I’ve often enjoyed Elizabeth Jay’s writing. She is a fine scholar. I also hope that I fully come to understand the truth of the following paragraph:
The “sheer plod” and relative isolation of advanced study can produce troughs of depression and lack of confidence in even the brightest student, but I have rarely known a student working in “religion/theology and literature” to abandon the task, and this, I think, is because they are getting something more out of the pursuit than a qualification. Whatever the subject-discipline, to commit for three, or in the case of part-time students, five years, necessitates a real interest in the subject studied, but students of “religion/theology and literature” are gaining something more: regular periods of “turning attention” to matters worthy of their deepest concentration — in fact a kind of spiritual discipline. ~ Elizabeth Jay (116)
I strongly encourage those interested in Literature and Religion/Theology to get a copy of Literature and Religion, Volume 41.2. Summer 2009 where this Jay quote is from. The entire issue focuses on an extended discussion on what constitutes the field (and eve if there is a field to discuss).
If you’re engaged in writing a PhD, Have you ever thought of it as spiritual discipline?
Do you think the subject matter changes the way you feel about it?
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