Meditations on a 40 day fast

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, to which the headaches and indigestion of tonight's Fat Tuesday indulgences will attest. As our local parish priest, Bruce McNabb commented the past Sunday that Lent is not just a time where you stop drinking hot cocoa. It is a time where we intentionally move closer to God. Lent is a time to give something up, take something on, and draw closer to God through prayer. We remove the things that distract us, add the things that enhance our spiritual growth and our relationships with others, and engage deliberately in the “loving gaze” that is prayer.

I've grown up in the Protestant tradition, with a sporadic practice of giving up things for Lent, always thinking I was trying to identify with Jesus' suffering on the cross by suffering through six weeks without candy and desserts. It only took a few years of adulthood before I recognized the pathetic nature of this approach and Lent eventually became something I didn't really practice. A few years ago, however, I was challenged to give up sweets for Lent, mostly because I had developed a very strong sweet tooth that was giving my dentist a headache. Early in the Lenten season, I went to the HF Advisory Board annual meeting.Also on the board at that time was Matt Cabeen, a practicing Catholic. He was very pointedly avoiding the M&Ms and coffee in our conference room on Saturday, but come Sunday, I was shocked to see him munching and drinking away like any old heathen. Upon further questioning, he gently instructed me that Lent is a 40 day fast, (that being a recurring number tied up with Biblical redemption) and that there are actually 52 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Thus each Sunday during the Lenten period was not part of a fasting day (Matt has a PhD in Molecular Biology and I'm an artist so I actually went and counted the days on a calendar. Lo and behold, he was right.)

Turns out that, outside the Tradition of Ludicrous Self-Denial, Lent is a period of anticipation and celebration! Each Sunday is meant to be a mini-Easter, where we break our fast and look forward to the big celebration on Easter morning. I cannot begin to describe how freeing this was for me. Instead of dragging my feet through the weeks preceding Easter, I would eagerly look forward to Sundays when I could enjoy a small something sweet and think about God's love and the wonderful story of the empty tomb. It turns out that the discipline of fasting should, paradoxically, be a freeing exercise.

As this Lenten season begins, I humbly offer out to the world a film I made many years ago. It is a film about freedom through sacrifice. May the next six weeks bring freedom from whatever has been confining you this year.

Corrie Francis is a 2004 Fellow in Animation and Digital Arts.

Sanctuary: Making Peace with the Enemy

Criminal minds...Contract Killers...Illegal Racketeering.
From inner city alleys to suburban streets the shadow of organized mob crime moves across the land ‘gangstifying’ neighborhoods. They strategically advance drug cartels from LA to Seattle to Memphis...to your back yard.

Yet in one corner of LA, navigating a minefield of obstacles, ex-gang member Alfred Lomas works to resurrect a community he himself once wrecked with violence. Lomas and his gang rivals risk their lives to break the cycle of evil and forge peace. Crossing enemy lines, they stop the killings, rescue kids at risk and launch new economic models from within the community. Under constant public scrutiny, they offer jobs, graffiti art exhibits, alternative education and now - LA Gang Tours. The result so far? Crime is down, yet conflict abounds.

Sanctuary: Making Peace With the Enemy

Sound like a good film? Harvey Fellow Nikki Hevesy is directing/ producing this documentary and they need your support. The production team is raising $60,000 to finish shooting. Would you consider donating a small amount to this project?

Nikki writes:

We are raising the next portion of our budget through crowd funding - a large group of people donating small amounts of money in support of the project or the people involved. Every bit helps since we are having someone give us the funds to use and continue production as they are being posted. (We put whatever comes in toward the project. It is not one of those sites where you only keep the funds if you raise them all). Our campaign launched last week at Indiegogo - http://bit.ly/gmdFcw and I'd like to ask that you take a few moments to check it out, watch the video - you will see me :) -- and see if you can donate one of the amounts on the side. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have.

I'd appreciate your donation, and just as much I appreciate you passing on this link and info to anyone and everyone you know! We are so close to getting this done and very excited about bringing this story of redemption to audiences.

Thank you, and best wishes for a Happy New Year!

NIKKI HEVESY

Creative Humanitarian Artist's Salon

On Nov. 16, artists gathered in New York City for a day of dialogue and fellowship. The event was organized by Lia Chavez (HF '07) and was hosted by IAM. Lia sent in this report from a very inspiring day!

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Dear friends:

Just wanted to give you all the scoop on the salon in New York a couple days ago. You were missed, but it went wonderfully. We enjoyed a rich day of discussion, critical feedback on work, and fellowship. Here's what happened:

As for the artists who participated, it included many Harvey Fellows, as well as a small handful of non-fellows. All very talented and inspiring artists. I have included a list of all participants for you to see below.

Two organizations hosted the event - Affirmation Arts - a gallery in New York with which I have a close relationship and where I have personally had a couple shows, and Mako Fujimura's International Arts Movement (IAM). Affirmation Arts generously offered us the use of their beautiful conference room for the day's events.

