My Dissertation Supervisor

My dissertation supervisor hold two doctorates. He completed his PhD in physic before entering the wild world of theology and end up with another PhD. We had a long conversation concerning my draft last Friday. Some of you may already know that conversation with dissertation supervisor will normally results in the encouragement to improve the quality, to modify the argument, or worse to rework what you have submitted. Academic supervisors normally say that our methodology needs to be modified, our argument needs to be more focus, that we need more resources to support that argument, or again worse that we do not pose any distinguish and significant argument in our work. I was reminded that as students, we should be expecting to receive more criticism rather than praise and appreciation. A friend of mine who just completed his PhD with distinction said that many if not all research students have been verbally 'abused' and 'insulted' - harsh and sarcastic criticism is not unusual. I myself went through similar experiences - and please accept my apology since sometimes I do the same thing to my own students. What can we say? Attending academic institution is not aimed to prove, but to improve our academic ability. To achieve this purpose, often 'abusive' words are needed if not required. As students we sometimes are in the state of uncertainty, posed by so many unanswerable questions beyond our highest possible rationale. We often feel being so stupid and unworthy. Many students think about giving up their study. The 'promised land' seems to be very far away - and the road to that land seems to be thorny. I benefited from the conversation with my supervisor last Friday and I am so grateful for that. I learnt from his critical thought and the depth of his reflection. His contribution certainly will improve the quality of my dissertation and avoid unnecessary shameful 'blunder' arguments. More interestingly however is his unfailing commitment not to separate academy from the church. Academic achievement should not end in itself. To be honest, Christianity has suffered from the discontinuity of academic theological education from the pastoral responsibilities of the church. Similar but in different setting, many Christians unfortunately live in discontinuity from the message of the Bible. The most impressive experience with my supervisor happened a few days before the conversation. In public (small group prayer of 10 faculty and students), he prayed for me and my study. Wow!!!! What a wonderful treasure to have an academic supervisor who prays for his own pupil! He sharply criticizes me but at the same time he compassionately prays for me. He does what we understand as 'ora et labora.'