http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/comments-rss.php Comments RSS for ESN en-us Sun, 29 May 2011 19:41:23 -0500 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/religious-bias-in-academia#com2203 Religious Bias in Academia

"I look forward to reading the book. I'm really not surprised that there's some sort of bias, both political and religious--if I weren't religious, I'd probably hold similar stereotypes towards the religious (and particularly evangelicals) and I'll be the first to admit that I have harbored bias (and probably still do), both explicit and implicit, towards political conservatives. I think the way that these identifiers ("Christians" or "conservatives") are regarded is largely contingent on what other pieces of information are known about the person in question. Ie, stereotypes are most powerful when they're detached from the full humanity of a person...so if all you know about a person is that they're Christian or a conservative, and you are neither, it'd be easy to revert to what your stereotypes of a Christian or conservative are. But if you're meeting a candidate and you already know that they're super qualified, highly competent, a wonderful human being, and a Harvard trained sociologist to boot--then I think finding out that their husband is a pastor becomes just another piece of information versus the primary piece of information (/stereotype) that's going to define how you see the person. So in the latter example, the bias is trumped because the individual is humanized by other traits, but I could easily see a situation where a committee is reading vitaes and a red flag goes off in someone's mind when they see, oh say undergrad at Liberty U, if the reader knows anything about Jerry Falwell, yadayada. (Heck, I would probably do the same and I *am* evangelical) And the bias is more powerful because it's detached from any sort of humanization or deeper understanding of the person. (To note: I don't think that the Liberty example is the main reason why evangelicals/conservatives are underrepresented in academe...all sorts of complicated reasons that influence the pipeline) And in academe, for better or not, labels matter a lot--the associations that are trigged by where you went to grad school, being an adjunct visiting professor versus tenure-track, etc. I wonder if another helpful term (besides bias) would be climate--a chilly climate towards evangelicals and/or political conservatives who are "out" with their beliefs--and not just out, but *how* they are out (in regard to which beliefs, beyond the knowledge that a person is Christian). A tricky thing with bias is that I think it can exist even when individual Christians (I'm going to speak more towards Christians vs. political conservatives since that's the group that I identify with) can be accepted and welcomed by their departments...similar to how most departments have their one or two faculty of color who are loved by everyone, but that doesn't mean that the department (or institution) has a positive and supportive climate for faculty of color. I appreciate Tom's comments on redemptive suffering. ..."  read on » ]]> Sun, 29 May 2011 19:41:23 -0500 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/religious-bias-in-academia#com2201 Religious Bias in Academia

"I forgot to mention earlier...When my wife interviewed for her first faculty position, at UW-Madison of all places, she told them openly that her husband was pastor of a Southern Baptist church. As far as I can tell, she made no effort to hide or mask her faith. We can't know what was said in the backrooms of the dept. as they decided whether to hire her, but they did hire her and ultimately promoted her with tenure before we left for warmer climes. Again, this is nothing more than an anecdote, but Ruth's case is so polar opposite the findings, as Tom summarizes them, that it gives me pause...."  read on » ]]> Wed, 25 May 2011 16:57:25 -0500 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/religious-bias-in-academia#com2200 Religious Bias in Academia

"Thanks Tom! I have NOT read the book yet, so I probably shouldn't be writing yet. Nevertheless... I think Yancey is probably right in some ways, but I have to say that my wife (a tenured professor of Sociology at a prestigious university) has experienced NONE of this bias or persecution. I'm not saying it doesn't exist; I know Christian faculty members who insist that it does, and I'm not going to call Yancey's numbers into question. But I'm always troubled when Christians in the academy start talking about persecution and bias. This talk feeds into the already grave concerns that many churches have about the university, and I have taken it as a sort of personal mission to share my wife's counter-example. Not sure where I'm going with this, but I'm troubled. If Yancey's analysis is correct, then how do we explain my family's personal experience in the elitist of institutions, in Yancey's own field of Sociology? We could just be exceedingly fortunate outliers, but there may also be blind spots in Yancey's analysis (which, again, I haven't read yet -- please forgive me). One possibility, in particular, is that the bias that Yancey and others expose could be a generational issue rather than a university- or discipline-wide phenomenon. My own anecdotal evidence in this area is that faculty who are maybe 15-20 years older than we are, have much worse stories to share, while faculty of our generation don't seem to resonate with this bias. Totally anecdotal evidence, but I have lots of anecdotes in this direction. Any thoughts, perhaps even from someone who's been responsible enough to read the book (unlike me)?..."  read on » ]]> Wed, 25 May 2011 16:14:01 -0500 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/personal-liturgy-for-the-work-day-psalm-90#com2077 Personal Liturgy for the Work Day: Psalm 90

"Nice one..."  read on » ]]> Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:00:15 -0500 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/christian-publications#com2051 Christian Publications

"Thanks for the suggestions! We'll get them added. ..."  read on » ]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:25:17 -0500 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/christian-publications#com2050 Christian Publications

"Also: Journal of Biblical Integration in Business Christian Business Academy Review..."  read on » ]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:08:37 -0500 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/suggested-readings#com2031 Suggested Readings for Undergraduates

"Great to see the list on-line! As you know, I'll be sharing this around :-) In Christ, Tom..."  read on » ]]> Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:10:57 -0500 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/christian-publications#com2013 Christian Publications

"Don't forget Fides et Historia, the Journal of the Conference on Faith and History...."  read on » ]]> Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:01:56 -0600 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/advice-to-scholars#com1999 Advice to Those Who Would Be Christian Scholars

"Many thanks to Dr. Wolterstorff for these words and to ESN for publishing them. Oddly enough, one of the hardest things to do as a Christian scholar is to get clear on precisely what it means to be one (see the opening paragraph). It is very helpful for younger folks like me to hear the reflections of the seasoned minds. Keep it coming!..."  read on » ]]> Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:07:00 -0600 http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/esn/resource/loving-god-in-the-flesh-in-the-real-world#com1985 Loving God in the Flesh in the Real World

"Thanks for posting this-- a welcome reminder that Christ died so that we who live should no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died for us. Thanks!..."  read on » ]]> Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:14:32 -0500