The day began with a brief tour of Affirmation Arts' current show, "Saving Grace: A Celebration of Haitian Art", which is entirely comprised of works which the gallery has salvaged from the wreckage of the recent earthquake in Haiti; the gallery worked together with the Smithsonian Institute to repair and conserve key visual artworks from Haitian culture. You can learn more about the show here:

This was followed a panel discussion, which provided for the opportunity to bring in Christian and non-Christian experts from the fields of art, philanthropy, spirituality, cultural diplomacy, academia, and community activism together for a discussion entitled, "Looking forward: Imagining a creative humanitarianism for this generation of artists", during which the panelists were invited to explore the challenges and possibilities of utilizing art to build a kinder, more compassionate culture and world. Makoto Fujimura moderated the panel discussion in his wonderfully disarming, yet incisive style. There was a brief Q&A following the discussion during which the artists in attendance were able to ask questions and share reflections. In short, the rich and inspiring discussion helped us touch on some of the main challenges associated with using art to a humanitarian end, whether relating to funding constraints and logistics, or more conceptual ideas such as the validity which society does (or does not) afford to art as an effective tool for responding to humanitarian crises. The subjects of the liminal position of the artist and the loneliness, more generally, of people working within the arts came to the fore, which led to reflections on the importance, power, and efficiency of relationships and the phenomenon of Presence.

There was also a lively discussion about the subversive economic status of both creative and relational capital and how these things may be harnessed, in tandem to make a meaningful contribution, since these things to not behave like, or even abide by the same laws of, financial capital.

Following this, we had a lovely lunch which was kindly sponsored by a personal friend from AOL and organized by the staff at IAM. After that, most of the panelists departed leaving only 2 of them to stay on with us for the remainder of the day. The two people who chose to stay, Father Paul Anel and Dr. Nancy Hightower, are also Christian believers, which made for a nice and intimate environment for discussion.

The afternoon portion (and bulk) of the day was dedicated to artists sharing recent work and work in progress and receiving critical feedback from the peers in the room. This was in short, the good stuff! Having the opportunity to witness everyone's great gifts was inspiring all round. In addition, in principle, it was good to receive the depth of feedback from a group that can grapple with the the metaphysical aspects of the work; however, since we had only one afternoon to share work, we were pressed for time, and the depth of the sharing was somewhat limited. From my perspective it felt like we were giving each other introductions to each other's work. It was a very good beginning to something that could grow.

If anything became clear to me throughout our day together, it is that we need to have these salons regularly, as these interactions are so life giving and, from the standpoint of fellowship and critical feedback, needed. I hope to continue facilitating these salons in New York (I am moving there in January)...... As to how often, I am not sure; perhaps quarterly? And the folks at IAM have expressed interest in hosting these the future. It would be really great to brainstorm with you guys on gatherings in the future!

Would love to hear your feedback on this event!! And also whatever ideas you may have for salons in the future. This is a very experimental thing and it would be great to treat the format as such! I also am pasting in the schedule for the day and the flyer so you can see how it was organized.

Warm wishes for holidays and hugs,
Lia

Boston Area Regional Gathering

If you are in Boston on Sunday Nov. 7 there's a regional gathering going on. Join up with everyone for one or all of the events described below. For more details, contact Amos Tai(pkamostai@gmail.com) or Samuel Perli (samuelp@mit.edu)

Activities will include:

Afternoon:
Lunch together at 1-ish in Downtown/Chinatown, and then go on an outing together at the Harvard Arnold Arboretum (Forest Hill on Orange Line), if weather allows (bring your jackets!). We're gonna do some slight hike and enjoy the nature before leaves are all gone!

Early evening:
We're gonna have a dinner gathering around Harvard, place TBD. We're together have time for worship, prayer and a hearty meal.

Harvey Fellows Mentoring Program

Have you ever needed a Christian mentor in your field? The Advisory Board has launched a new program that it hopes will deepen the support of the fellowship. We had fourteen new fellows sign up for mentoring at the Summer Institute and dozens of more senior fellows volunteer to mentor them. In this first year, mentors and mentees will meet via phone twice per semester for support and prayer. We believe that these relationships will be a great encouragement to new fellows as they navigate their studies and careers with their attendant challenges. If you are interested in being either a mentor or mentee, please contact Amy Reynolds (amy.reynolds@wheaton.edu) or Olivia Mather (ocmather@gmail.com). We currently have a need for volunteers in the non-medical sciences and music.

Sacrificial Knowledge

David Vishanoff (HF 2001, University of Oklahoma)

Like many of you, I am not yet convinced that the faith by which I seek to live has sufficiently transformed the work I do. In my case, that work consists of scholarship and teaching in the field of Islamic studies. Ah, you say, an easy vocation in which to integrate one’s faith! Since my Christian beliefs are directly comparable to the Islamic teachings I study, all I need to do is compare them, and publically declare which I approve and which I reject, et voilà: my faith has shaped my scholarship. But that’s too easy – like saying that one’s scientific inquiry is motivated by wonder at God’s creation, or that one’s medical choices are guided by Christian ethics. Surely the Gospel that so transforms my perspective on daily life has much more to say about the study of Islam, or particles, or diseases. Besides, how many of our colleagues and students really care to hear what we believe, or what sentiments and values motivate our work? Undoubtedly the Gospel shapes our beliefs and motives and values, but if it really transforms the way I view the world, shouldn’t it enable me to know the world better, in ways that even my non-Christian colleagues will be able to appreciate?

