First, I can’t believe it has been more than a year since we decided to conduct a search for a part-time pastor to come alongside me while I pursue a Ph.D. in religious studies (at BU).
Second, I can’t believe I’m already through year one of doctoral studies at BU.
Third, I can’t believe we’ve already welcomed co-pastor Aaron Werner to come join me in ministry here at First Baptist Freeport.
What a blessing it is to follow a God who moves in exciting yet unpredictable ways…
While most doctoral students (in the U.S.) pursue study on an exclusive basis, I have always thought serving as a pastor at the same time would enrich both my ministry and my studies.
As many have argued in recent years (see the following works, one, two, three, for a representative sampling), combining the role of minister and scholar in a single individual, both aligns with historic practice and can bridge the gap between academy and church.
As the church considered my call to such ministry, I argued that not only will my ministry context influence my scholarship, but my academic context will influence my ministry as well.
While such impact has (hopefully) been evident in my sermons, teaching, and general posture over the past year, I thought it worthwhile to pause and reflect upon my learning and to draw some connections between my scholarship and church ministry.
This will comprise part one of a two-part series, reflecting on the courses I took in year one of doctoral study.
In the Fall of 2024, I was blessed to enroll in three courses, each of which differed considerably from the others.
The course most pertinent to my subject area (Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean World) was Varieties of Early Christianity taught by a renowned expert on early Christianity (Andrew Jacobs).
This course surveyed the different and often competing forms of Christianity which arose and flourished between the 2nd–7th centuries AD.
We began with an overview of Christians in the Roman Empire, considering questions such as: How did followers of Jesus (who were mostly Jewish early on but came to include many non-Jews later on), interact with and imagine their relationship to the Roman Empire? Conversely, how did non-Christian Romans come to view this new movement and its adherents?
We also discussed the key question: To what extent was Christianity in its first centuries pro-Roman or anti-Roman? These topics featured deep reading in both primary sources and modern secondary scholarship.
We then discussed various ways of being Christian, i.e.: In what distinctive ways did Christians forge their identities through rituals, myths, history, scriptural interpretation, and theology? And to what extent are these diverse visions compatible or incompatible with each other?
After this came the unit “Debating Christianity,” in which we asked: How did a newly state-sponsored Christianity (post-Constantine, post-313 AD) develop notions of orthodoxy and heresy, and what topics proved divisive in these (4th–5th) centuries?
Finally, the course concluded with part four, “Better Ways of Being Christian.” Here we discussed how new ideas about hierarchy and status shaped Christian communities through fresh notions of embodiment and salvation, practices such as monasticism and veneration of saints, and new theories of sin and salvation.
While I had read many of these texts in previous courses, I’d never discussed them in a setting like this! I was the only graduate student in a class full of undergraduates, and Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences is not a seminary, not by a long shot! It became clear to others that I was not only the lone Ph.D. student, but the lone ordained minister as well!
Discussing such topics among BU undergrads, who were considering this subject along with those in their other required courses, made for a unique and stimulating experience, to say the least.
The second course I took was Material Culture: a graduate seminar offered jointly in the American Studies and History of Art and Architecture department.
This course exposed students to the relatively new discipline of “Material Culture studies,” which is “the study through artifacts of the beliefs—values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions– of a community or society at a given time.”
During some class sessions, after discussing the principles included in our readings, the professor would pass around a certain object (i.e., an antique bowl, plate, piece of furniture, etc.) and we would extrapolate from the object itself the values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions, of its maker(s), user(s), and culture(s) of origin.
This course culminated in multi-staged research project for which I studied a silver-plated communion set housed in the wall cabinet in the fireside room of our church. I presented my research before the class and composed a final paper replete with color images.
The principles learned in this course helped me glean meaning and significance from built environments and sets of objects which I’d hitherto taken for granted.
The third course I took was Religion and Contemporary Theory, one of three required courses all religious studies Ph.D. students must take at BU. This once-a-week seminar surveyed major contemporary theories and methods in the academic study of religion.
We began with a set of readings on religious studies as a field or discipline and the state of religion in American higher education today. We continued by looking at some foundational texts defining key terms and reflecting upon method and theory in the study of religion.
We then considered themes like the history of religion, the sociology of religion, the anthropology of religion, religion and lived experience, religion and materiality, religion and the paranormal, religion and popular culture, and religion in digital technology.
This course –which featured many stimulating discussions over lunch (!)– challenged me to think creatively about religion as a concept or field of study. All my classmates were doctoral students in religion, one being a former Franciscan Friar, one a Rabbinic Jewish woman, and one an African American interested in African Diaspora religions.
Throughout these courses, my pastoral identity was on full display, yet this never jeopardized the degree to which my professors and peers took seriously my viewpoints.
In sum, these courses, offered as they are within the College of Arts and Sciences at a major, “secular” university, helped situate my religion within the wider landscape of academic inquiry (i.e., history, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, art history, etc.).
Hearing from practitioners in other traditions complicated and enriched my understanding of the course readings and led to deep friendships which stretch across religious lines.
At various points the insights gained from these courses has bled into my teaching and ministry at First Baptist Freeport, and I am eager to see how future courses do the same.
Jonah Bissell
Teaching Pastor
Stay tuned for Part 2 (coming soon).