Академии абсурда

Тщеславие есть свойство весьма распространенное, от которого не свободен, пожалуй, никто. А в академических и ученых кругах — это род профессионального заболевания.
М. Вебер

Плюс «докторизация» страны

В дополнение к тотальной «академизации» в Украине уже началась широкомасштабная «докторизация». В СССР существовала двухуровневая система научных степеней: кандидата наук и доктора наук. Доктором наук мог стать только кандидат наук, защитивший докторскую диссертацию. В зависимости от того, какой отрасли научных знаний содержательно соответствовала диссертация, присваивались научные степени кандидата (доктора) биологических, физико-математических, экономических, исторических, философских и др. наук.

В странах Запада сложилась преимущественно одноуровневая система научных степеней. Защищается диссертация на соискание научной степени доктора философии (англ. Doctor of Philosophy, сокр. Ph.D) в соответствующей отрасли научных знаний. По научному уровню такая диссертация соответствует диссертации на соискание степени кандидата наук. Иностранным гражданам, защитившим кандидатские в СССР, а впоследствии и в независимой Украине, Высшая аттестационная комиссия выдавала диплом доктора философии, а диплом доктора философии, полученный гражданином СССР (Украины) за границей, нострифицировался как диплом кандидата наук.

В связи с интеграцией в европейское образовательное и научное пространство в Украине пока только решается вопрос о присоединении к соответствующим европейским научным стандартам. Однако уже сейчас нашим кандидатам наук ВАК предоставлена возможность получить «Додаток до диплома кандидата наук», «що засвідчує відповідність наукових ступенів «Кандидат наук» і «Doctor of Philosophy» (Ph.D)» (http://www.vak.org.Ua/docs//diploma/supplement.doc), которой многие из них пользуются. Начался массовый исход в доктора философии. Теперь у нас кандидаты наук, имеющие такой «додаток», могут и будут официально представляться как доктора философии.

В самом деле кандидат наук уже по смыслу слова «кандидат» — это как бы еще не ученый, а только претендент на занятие наукой. Иное дело — доктор, да еще философии. Впечатляет, особенно студентов, которым, как и многим другим гражданам, невдомек, что разница между доктором философских наук и доктором философии примерно такая же, как между академиком-секретарем и секретарем-машинисткой. Читать всю статью…

European Society of Women in Theological Research

Visit the websites of the Polish, Hungarian, Swiss or German sections!

The Society was founded in Switzerland in 1986 and today has over 500 members. It offers a network for women who work in theological research in different denominations and religions, enabling women from the whole of Europe, east and west, north and south, to meet and to dialogue.

If you have suggestions or comments concerning the website, please contact: webmistress@eswtr.org

http://www.eswtr.org/home_e.html

To: Slavic friends and partners of New Life Radio-Moscow and CRFR

We ask you to keep our radio network in your prayers, that God might lead his people to step in to help us keep our Hotbird satellite channel, and to meet our minimum costs of operation. If no one comes forward by July 1 to help pledge $2200/month for Hotbird, then NLR may be forced to give up this incredible broadcast outreach potential across Europe, Russia, and the Middle East.

Please share this newsletter with others, and if you know churches that might be interested in support radio to reach Russian-speakers for Christ, please contact CRFR at your convenience. Just a thought...only ONE Slavic church in America actually helps support NLR. Perhaps your church could become the second. No more than ever, we need Slavic Christians here in America to take up the mantle of support. Consider it both home and foreign missions support that is worth your investment.

In Christ, Daniel Johnson www.CRFR.org
God is Good! Listen to NLR live at www.NLRadio.net

Here are some other resources for finding those elusive thesis/dissertation titles located around the world