It was teaching, more than scholarship, that first compelled me to rethink in explicitly Christian terms what knowledge in my field of study should consist of. Some of my colleagues – even in a state university – unabashedly seek to inculcate in students their own conviction that there must be some deep spirituality or morality that unites all religions. Others seek to socialize students into a critical discourse of suspicion that unmasks the drive for power that must lie behind all religions. Others are content to present supposedly objective textbook summaries of disembodied abstractions called Islam or Hinduism. I have never been able to bring myself to do any of these things in the classroom, but it has taken me some time to figure out why.

The reason, it turns out, is my view of knowledge, which I hope is shaped by the Gospel. I believe the purpose of knowledge in religious studies (and perhaps in the humanities generally) should be the development of human relationships characterized by integrity and sacrificial love. This requires a practice of sacrificial listening, in which the knower’s categories are deconstructed and renegotiated to enable communication with the other, through an ongoing process of identifying and overcoming misunderstandings.

I have yet to encounter a colleague who shares this view of religious studies. For some of my colleagues, to know about a religion is to isolate its essence – the spiritual or moral values that lie hidden beneath the historical and cultural accretions that shape particular manifestations of that religion. For others, to know means to take sides – for the oppressed, and against the hegemonic knowledge-construction of the oppressor. For still others to know means to assimilate generalizations that enable us to classify persons and phenomena as we encounter them. It takes no special discernment (or does it?) to realize that such knowledge is often a self-serving attempt to buttress the knower’s own sense of being right in the world, by reinforcing the belief structure that feeds his or her self-righteousness. Such knowledge is created for the knower’s own ends, and often it is really more about the knower than about the thing known.

Christians are not immune from such self-serving knowledge. Many of us, for example, are perversely comforted by the knowledge that some abstraction called “Islam” is violent or legalistic. Because that knowledge preserves our moral or spiritual self-confidence, we will cling to it, citing chapter and verse from the Qur’an, even when a Muslim tells us to our face that he believes no such thing. Alternatively, we choose to believe that Muslims really share the same values we do so that we can coopt them for our own moral agenda, regardless of what they actually say and do. Such an embrace of the other is not love; it loves only a projection of myself. If I am to love my neighbor as myself, and not merely as a projection of my own hopes and fears, then I will have to be willing to let my self-confidence be shaken by what I learn in conversation with my neighbor. When my self-centered way of knowing others is evaluated against the standard of Christ’s self-sacrificial love, it is subjected to a radical critique. The Gospel demands that I replace my natural mode of knowing human beings with a self-sacrificial epistemology.

In my classes, this idea has led to a pedagogy of sacrificial listening. That means reading primary texts by Muslim authors, regardless of how relevant or comprehensible they are to us, so that students are forced to listen to individual Muslims for themselves, rather than understanding them through the filter of generalizations formulated by myself or other scholars. Generalizations are a necessary tool of understanding, but I want my students to construct them for themselves as they listen to Muslims, and then, just as they are beginning to sense that they have a grasp on an author and can fit him or her comfortably into their worldview, I want them to be compelled to deconstruct their generalizations as they listen with sacrificial attention to yet more Muslim voices. Because this goes against the ways of knowing that are most natural to us, it always involves confusion and frustration. If it is truly self-sacrificial learning, it will be painful for both student and teacher, because our sinful nature resists intellectual as well as material self-sacrifice.

If the Gospel’s demand for a self-sacrificial epistemology implies sacrificial listening in my classes, what does it imply for my scholarly writing? I do not know. At present I only sense that instead of writing “about” Muslims from some higher academic vantage point, and molding their words to my intellectual purposes, I must somehow begin to engage them in conversation, at eye level, so that they can threaten my conclusions and suggest new ones. That would be one step toward writing Christianly, as Miroslav Volf put it at the 2003 Summer Institute.

What about teaching and scholarship in other fields? Does a Christian epistemology require us (and enable us) to listen differently to research data in the social sciences, allowing our cherished theories (and even our Christian policy objectives) to be threatened by the voices of the people we study? Does the whole idea of studying “people in general” need to be re-imagined in terms of the ethics of human relationships? What about the emphasis on self-expression in art: isn’t that challenged by an epistemology of listening to the other? And how should sacrificial love affect the way one knows about “the human body,” or the way one listens to empirical data about the rest of nature, or the way one constructs abstract structures that seem to have nothing to do with human relationships? I do not know. But I want to know. If you can offer even the beginning of an answer, or a comment on the trajectory of my thinking, please email me at vishanoff@ou.edu. Better yet, respond right here on the Harvey Nexus blog. I need your help, and perhaps others do too.

Summer Institute Update

Dave Lewis, a member of the HF Advisory Board sends in this report from last month's Summer Institute. Reading it filled me with memories of my summer institute, the great speakers and inspiring discussions with other fellows. I hope it does the same for you!

