How very encouraging of you to write in this way! I will take your advice to heart (although I might skip the running part if that’s ok. lol)

Since writing I have set up a Blog where I am seeking to share thought/ideas.

If it’s not too self-seeking of me can I announce it here? (http://thechangingman-thinkingaboutfaith.blogspot.com)

Yes, I’ll drop in from time to time – your site is a VERY stimulating place to be…

Peace, grace, truth and LOVE.

Martyn J Smith

Personally, I found nothing in your list that I did not experience myself. Loneliness, check. Feeling like a novice, check. Stranger in a foreign land, check. At the very least, I can assure you that most every theological student I have interacted with experiences just these emotions during the process of completing their research. And these experiences are often most accute at the beginning, although they will may revisit you throughout the process.

Beyond that, (1) let me encourage you to seek out a couple other students of like heart and mind with whom to ‘do life’. Get together often and be honest about your struggles sharing mutual support and encouragement. Also, (2) pray, and I say this with great seriousness, read the Bible often. Students in biblical studies need to read really good theology, and theological students need to read the scriptures with equal vigor. Finally, (3) postgraduate research can be incredibly narcissistic and self-involving. You will be spending all your time reading, thinking, writing, and thinking some more; all of which have the tendency to push you inward. Do whatever it takes to draw you out of this: volunteer to teach the kids in your church, watch movies that make you laugh and cry, read good poetry, take up painting, go for a run – whatever it takes to pull you out of your inner world!

Blessings in your studies Martyn. I hope you stop in here often.

I appreciate that this is rather a ‘shot in the dark’ but I was wondering whether any other new-to-doctoral-studies in theology folk are out there?

I really am right at the very beginning of my research and it already sometimes feels like rather a lonely business where every other researcher feels like an expert in their field and I feel, well to be honest, just a little bit out of my depth and like a stranger in a foreign land…

So, why am I posting?

I don’t know really. I guess in an ideal world someone else going through this same experience will relate to what I am saying and say hello so that in some way we might be able to encourage and support one another.

How do other people go about this process? Especially if they are doing it part-time and from a distance? Am I missing some obvious support that exists out there?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to sound like a whiner – I have chosen to do this research and I am glad that I have. Its just that at this stage it feels as if one is rather alone…

Any help, support, advice, encouragement will be VERY gladly received…

With gratitude,

Martyn J Smith

There is so much I should do.

I should love my wife by spending time and talking with her each day.
I should pray.
I should keep fit and get exercise.
I should go the denominational meetings.
I should keep up to date with my reading.
I should relax.
I have to commute.
I really should do some work, too!

This is complicated by the fact that I am a little bit obsessive, which might be apparent from this post!

Grace for me, has been letting myself lighten up. Morning prayer, first thing, is really important. It noticeably shapes my day. A Compline litany is good, but often does not happen. I have let go of midday prayers.

Here, from upstairs in the city, what is liberating for me is to actually stop for lunch… didn’t do that for seven years in IT… and simply wander up and down Rundle Mall and watch what goes past.
I sometimes regret the “not” of the midday Office, but I think it is doing me good not to try at everything so hard.

Andrew

as i commented once, i appreciate this forum’s current on-going dialogue regarding spirituality in the life of a theologian. i find that rare and refreshing in theological circles.