Theology and Reading
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 52, No. 2 – Spring 2010
Managing Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
By Steven M. Cahn. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. 84 + xviii pages. softcover, $14.95.
There are some books one receives and after completing them, thinks, “How helpful this would have been for me to have five years ago,” or, “I can see where this book would be helpful in 10 years, but I cannot relate now.” And then, there are some books that come along and evoke the response, “This is exactly what I need to read at this point in my life.” For all those engaged in the world of higher education, from graduate student to senior professor, Steven M. Cahn’s From Student to Scholar, will certainly prompt all three responses, and many more.
Having taught at several universities for over four decades, Cahn presently serves as the professor of philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He explains that the idea for From Student to Scholar arose out of a colloquium he taught to doctoral students providing “strategies for prospering in academic life” (xvii). Cahn’s work candidly seeks through ten chapters to answer questions such as How do you deal with the challenges of graduate school? Writing a dissertation? How do you handle job interviews? How do you improve your teaching? How do you turn research into publications? (xvii).
In chapters one and two, Cahn focuses on the uncertain and often lengthy world of graduate studies. Speaking bluntly, he characterizes the marked differences between graduate and undergraduate education and the need for graduate students to think early in terms of narrowing their specialization and securing a suitable, and helpful, professor-mentor. When considering the dissertation, Cahn’s sage advice toward selecting an appropriately narrow topic and the need to develop a healthy ethic of perseverance makes From Student to Scholar worth putting into the hands of anyone thinking of pursuing doctoral studies.
Chapters three through six chronicle the valley of experiences one must traverse while pursuing the prospect of a career teaching position. Tellingly, Cahn explains, “When should one begin to prepare for a job search? As soon as you take a course with a professor who is impressed with your work” (18). Cahn advises that it is better to secure a letter of reference while your abilities are fresh on the mind of the professor even if you will not use it for a few years. In chapter three, Cahn articulates well the purpose and need for graduate students to present papers at regional and national society meetings. Chapter four walks the reader through a “first interview” and the need for the mastery of the simple traits of courtesy, conscientiousness, honesty, and, again, perseverance.
Chapter five might be the most helpful for those considering professorial careers. Here Cahn explains, in general terms, how a university functions – from trustees to department chair—and describes in reverse how it is, likely, that a particular school determined its need for a new teaching position. Rarely are graduate students given such an explanation of the nature and complexities of the dean’s task or the pressures and responsibilities of the administrative functions of schools of higher education. Cahn’s short survey of these often misunderstood or underappreciated necessities provides both students and professors a great service. Chapter six breaks down the “second interview” and recommends, for the interviewee, the appropriate time to ask questions related to compensation and other diplomatically sensitive items that should have been held for inquiry until this point.
Chapters seven through ten discuss the ways to navigate the teaching profession once a job has been secured. From decoding and preparing for tenure review to making classroom lectures clear to explaining the importance of faculty serving on various committees, Cahn makes the early years of faculty service seem full and demanding, but equally achievable and enjoyable.
When discussing the nature of faculty service, this reviewer would like to have Cahn’s perspective and advice for the role of faculty in student recruitment and the advancement of the institution. How should faculty members operate so as to keep future incoming students on their minds? What are appropriate and helpful ways faculty can support the institution financially? For schools with athletic programs, how should faculty support these programs and how often?
Chapter ten surveys the crucial role that research and writing plays in the academy and in the professor’s career. Cahn explains that this is the most important part of a faculty member’s work and it is often the most neglected. Why is writing and publishing so important? Cahn replies,
Because everyone in the academic world recognizes that the most arduous of all professorial tasks is to research and publish the results in scholarly articles or books. But simply attempting to engage in such activity is insufficient. Even reading papers at scholarly conferences— certainly commendable—is a step below putting your ideas into print. Your original thinking needs to be available for evaluation by interested specialists, and the easiest way for them to have access to your work is for you to publish it (66).
Cahn proceeds to provide helpful and practical tips for successfully and regularly producing original research. His review of the difference between peer reviewed and non-refereed journals, the weight or merit of book reviews and works for popular media, the task of writing monographs, and how to go about submitting these for publication, to whom and at what time is essential reading for every doctoral student or new faculty member.
In addition to providing advice for how a busy professor can maintain and meet regular writing goals, a further explanation of how the professor can maintain the discipline of scholarly reading would be helpful. How does one “stay current”? How does a faculty member regularly read monographs and journal articles, not only in their field, but in related fields of interest? How do they follow scholarly work through the New Media? How do faculty members start relationships with publishers? How do they receive review or examination copies of books?
Also, for the twenty-first century faculty member, perhaps an expanded treatment on appropriate faculty-student interaction would be helpful. Navigating the protocols of the ever-reincarnating world of social networking could provide needed clarity to an obscure and awkward milieu. (Pundits give advice on everything from “Facebook is only for students and faculty should stay away” to “if you are not a Twittering faculty member you are out of touch and are failing to reach your students where they live.”). And, this of course, speaks to the larger issue of faculty and technology. What level of proficiency is needed or should be required?
For those pursuing the task of academics through the ministry of theological education, Cahn’s work is indeed helpful, but will, of course, not address key items such as: the professor’s freedoms and responsibilities at an institution guided by a confessional document, the professor’s work as ministry—integrating teaching, research, and writing with service to one’s local church and denomination, and the pastoral or counseling role one provides to students preparing for ministry. The theological educator not only must publish and write to share his original research and further the study of his field, but also has the privilege of engaging the writing task for the growth and edification of members of local churches, and in the communicating of the truth of the Gospel to those who have never heard and responded (perhaps even in the academy) to the good news found in Jesus Christ. While his peers in the secular universities may not understand this task, and even question his scholarship for participating in such, the responsibility of serving the churches demands it.
In addition, unique to the realm of theological education is the fact that many who obtain doctoral degrees do not intend to serve as faculty members. While their preparation remains the same as those who will pursue teaching careers, many pursue these studies for a wide variety of ministry assignments and, therefore, should not be discouraged from this task. Further work is needed by someone in the theological arena to address these topics and other related items, such as scheduling around chapel hours, spiritual formation classes, and mission trips or ministry emphases, to add to Steven Cahn’s helpful book, From Student to Scholar.