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Thank you for your prayers about the summer institute. God is good and he blessed the event. It was a wonderful week. The institute was held June 15-21 at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC. Thirty four fellows attended from a variety of different fields from philosophy to business to performance art to music and social sciences. The theme for the week was "advancing truth faithfully" and the week included a number of activities around those themes. The fellows visited the Holocaust Museum's exhibit on Nazi propaganda and watched Shattered Glass, a movie about New Republic author Stephen Glass who fabricated portions of a number of articles he wrote for the magazine. Jill Jensen, Brian Bakke, and the MSF team did a wonderful job with logistics and encouragement. Jerry and Jeannie Herbert led the week
ably with a bit of help from Laurena Ketzel-Kerber (HFAB chair) and myself.

There were some wonderful moments during the week but let me describe a few. Jennifer Mills, a performance artist at the Art Institute of Chicago, did a slide show of her different performances from the last 6 months and explained what she did. It was a really lovely explanation of how she wanted to bring joy back into art and use art to highlight some of the exclusivity and monetization of the art world. It was encouraging to see God work out his good pleasure in her unique skills and vision.

Alex Macdonald, a fellow at Julliard, did a piano performance on the last night. He practiced all week early in the morning in the hotel lobby! He played 30 Goldberg variations for us, preceded by a discussion of Bach and an explanation for how they are crafted, how they relate to each other, and what Bach was trying to accomplish. It was a beautiful performance.

The fellows were broken into six disciplinary groups and asked to give a presentation at the end of the week about what they had learned about integrating faith and vocation in their fields. We had scientists performing a skit depicting how they often were in the difficult position of speaking truth to non-believing scientists but also to the science-skeptical church. The social scientists did a skit surrounding a job interview where academic interviewers were asking, "what is this Harvey Fellowship?" The artists performed for us. They contrasted an academic seminar that was a cacophony of jargon and cross-talk with a very moving and authentic public confession of past failures to speak truth.

Of course, we had wonderful talks by former fellows doing exciting work and Margaret Thompson (Eileen's sister) gave a wonderful charge on Sunday to the fellows. There was warmth and inspiration from the Bakke's, lots of hanging out in the hospitality suite at the hotel, and new friendships developed. I think God heard our prayers to handle the logistics, prepare the fellows for the time, and send them out marked back to their homes. Thank you for praying with us about this event and please join us in thanking God for his goodness and the privilege of being able to work with him in this world.

Harvey Fellows Regional Coordinators

One of the great benefits of being a Harvey Fellow is staying connected to the network of Fellows around the globe. In each region, fellows gather a few times a year to meet, converse, attend lectures, art shows or performances, share a meal or simply pray for each other. This fellowship can be a rich time of connection. Each area has a point person facilitating these meetings.

Look below to find you regional coordinator and get in touch to find out about upcoming gatherings.

New York Metro

Alex McDonald - alexsmcdonald@sbcglobal.net

Boston Area
Amos Tai - pkamostai@gmail.com
Samuel David Perli - samuelp@mit.edu

Yale/New Haven

Imran Barbar - imran.babar@yale.edu

Chicago
Bryan McGraw - btmcgraw@gmail.com

Greater SF Bay Area
Jacquelline Fuller - jacqfuller@gmail.com
Kristen Gustavson - kristengustavson@yahoo.com
Kristina Fauls - kfaul@mills.edu

Southern California

Naomi Haynes - nhaynes@ucsd.edu

UK/ EU

Trudy Ko - tk325@cam.ac.uk

David Lines - D.A.Lines@warwick.ac.uk

Asia/South Pacific

Evi Syariffudin - thetall1@gmail.com

If you don't see your region on this list, would you be willing to maintain contact with the fellows in your area and organize 2 gatherings a year? Please let me know!

Corrie Francis Parks

corrie@corriefrancis.com

Conversing with Aotearoa/New Zealand, by HF Corrie Francis

Corrie Francis '04 writes:

At long last, "Conversing with Aotearoa/New Zealand" is officially out
on dvd. And not only do you get a copy of this great documentary on
the kiwi wilderness experience, you get 12 other films from around the
world as well! Be sure to get your copy on the following website!

Don't forget to send us your news and prayers!

Please send us your latest updates, prayer requests, comments and ideas at harveynexus@gmail.com. Thanks!

Harvey Fellow News

Emmanuel Chang '04 and his wife Kiran would like to announce the birth of their first son, a healthy baby boy named Luca Nathanael Chang on December 9, 2009. The family is doing well and enjoy parenting.

Corrie Francis '04 celebrated her marriage to Thomas Parks on May 1, 2010, in a lovely celebration on the shores of Lake Tahoe, CA. They are excited to be headed to New Zealand in June for an extended working honeymoon.

Amma Y. Ghartey-Tagoe, '06 wants to thank HF brothers and sisters for their prayers and support. On June 1st, 2009, by the grace and unfailing love of God, she defended her dissertation, "The Battle Before The Souls of Black Folk: Black Performance in the 1901 Pan-American Exposition" and began a two-year Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Dept. of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at University of California, Berkeley. Her students are now calling her "Dr. Amma" or DrAmma, thus confirming her vocational calling in the arts. On August 8, 2009, she formally became engaged to Kenneth Nana Yaw Osei Kootin in Accra, Ghana in the presence of immediate and extended family. God willing, the wedding will be held in 2010. Kenneth and Amma covet your prayers as they begin this new chapter in their lives.

