BY: Dr. Lynne Taylor, Dr. Carolina Montero Orphanopoulos, & Dr. Rachel Kevern (with Dr. Carissa Sharp) | July 27, 2024
We work in different subfields of Theology. Lynne is a practical theologian – curious about how Christians can support human flourishing. Carolina is a bioethicist and moral theologian – attentive to the abuses suffered at the hands of the Church. Rachel is a theologian interested in Christian mysticism, both traditional and modern. (Carissa is PI and project leader on the Fellowship programme).
Our Psychology + Theology Fellowship has opened up for us new ways of practising our research craft, as well as multiple new insights and theories. As we listen and read and learn, we are aware – at times, painfully so – of just how much there is to draw on, how much there is to learn and understand.
In this blog post, we share some insights that came out of one of our monthly cohort meetings. As we talked together about the vulnerabilities of engaging with another discipline in research, we began to tease out five strategies for working at the intersection of different fields. These strategies are not mutually exclusive, rather they weave together to form a nest to support our practice.
The first strand is to study more, to build our baseline knowledge and skills. This means going deep, in order to understand more fully. But while it is essential to read extensively, and to arrive at a deep understanding, it is not feasible to obtain a full knowledge of every subject that offers insights to our own research areas. It is simply not possible. Therefore, the second strand is about defining tighter parameters – focusing in on a smaller area of investigation, and leaving other areas (interesting as they might be) to the side. While we still won't become experts on this narrower field, honing in enables us to focus our attention strategically.
But how do we decide where to focus, and how do we know when we have a sufficient understanding? How do we make sure we haven't missed crucial aspects of this new (to us) field? Here, we are reminded to lean into assistance from people who know more than we do. As Fellows on this project, we are each assigned Psychology mentors. We also have the wisdom of Carissa and others on the team to draw on. But even without these formal relationships, we are all invited to learn from others – to check our ideas with those more knowledgeable in a subject area, to test developing insights with others, and to build collegial relationships.
We are not going to become psychologists as a result of our foray into psychological theories and methods. Rather, we are invited to be honest about limitations (both our own and those of our research). Perhaps "real" psychologists will pick up on our research findings and explore them further, bringing different skills and knowledge bases to the investigation, and building a dialogue between the disciplines. Maybe we will even develop collaborative relationships across those disciplines. We're each offering a piece of the puzzle, not a complete picture. And that is OK.
Finally, we are reminded to learn from the process of research, recognising that we are always learning and that struggle is part of the journey. Working at the intersection of different fields is not easy. But these strategies or strands can provide a framework to support our work and to strengthen our research practice. As I (Lynne) record these strategies here, I am aware that there are some that I am better at than others, and am invited to strengthen those strands, to the benefit of my work. You might also like to consider, what strategies are you best at, which might be strengthened, and how?
