
2. Qualities and characteristics of flourishing partnerships, in three contexts: in the Scriptures, in the evangelical church and in the secular world.
3. Contemporary theories of gender difference, because it will be important for me to understand the prevailing wisdom of the scientific community.
Now, I’m off to become a terrific researcher. It’s like a treasure hunt for sources.
Anyone have any leads for me?!?
On Mutuality
Sometimes, people will ask me what the end goal is.
As in, if power was truly shared, if there was no more male privilege, how would it work?
To answer I talk about a community marked by mutuality, where power is allocated according to gifting, and where it is joyfully and humbly given and received.
The other day I came across the following quote on mutuality, from the book Women in the Greetings of Romans 16.1-16 by Susan Matthew. Enjoy, and imagine with me a world, and especially a church, where this was normal.
“Mutualism in this context may be defined as follows: it refers to relationships of reciprocity (i.e. where each has sometime to contribute to the other) whose purpose is mutual promotion (i.e. where the task of each is to serve the interests of the other).
Because of this purpose in mutual service, relationships may not be simultaneously equal: in one serving the other there will be temporary forms of asymmetry. But, crucially, this asymmetry is reversible and constantly reversed: there is never a settled hierarchy in one direction, but continual processes of reciprocal asymmetry in which a relationship of power which is unbalanced at one time or in one respect is continually reversed and unbalanced at another time or in another respect, in a dynamic, non-static, process of mutual promotion.”
Interested Stares and Plenty of Questions
“I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but…holy cow.”
And that just about sums up my experience with the first week of my DMiss program. As an example, for the next month or so I’ll be working on my research design proposal, a 20ish page document that articulates my idea of how I’ll use these next four years.
And then the fun begins. Between now and October, I’ll need to critically engage around 90 different sources (books, journals and articles) related to my central research issue.
So, if you need me, I’ll be buried in a book.
But the other thing about this first week is that I got to meet my cohort mates. I’ll be accompanied on this four year odyssey by 8 other souls, each of us engaging different topics within the field of missiology. Honestly, this feels like one of the best features of the program, because I’ll benefit not only from others’ perspectives on my topic, but I’ll get to understand 8 other ways that God is at work in the world. So this week I’ve been thinking about, among other things, internet evangelism with Chinese youth, business as mission models in Liberia and Christian community development in racially fractured Benton Harbor, MI.
This is gonna be fun.
As a part of getting to know my cohort, I got to share about my proposed research topic. Here’s what happened:
Me: “And so, with all of this as background, I am planning a research project entitled ‘”Women and Men Flourishing in Mission: Models of Healthy Gender Equal Ministry Partnerships.'”
Them: (interested stares, and several “Hmms”)
Me: “In closing, do you have any questions for me?”
And then it erupted. Lots of really great questions. Like about how I came to be concerned about a topic like this. And about how my context of InterVarsity will fit in with my study. And about what I anticipate as roadblocks to my research. And more.
My experience with my team fits the general experience I have when I share about what I’m doing in this program:
Interested stares and plenty of questions.
Come to think of it, it’s not unlike the reaction I get when I tell people about this blog. Interested stares and plenty of questions.
And here’s the thing:
I love this reaction.
Because, if it’s authentic (and it usually is), it indicates a curiosity that I think God can and will use. For most people I connect with, this is a completely new topic. Few people in the church are really talking about this stuff. As a result, I am finding that people really want to know how to think about gender issues within the framework of their faith.
So I say keep it coming. I’ll keep reading and writing.
And you keep staring and then asking your questions.
Challenging Tertullian 