Ryan McDermott '09 is pleased to report that he has been appointed Assistant Professor of Medieval Literature and Culture at the University of Pittsburgh, a tenure-track position. He plans to defend his dissertation in July, and has an article on ethics, biblical exegesis, and literary invention forthcoming in The Yearbook of Langland Studies.

Laura Schram '08 and her husband Jeff welcomed their first child, Lydia Anne, on May 4. "It is a beautiful experience," they report, "but overwhelming!"

A Conversation with Matt Cabeen, Part 1

Interviewed by Sean Womack

I recently met Matt for the first time in DC at the Harvey Fellows Advisory Board meeting. We had a delightful dinner discussing life, faith and family. It was such a pleasure getting to know him that I decided to make my inaugural profile a conversation with him. I’m taking over editorial responsibilities that Matt has so ably initiated these past couple of years with the launch of Nexus. We are turning the tables on him, and letting him be the subject instead of the reporter for a change.

We had a long and wide ranging conversation, which I am going to include here in more of an interview format. I’m also going to break it into two parts just for the sake of length. We’ll email in a few weeks when the section part of the interview is ready. His bio online gives you a snapshot of his life:

Matthew Cabeen is a bacteriologist studying bacterial cell morphology and the bacterial cytoskeleton at Yale University in the lab of Christine Jacobs-Wagner. He studies how bacteria can generate and maintain a specific shape using advanced microscopy and genetic and physical manipulation. He will finish his PhD in spring 2010 and plans to continue studying bacterial cell biology in Boston for his postdoctoral work. His hope is to become a professor of biology at a leading research university where he will lead a research team and teach undergraduate and graduate students.

Matt earned dual B.S. degrees in Molecular Cell Biology and Diagnostic Genetic Sciences at the University of Connecticut in 2003, and an M.S. in Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology at Yale University in 2005. He married his wife Rose in 2008, and the couple has two children. Matt and his family live in New Haven, CT, where they attend Saint Thomas More, the Catholic Chapel at Yale. They will move to Boston, MA in the fall of 2010.

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Sean: So, Matt, what have you been doing the past couple of years?

Matt: I’ve been finishing up my PhD from Yale University in molecular, cellular and developmental biology. My PhD thesis has to do with a bacterium called Caulobacter crescentus, which is a harmless bacterium that is in your tap water, in lakes, in soil. It has a curved shape with a stalk at one end so it looks like a banana. My thesis project was figuring out the mechanism by which these bacteria become curved. Many other bacteria like E. coli for instance are a straight rod but this one is curved.

There is a protein that was discovered in the lab where I work that was discovered a little before I arrived -- and it is called crescentin, which causes that bacterium to become curved. I published a paper on the mechanism by which [this curvature] occurs, and I’ve been finishing up my PhD and preparing for the next step in the last year.

Sean: Where did you do your masters?

Matt: In this field, and at larger institutions, you don’t get a separate masters degree, you get your masters en route to your PhD. If you leave before you get your PhD, then you get your masters as sort of a consolation prize.

Sean: Where did you do your undergrad?

Matt: At the University of Connecticut. I have dual degrees in human genetics and molecular biology.

Sean: You grew up in Connecticut didn’t you?

Matt: Yes, in Milford. We moved to Milford when I was four.

Sean: So, you’ve been in Connecticut your whole life?

Matt: Almost the whole time. My junior and senior years, spring semester, I spent doing internships at a clinical diagnostic lab in Irvine, CA down in Orange County. So, that was a cumulative year spent out there. During my second year of graduate school, I spent three and a half months in Heidelberg, Germany doing a collaborative research project. So, I have left Connecticut a little bit.

Sean: How did you pick your particular field of study?

Matt: When I was in tenth grade I was taking biology – all tenth graders did – and we had a new teacher, Mr. Peace, and he noticed that I had an aptitude for biology. He put me in an AP class with seniors, which was a college level course. We were learning about cellular and molecular biology, and seeing how the DNA is treated in a cell and I was hooked. I loved that course. From then on I decided that I wanted to go into biology or genetics.

Going into college, I applied to three schools: Harvard, MIT and UConn and only got into UConn. My Dad told me later that even if I had gotten into one of those other schools (i.e. Harvard or MIT), he wasn’t going to pay that much for school. So, he was glad that I only got into UConn.

UConn has a very good program in diagnostic genetic sciences. This was in 1999, and genetics seemed like a cool, sexy thing to study. I talked to someone in the program and I thought it sounded cool and said, “Let's go for this.”

I started in this track. Then about halfway through, I discovered that it was a training program for people that wanted to do cytogenetics. These are the people that when you have cancer or an amniocentesis, they diagnose you with a disease. They look at the chromosomes of the biopsy or amniotic fluid to determine if there are any chromosomal abnormalities. They check to see if there is any disease.

It’s very repetitive work, and you need to be extremely good at it because patient care is on the line, but day in and day you are looking down a microscope trying to see what pieces of chromosome are there and if there are enough chromosomes or too many.

So, I thought, “Gee, this is good work, and anyone who graduates gets a good paying job,” but I really wanted to do research and be more creative.

Sean: You went from UConn to Yale?

Matt: If you have a degree in molecular biology, then there’s only so many things that you can do. You can get your teaching degree, and go into high school to teach biology or science. You can work as a lab technician in a research lab. Often times you can go on and get a masters and work in industry or in a diagnostic lab, but if you really want to do serious research and be a professor, then you really need a PhD.

