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Keane to Understand

It's a lousy pun, and most of the lyrics of the song by Keane don't really relate, but the title "Everbody's Changing" and a few of the sentiments I perceive it to contain maybe do.

I am wanting to research how Baptists approached change in the past to inform my/our present and affect/infleunce our future.

But

History is particular, in just about every conceivable meaning of the word, and its methods and aims have changed over time

And

Theology is likewise particular and contingent (at least I think that's the word)

And the purpose of this research according to an email from my professor is one

"where new academic knowledge is generated in order to effect change, in terms of perosnal develpment or understanding best practice etc.'

So

I am a student of change (I am studying it) I am a subject of change (I get changed in the process of doing the study) and I am an agent of change (I seek to effect change by what I do)

This makes any pretence of objectivity nonsensical since it is impossible to define an absolute starting point within myself

But

I can find discrete historical case studies where traces of the past may be discernible and it is feasible to say 'practice was X and is now Y' even if interpretation of the 'how' is largely conjecture.

 

As of this moment, I am quite enjoying understanding the confusion, but as the song says...

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same

 

The quest for truth is everlasting, and when I think too hard it is easy to end up feeling like it is all shifting stand.  I haven't a clue as yet how I reconcile the complexity of these changes upon changes, but maybe it'll be fun trying?

(Oh, and by the way, my name is Catriona, I can remember that much!)

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