• "Bibliographic Access to Dissertations" A helpful article by Patrick Graham, director of the Pitts Theology Library at Emory University. This brief but useful article list numerous reference works for locating theological thesis/dissertation titles from around the world. Print this one!!
• The Center for Research Libraries in Chicago, IL, has a collection of over 700,000 foreign doctoral dissertations. This article by Kennith Slagle "Acquiring Dissertations at The Center for Research Libraries" describes the process of obtaining foreign Ph.D. dissertations in their demand purchase program.
• Students, faculty, staff and researchers can now order their own unbound copies of dissertations and theses with express delivery to their home, school or office. Select from over one million titles available from UMI Dissertation Express.
• ...for news, reviews, and how-tos, graduate students read... "Thesis News" The authoritative reference bulletin for graduate students pursuing their master's thesis or doctoral dissertation.
• Availability of Dissertations by Frank Joseph Shulman. This is an excellent article which directs the reader to dissertation resources around the world. You have to read this!!
• If you are writing a research paper and are puzzled on how to cite materials from the TREN library here are a few examples of 'how to' do just that. These samples were provided by Mr. Greg Smith. Greg teaches research methods and is the librarian at the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. These citation samples are for a thesis, dissertation and a conference paper and are divided by the various style guides.

http://www.tren.com/resources.cfm

Tyndale House Presents: Tregelles’s Greek New Testament

This is the homepage of the modern transcription of Tregelles’s Greek New Testament (TNT) and its corrected edition (TNT2). Here you can download the latest version of these two electronic editions plus an extensive introduction. On these pages some knowledge of the history of the Greek New Testament and of the need for textual criticism (that is, reconstructing the original text to the best of our abilities on the basis of the surviving manuscripts) is assumed.

Main Characteristics:

• Tregelles’s Greek text belonged to the first generation of critical texts that departed from the Textus Receptus as printed in the previous 350 years.
• Tregelles produced a critical text with a complete apparatus for the whole of the New Testament, a one-man effort only repeated by Tischendorf.
• Tregelles emphasized the most ancient evidence.
• Variants are noted which are often not mentioned in the modern pocket editions.
• Tregelles produced his Greek New Testament in the conviction that theology should follow from the text, not vice versa.
• Tregelles was a major influence on Westcott and Hort.
• TNT contains a transcription of the Greek text exactly as printed.
• TNT2 is a corrected edition in which many of the print and accentual errors have been removed.
• Images of the printed edition are made accessible.

http://www.tyndalehouse.com/tregelles/

A Black Day for Theology in Sweden

I am almost too depressed to blog this, but today came an evaluation from the national board of higher education in Sweden (H?gskoleverket) who practically announced a frontal assault on theological education in our country. Many institutions (including the three free standing seminaries, and even some of the large faculties like Lund university) were severely criticized for being too focused on Christianity, etc, etc. The board threatens to recommend the government to withdraw the rights to grant degrees, if the institutions do not change a lot of things (our seminary will loose even the right to grant a basic degree in theology, although most of our teachers are PhD's).

Many have found the whole evaluation process to be very biassed and characterized by prejudism. I don't think I can go into details, but some of the questions that were put to us were remarkable, and the very tone and atmosphere when one committee visited our institution was very unpleasant.

http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com

Winner of ?15,000 Theology Prize Announced

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has awarded the 2009 Michael Ramsey prize to 'Jesus and the Eyewitnesses' by Richard Bauckham at the Guardian Hay festival today.

The Archbishop Presents Plaque to Michael Ramsey 2009 Winner Richard Bauckham © Keith Moseley.jpg

The winner, who will receive a prize of ?15,000, was announced at a gala lunch in the presence of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

"The Michael Ramsey Prize is intended for theological writing which, by freshness and originality, somehow changes the theological landscape, and also serves the needs of the Church; not by being safe or orthodox, or by reinforcing the Church's institutional life – but by giving people something with which to nourish themselves and to enrich their lived Christian experiences.

"Richard Bauckham in his book 'Jesus and the Eyewitnesses' had, in the words of one of the judges, 'Placed something of a bomb under a good deal of New Testament scholarship'. His book shows why we are right to have confidence in the testimony of those who personally witnessed the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospels."

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses argues that the four Gospels are closely based on the eyewitness testimony of those who knew Jesus personally. The book challenges the prevailing assumption that the accounts of Jesus circulated as "anonymous community traditions," asserting instead that they were transmitted in the names of the original eyewitnesses.

Richard Bauckham is Emeritus Professor of New Testament studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. A fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he has also written Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World.

http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org