So, that’s what I had to do. I decided at that point that I really wanted to be a professor.

Sean: When did you become a Harvey Fellow?

Matt: I became a Harvey Fellow in 2007.

Sean: Okay, so for your PhD.

Matt: Yes, I was in the fourth year of my program when I was awarded the fellowship.

Sean: And you are going to do your post-doc at Harvard. So, Harvard likes you now?

Matt: Yes, they rejected me as an undergrad and graduate student. I’m not going to be a student there, but they are finally letting me enter those hallowed halls.

Sean: Is it possible that you will teach there?

Matt: I may teach undergraduates. The mentor that I am working with is quite famous and renowned for his commitment to teaching. He built a state of the art teaching lab. He got to spend the last of Harvard’s money before the economy collapsed. It’s a fully functioning research facility, but undergraduates get involved with projects that are running in his lab.

Post-docs like me will directly train the undergrads in the teaching lab setting. The only thing that I would do teaching is running seminars for undergrads – mostly seniors - where we cover primary literature in a field where I have expertise.

Sean: What made you apply for a Harvey Fellowship?

Matt: I learned about it in an ad. I started reading the magazine First Things in 2006. I’d just become Catholic and was enthralled by this whole world of intellectual Christians that I had not even known existed – partially because I was not interested in that kind of thing.

I saw this classic Harvey Fellows ad that reads, “Do you believe that Christians should be in the corridors of influence? We do.” I thought, “Wow, there’s this fellowship just for Christians who are in these fields.”

I had always felt like the odd man out in my field. I never felt threatened, but I was extremely aware that there were very few – especially among the faculty – that I could think of who were publicly religious. I thought I needed to apply. I have a good friend named Imran Babar. I told him he should apply too, and we both became fellows that year.

So, it started for me as a magazine ad. When I read the information online I thought it sounded great. I’m sure many fellows have this experience. You see it and think it looks really premium. There’s a summer institute and the money is really good. So, you apply and then you get it and go to the Summer Institute – and it is a life changing event.

You meet people you would not meet in any other situation. After that event if the fellowship provided no money at all, then it would still be a great honor to be part of it just because of the great people you get to meet.

Sean: So you mentioned the Summer Institute being life changing. How was it?

Matt: For me it was an affirmation: to know that there are other people out there that are in the same place as you. Fellowship is really the right word for it. I found these people to be so special. So open minded. You have a bond there that is stronger than even a family tie because of Christ. They are people I never met before, and it only took a day to be best friends. That experience was amazing.

I remember on of the last day there Duane (he was still running it) had everyone pray for one another. We were all sitting in a circle and there was a seat in the middle. He said, “Okay now if you want to be prayed for, then you are going to come up and sit in this seat. You are going to share what you’d like us to pray for or share what you are feeling. Then some people are going to get up and we’re going to pray for you.”

Duane just very matter of factly said, “Many people say that this is the most moving part of the Summer Institute.” I thought to myself, “Okay, this seems a little campy. This is this going to be the best part?” It was. We were all crying by the end, and people were revealing struggles that they had.

The people there – I could connect with on such a deep level, and it required no activation energy at all. You meet these people and you know that you share a common set of values and a common faith in Christ. There’s nothing stopping you from just joining in and fellowshipping right form the beginning.

Sean: So, what about the idea of your faith being expressed in, and integrated into the mission of your field? Was this a new idea to you? Were you wrestling with this before the Summer Institute?

Matt: For evangelicals – and I consider myself evangelical even though I am Catholic because I believe in the urgency of evangelism – it’s always in the back of your mind at least. Sometimes its at the front of your mind: how you are going to reach your colleagues? I am speaking about this issue at the Summer Institute this year and the topic is “advancing truth faithfully.”

I’ve been thinking about this very question a lot and I’m coming to this conclusion. You’ve read the saying of St. Francis, “Preach the gospel at all times and use words when necessary.” I think many times Catholics think of this as a cop out. This is the antidote to the evangelical idea that when you are on a plane, you should probably figure out a way to ask the guy sitting next to you if he knows Jesus Christ as his personal savior. We think, "I’ll just preach the gospel by being a nice guy," but that’s not enough.

Preaching the gospel all the time means living your life in a different way. So, when people see it, “using words when necessary” means that when they ask you, “why do you do this?” that you are going to be ready with an answer - and a convincing one.

A great advantage that we have as Christians is that truth is truth no matter where it comes from. Truth is always borne out by the empirical record. Over my time at Yale, I’ve lived my life a little differently than some of the other students. One of the great advantages I have seen that only Christians seem to do is have families in graduate school. We get married and have families and the way in which we conduct relationships is different.

It is a challenge and a privilege to live in the age in which we do because sexual morality is so screwed up and relationships are so screwed up. So, when Christians live in accord to Christian principles in these things, it really sets us apart because there are so few people living according to that way.

I remember when I met my wife. We dated for about ten months, and then we got engaged. Our plan was to get married about six months later. Of course, we didn’t live together until we got married. She lived at her parents house, and I lived in the dorm at Yale. My advisor was asking me (I was showing her the ring that I got) “well don’t you want to live together first to make sure you are compatible?”

