Jacob Smith

ENC 2135

Eleanor Boudreau

September 25th

Project 1: Investigative Field Essay

The way Christian communicate their ideas varies, a lot. Everyone interprets the Bible

differently, and people with similar interpretations generally come together to form a church. To

simplify this idea of discussing how Christians communicate their ideas I will take on the

viewpoint of a United Methodist Christian, a denomination I already associate myself with.

Taking on a viewpoint of a specific denomination of Christianity helps explain how I can better

teach myself to communicate within a field Im interested in. Through my research I hope to

create a sense that other denominations and their stances matter as well. What makes the United

Methodist denomination unique is how they make sure to enforce a system that relies on taking

time to evaluate past decisions to acknowledge the good done and mistakes made and how to

move forward from that. In this investigative essay, I will explore how scholars, specifically in

the Methodist church, are able to communicate their ideas and opinions to other clergy and

members of the Christian faith. I will not however focus on how scholars or clergy preach to

people about faith, instead highlight how Christians work to further their knowledge of theology

and other aspects of their faith. I believe it is important to know how theology plays a role in a

persons life no matter what field they enter in, so they are aware how God works in their life

and how that affects their choices. Later in my life I hope to be able to further my understanding

of faith and learn from Christian history to enable myself with the knowledge to make a decision

that is derived from Christs love and not my own selfish benefits.
 As a pastors son Ive always been involved in the United Methodist church. Ive been

through points in my life that I forget about my faith, and Ive also had some incredibly moving

experiences that strengthen my faith. Today I understand that my faith is something that I

constantly need to work to deepen, as my dad would say, Faith is a journey, not a destination.

Whether I choose after my four years at Florida State to pursue further education through the

Methodist church or not, I want to say that I explored the option and I have given myself the

ability to show my faith in Christ through anything I do. Every family member I know uses the

United Methodist Church to further their faith. Through my witness of many influential people

in my life, the Methodist church works to be a positive influence in the life of as many people as

they can reach. William Winters who helped found a Methodist hospital in Houston writes in his

poem about that hospitals history, A few wise heads then foresaw a new need. And decided

they should take the lead (Lines 31-32). While the church has made their mistakes in the past,

they are constantly working to evaluate the past and move forward to make decisions that

highlight the love of Christ. I learned more about that evaluation the Methodist church does

through Woodie Whites Methodist review, "The United Methodist Church at 40: How Have We

Done?. Other readings also showed me how Christians use logic and their faith to defend their

reasoning, but these reasoning can still be rooted in selfish desires. Scholarly Christians have

published their stances and interpretations of the Bible, and I will explore what makes these

publishings credible and what I need to look for to further my knowledge of Christian theology.

To begin my research I started by searching for articles and published works that cover

how Christians are evaluating the past and using those evaluations to justify their actions, or

using those evaluations to enact change within their current strategies of showing love to this

growing world. The FSU library provides many databases to research with, and I used the
ATLA Religion database to limit the types of sources I found. In my research I made sure to

focus on specific publishings by the Methodist church, Methodist clergy, or about the Methodist

Church. My research I sought out was mainly research written by clergy, a group of clergy, or a

qualified individual working with a University of some sort. This was done to ensure that the

works I studied were as unbiased as you can get under the religious spectrum. Neil Darragh, a

Catholic theologian, writes, It is not primarily an argument for more theology students in

academic institutions. It is an argument for transparency in theological methodology. (Darragh

392). Darragh explains that its important for theologians to be very clear in their statements and

whether or not it is the authors opinion, the churchs opinion, or a statement not meant to take a

side. I looked for this type of work in my research in order to keep a consistent base that lets the

reader form an opinion. I found what people are talking about in todays Christianity by looking

up certain denominations stances on current events. As well, I was able to use the Pope, the

most famous leader of the Christian faith, as a reference for scholarly publishing. I used the

issues he focuses on to determine what clergy are focused on debating.

I challenged myself working to discover scholarly publishings in this field, but finding

people to interview to discuss the United Methodist faith. Being a pastors son I grew up around

lots of people who put themselves through Divinity School to give themselves a higher education

on Methodist theology. I decided to interview an FSU business major and religion minor, Trace

Rudolph. I grew up with Trace and he amazes me with his love for exploring his faith. I

interviewed him so I can see what he is focusing his studies on to keep his faith in mind as he

works towards earning his undergraduate degree. As well I interviewed a graduate of Duke

Divinity School, Chris Agoranos to learn what pastors look for in what they read and how they

are discussing important topics. Lastly I interviewed a FSU religion professor Dr. Corrigan to
learn about what I would be focusing my studies on if I took religion classes here at Florida

State. Every person I asked to interview gladly accepted my offer, which reasserted my

understanding that Christians go out of their way to share their faith.

