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| Syrian Christians Under Islam: The First Thousand Years |
Friday, February 20, 2015
Book Feed: Syrian Christians Under Islam: The First Thousand Years
In my endeavour to better understand the history of Christianity in Syria I am starting to read "Syrian Christians Under Islam: The First Thousand Years" by David Thomas. If anyone has read this book I would love you opinion on it. Is it a good academic book, or more of an overview?
Finding my way: New Beginnings in the Field of Research
I'm sure there's many of you out there who have either completed you PhD, or are still in the process of finishing it. I have just started. Having registered at the beginning of 2015, I now face the daunting task ahead of copious amounts of research, field work, and then typing it all up.
In my favour I suppose is the fact that I've just finished my masters degree, so to some extent I am still in the swing of things. But on the other hand, in the last part of my masters I went through a patch of depression, self doubt and a ton of anxiety, from which I am still trying to recover.
That aside, I am a religious studies student at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. While I love researching most aspects of religion my main interest is religious violence. For me this is an age old topic which has just as much relevance today as it did centuries ago. In fact, I believe with the plurality of beliefs this world holds today, that the cases of religious violence and intolerance are far higher than they have ever been.
In my masters degree my case study looked at the role of religion as a dynamic part the Syrian civil war (you can check out my dissertation here on my Academia.edu profile). I had lots of fun researching this. Needless to say I now have extensive knowledge of Syria's history, it's religious sects, and its ongoing war.
During the course of masters I secured a bursary for my PhD by writing a proposal of what I aimed to do in my doctoral dissertation. In this proposal I laid out the need to research the persecution of minority religious groups in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and the rise of religious extremist groups in those regions. So basically these are the parameters I will be researching.
Of course, a topic like that is way too broad for a doctrate degree (unless you want to die a slow, painful death). So I would like to narrow this down a bit (a lot) in order to find more focus.
My current thinking is that I shouldn't make more work for myself than necessary. I feel that considering I have done a whole wad of research on Syria that I should once again use it as my case study. This has pro's and cons. I my favour I have a lot of research in the bank, but against me is the fact that this is still a huge topic, plus it is still happening as we speak which may cause logistical problems.
In the move toward writing an official research proposal I want to refine this topic and make sure I have a clear and clean focus.
I write these posts here in my blog as a way of trying to put thoughts to words, to practice my writing skills, but also as a way of finding and sharing new thoughts with others. So if you have anything to share please feel free to comment. I would greatly appreciate that.
In my favour I suppose is the fact that I've just finished my masters degree, so to some extent I am still in the swing of things. But on the other hand, in the last part of my masters I went through a patch of depression, self doubt and a ton of anxiety, from which I am still trying to recover.
That aside, I am a religious studies student at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. While I love researching most aspects of religion my main interest is religious violence. For me this is an age old topic which has just as much relevance today as it did centuries ago. In fact, I believe with the plurality of beliefs this world holds today, that the cases of religious violence and intolerance are far higher than they have ever been.
In my masters degree my case study looked at the role of religion as a dynamic part the Syrian civil war (you can check out my dissertation here on my Academia.edu profile). I had lots of fun researching this. Needless to say I now have extensive knowledge of Syria's history, it's religious sects, and its ongoing war.
During the course of masters I secured a bursary for my PhD by writing a proposal of what I aimed to do in my doctoral dissertation. In this proposal I laid out the need to research the persecution of minority religious groups in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and the rise of religious extremist groups in those regions. So basically these are the parameters I will be researching.
Of course, a topic like that is way too broad for a doctrate degree (unless you want to die a slow, painful death). So I would like to narrow this down a bit (a lot) in order to find more focus.
My current thinking is that I shouldn't make more work for myself than necessary. I feel that considering I have done a whole wad of research on Syria that I should once again use it as my case study. This has pro's and cons. I my favour I have a lot of research in the bank, but against me is the fact that this is still a huge topic, plus it is still happening as we speak which may cause logistical problems.
In the move toward writing an official research proposal I want to refine this topic and make sure I have a clear and clean focus.
I write these posts here in my blog as a way of trying to put thoughts to words, to practice my writing skills, but also as a way of finding and sharing new thoughts with others. So if you have anything to share please feel free to comment. I would greatly appreciate that.
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