This is a very prevailing view these days, and this is one of those examples where being ready with an answer can really make a difference. So, I didn’t just say, well, that sounds like a good idea, but my faith says that I’m not supposed to. If the ostensible reason to live together before you get married is to tell if we are compatible, then what we should see in the empirical record is that persons who live together before they get married would have a lower divorce rate, but, in fact, what we see is exactly the opposite. So, there goes that rationale.

That’s an example where doing something in an unconventional way because of your faith can really be supported by data that everybody can respect. So, the answer is not just "this is my faith". They can see that living in a Christian way is a way to live with less drama.

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Coming soon: Part 2 of A Conversation with Matt Cabeen, Topics include..."Reconciling developmental biology and the Biblical narrative of creation."

Reflection: I have accepted the true doctrines of the Christians

From the Acts of the martyrdom of Saint Justin and his companion saints

The saints were seized and brought before the prefect of Rome, whose name was Rusticus. As they stood before the judgement seat, Rusticus the prefect said to Justin: “Above all, have faith in the gods and obey the emperors.” Justin said: “We cannot be accused or condemned for obeying the commands of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

Rusticus said: “What system of teaching do you profess?” Justin said: “I have tried to learn about every system, but I have accepted the true doctrines of the Christians, though these are not approved by those who are held fast by error.”

The prefect Rusticus said: “Are those doctrines approved by you, wretch that you are?” Justin said: “Yes, for I follow them with their correct teaching.”

The prefect Rusticus said: “What sort of teaching is that?” Justin said: “Worship the God of the Christians. We hold him to be from the beginning the one creator and maker of the whole creation, of things seen and things unseen. We worship also the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He was foretold by the prophets as the future herald of salvation for the human race and the teacher of distinguished disciples. For myself, since I am a human being, I consider that what I say is insignificant in comparison with his infinite godhead. I acknowledge the existence of a prophetic power, for the one I have just spoken of as the Son of God was the subject of prophecy. I know that the prophets were inspired from above when they spoke of his coming among men.”

Rusticus said: “You are a Christian, then?” Justin said: “Yes, I am a Christian.”
The prefect said to Justin: “You are called a learned man and think that you know what is true teaching. Listen: if you were scourged and beheaded, are you convinced that you would go up to heaven?” Justin said: “I hope that I shall enter God’s house if I suffer that way. For I know that God’s favour is stored up until the end of the whole world for all who have lived good lives.”

The prefect Rusticus said: “Do you have an idea that you will go up to heaven to receive some suitable rewards?” Justin said: “It is not an idea that I have; it is something I know well and hold to be most certain.”

The prefect Rusticus said: “Now let us come to the point at issue, which is necessary and urgent. Gather round then and with one accord offer sacrifice to the gods.” Justin said: “No one who is right thinking stoops from true worship to false worship.”

The prefect Rusticus said: “If you do not do as you are commanded you will be tortured without mercy.” Justin said: “We hope to suffer torment for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so be saved. For this will bring us salvation and confidence as we stand before the more terrible and universal judgement-seat of our Lord and Saviour.”

In the same way the other martyrs also said: “Do what you will. We are Christians; we do not offer sacrifice to idols.”

The prefect Rusticus pronounced sentence, saying: “Let those who have refused to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the command of the emperor be scourged and led away to suffer capital punishment according to the ruling of the laws.” Glorifying God, the holy martyrs went out to the accustomed place. They were beheaded, and so fulfilled their witness of martyrdom in confessing their faith in their Saviour.

This reading is taken from the Office of Readings for June 1, 2010, as posted at www.universalis.com.

Harvey Fellow News

Max Anderson ‘08 will have his first book published April 29. It is called "The MBA Oath" and it discusses business ethics and the idea of creating a hippocratic oath for managers. You can find it in bookstores nationwide or available online. Please contact Max for more info at max@mbaoath.org.

Matt Desmond ’06 joyfully reports the birth of healthy baby boy Sterling to him and his wife Tessa on January 7, 2010. He also has been blessed by a position as a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows beginning this summer. After his tenure at the Society, he will begin at Harvard as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Studies. He thanks the Harvey Fellows for prayers and support.

For those who haven’t been following this news, Kavi, the USC thesis film of Gregg Helvey ’06, made it to the Oscars after winning numerous awards! Get the film, see pictures from the Oscars and read more at the Kavi website.

Charis Quay Huei Li ’04 reports that she started a second postdoc in February at the Laboratoire de Physique des Solides at the Université Paris-Sud in Orsay.

David Vishanoff '01 just learned that his first book manuscript, on the early history of Islamic hermeneutical theory, has finally been accepted for publication by the American Oriental Society. It raised some hackles, but was also affirmed in elite scholarly circles as a major research accomplishment. He reports: “This seems miraculous, when I consider the inadequacies of my skills and training. I do not see how it could have happened without the Harvey Fellowship, which gave me the extra years I needed to start this nine-year project on a solid footing.” David is also excited to be joining the Harvey Fellows Advisory Board. He is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

Reflection | The Lord's Descent into the Underworld

From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday

Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

This selection is taken from the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours for Holy Saturday, this year falling on April 3.