Through my research and my interviews I can report that I better understand what taking

religion classes means and how to apply my faith to my education. Dr. Corrigan explained to me

what topics his religion classes and others here at FSU cover. FSUs religion classes often focus

on a specific religions history and peoples religious intolerance. Florida States classes

generally dont dive deep into theology. Trace Rudolph will only minor in religion when he

graduates from Florida State with a business major, and Chris Agoranos also graduated Florida

State with a religion minor with an economics major. Both Rudolph and Agoranos planned on

using their faith to guide them into the workforce once they graduated, but they didnt need to

strictly take religion classes here. In response to the question of how people use a divinity

degree, Agoranos explained to me what most people go to divinity school to focus their careers

on. The majority of students he observed throughout divinity school were people who wanted to

pursue academia and people who wanted to become pastors, ministers, and priest. To enter the

field of Christianity as a leader or scholar I would need to pursue a divinity degree, which isnt

necessarily what I want. Classes at Florida State explain the culture of Christianity, which is

important to know to understand why we think the things we think as people. However, to

investigate theology I would need to pursue education past my undergraduate or explore

theology on a personal level through experiences and conversations with other people.

I learned how to research in the Christian field better from my interviews, which I wish I

knew before my interviews because thats when I did my research for this field investigation.

The Christian field covers just about every topic. The published works Chris Agoranos reads
explores Theology that is interested in actual peoples lives and asks questions about the shape

our world has taken. As well, Agoranos stated, Im particularly interested in race and class

and social justice issues. Research for me within the Christian field should be anything that Im

interested in, anything that relates to the questions about society that I consistently ask myself.

Trace Rudolph explains how he decides the credibility of what he reads, he states, I read what

my mentors and peers around me read and see if it aligns with the Methodist doctrine. I hope to

combine what Agoranos and Rudolph explained to me, I should look for readings that relate to

subjects that interest me and aligns with the Methodist doctrine. I still want to explore other

opinions, but as a general rule I think this combination should result in consistent readings that

interest and educate me.

Through the interviews I gained two really important thoughts, I dont need to be a pastor

to educate myself in the field of Christianity and my faith can take my career anywhere. I

already knew these thoughts, but before I began this project I could not explain to myself how I

would live out these ideas. I can think of a lot of people in my life whose faith pushed them to

pursue all sorts of careers that impact a multitude of people. Passion combined with a strong

faith will lead to my purpose in life. Trace explains his plan to use his faith after graduating

from Florida State this way, I plan on using my faith to drive me to a field or an area where I

need to serve. It could be geographic, or it could be a field or industry, etc. etc. Submitting to

Gods will for me isnt something I want to deny, because that would make me a pretty lousy

Christian. I definitely need stop being dependent on my own thoughts and desires. The happiest

people I know are the people that choose to pursue what they determine is Gods calling for

them. Chris Agoranos explained his thought process in discovering his interest in his faith. Chris

said to me, As a Christian, I begin with Jesus ministry. Jesus work was on the margins, he
worked on behalf of the poor. Two things we need to think about, power and peoples social

location. The strategy Chris uses to explore his interest in life is through following the

teachings of Jesus. Jesus loves, he did so in a lot of ways, but the main focus is the impact he

had on so many peoples lives. I will continue educating myself within the Christian field, and I

will keep these thoughts in mind when deciding what topic to research and educate myself on. I

will make sure to keep Jesus ministry in mind and explore topics that Im passionate about.

Of everything I learned from the interviews, learning about deciding what to focus my

readings on excites me the most. For a little while now Ive wanted to explore my faith through

alternate readings besides the Holy Bible, and these interviews gave me the tools to pick out

readings that will help me strengthen my faith. I wasnt exactly able to define the styles and

conventions often used in the Christian field, but that stems from the intense diversity within the

field. Even when I narrowed the field to United Methodist theology I found a large amount of

varying styles from different authors. Scholars and clergy are able to explain their stance

through a variety of ways like creating an official stance through their particular denomination,

or putting out their stances, unedited by a publisher, to the public. This excites me however,

because this means that I should always find a reading that interest me.

Im still exploring what my passions is, and Im still developing my faith, but with each

passing day I learn more about myself that brings me closer to my purpose in life. I know I

wont be happy if Im not having a positive impact on peoples lives. Im glad I learned how to

research topics within the Christian field, and look for works that align with the Methodist

doctrine. This gives me the ability to teach myself about theology and strengthen my faith

through readings. This investigative field essay gave me the opportunity to think about my

future career through the perspective of a United Methodist and not just as myself. Because of
this project I was able to narrow my fields of interest keeping my faith in mind. I will always be

involved in the Christian field, I already take a class in the field every Sunday and take time

throughout the week to study even though I dont have any technical religion classes here at

Florida State University. I might as well know how to study in this field.

Works Cited

Darragh, Neil. "Doing Theology in Public: An Engagement with Economic Rationalism."

International Journal of Public Theology, vol. 4, no. 4, Oct. 2010, pp. 391-409.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1163/156973210X526373.
Winters Jr., William L. "The Methodist Debakey Heart & Vascular Center a Poetic History

(Abridged)." Methodist Debakey Cardiovascular Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp.

42-44. EBSCOhost,