Harvey Fellow Profile | Duane Grobman '95

by Matt Cabeen '07

An architecturally-minded Californian gets an education in education, becomes a teacher, attends both Harvard and Hard Knocks, and discovers hope.

Duane Grobman grew up in a family-centered home in Tustin, California, at a time when Orange County really deserved its name. “There were 10 acres of oranges to our west, and 25 to our north,” he recalls. “It was very rural.” The youngest of three, Duane remembers his childhood home as a hub of activity for his and his sisters’ friends. “It was the place to hang out.” His parents also frequently hosted guests from faraway lands, as his father worked in international finance for the aerospace firm McDonnell Douglas and would invite colleagues’ families to stay with them. This gave Duane a sense of how big the world was, how “it’s all part of God’s creation, all the different ethnicities and cultures, and it’s a joy to engage with and learn from that”. It also influenced Duane’s view of home, as a welcoming place to minister to people and experience deep relational connections. “The great gift of my parents was modeling the joy and fruit of hospitality,” he says.

His parents were both Presbyterians, and they attended an evangelical Presbyterian church in the nearby city of Santa Ana, called Trinity United Presbyterian. It was unusual in that it was a so-called “50-50 church”—the goal being that half of all income had to be spent off-campus, on missions or outreach. “We all came to a deeper faith there,” Duane remembers. At 12, he made a commitment to Christ, but recommitted himself at age 16 after experiencing God as he performed in a musical called “Celebrate Life”. One scene of the play featured the hemorrhaging woman who touched Jesus’ cloak, and the woman had to reach past Duane to reach Jesus. As they performed this scene day after day, Duane felt that he was actually living the role, not just playing it. He heard Jesus say in his heart, “You like hanging around me, but you’re not reaching for me like that”. From then on, he followed Christ with renewed vigor, and even today he is deeply impacted by that Gospel passage. This experience also showed him the ability of art to prompt people to think differently even about something seemingly familiar.

Duane enrolled at Westmont College, in Santa Barbara, CA after finishing high school. During high school he had excelled in American Institute of Architects competitions, and wanted to be an architect. After his freshman year at Westmont, he transferred to architecture school. By the end of his sophomore year, he was spending 100 hours each week at his drafting board. “I found the daily work of architecture to be very isolating, just you and the board,” he recalls. He felt increasingly called to a profession that would be more relationship-intense, and had always placed a strong value in learning. “There is joy in learning, and it is inherently hopeful,” he says. “Any good teacher is a good learner.” This calling to the field of education prompted him to leave architecture school. When he announced that he was leaving, a professor took him aside and told him that he couldn’t leave, because he was ranked first in his class. Nonetheless, Duane left this promising path and returned to Westmont to finish a degree in economics and business, as there is no undergraduate degree in education in California. God redeemed this decision—Duane is still interested in architecture and is often called upon by friends to design home remodeling and landscaping projects.

After graduating Westmont, he initially was a recruiter for a mission agency that sent people to teach conversational English in Japan during summers, as he himself had done before his senior year of college. He then worked for his home church of 1,200 members, Trinity United, initially as a youth pastor as he completed his teaching credential so he could teach public school. After a six-month break to make a 23-country sojourn to Europe with a friend, he returned to California and was planning to teach public school, but Trinity United offered him a job as Minister of Education and Missions. Duane accepted this opportunity “to educate in a way that engages a worldview, to show that Christianity isn’t just about personal salvation, but about serving others and being salt and light in the world”. During his time, he managed eight staff members, oversaw 1,000 Sunday school students and grew the missions program from 6 to 89 short-time missionaries in three years. This growth led him to focus primarily on education, recruiting a former classmate from Westmont to run the missions program and coordinate their efforts. “Our theme was ‘We are saved to serve’,” Duane says.

During his time at Trinity United, Duane’s life was profoundly changed by a diagnosis of advanced-stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His prognosis was not good, and he was profoundly affected by the love and support of his church and friends. An initial misdiagnosis combined with his desire to learn about treatment options planted in him a hunger to do research and find things out himself. “I have a physician cousin who was helpful in giving me perspective on the medical field. My cousin remarked, ‘When doctors say they’re practicing medicine, they’re not kidding!’ This empowered me to ask lots of questions and to research multiple options.” Miraculously, five surgeries and sixteen months of chemotherapy later, Duane’s cancer went into remission. He is his oncologist’s longest living patient for such an advanced disease stage, and his oncologist says that he can’t take credit. Knowing that Duane was a man of faith, he acknowledged that there were powers beyond him at work. During his fight with cancer, a dear friend named Barbara was a constant source of encouragement, as she was a cancer survivor herself. As his treatment was ending, Duane was planning to marry her, but their plans were cut short by a fatal reoccurrence of her cancer. “Conducting Barbara’s memorial service was one of my most difficult moments in my life,” he recalls. This experience propelled him to delve more deeply into God’s character and the mysteries of His ways. Why would God save him but not her?

Next, Duane moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to get a master’s degree at St. John’s College, to fill in some educational gaps by reading and discussing the Great Books. “It was also a way to see if my mind was intact after all the cancer therapy,” he says. “Had God preserved my mind to use for His glory?” Clearly, his mind was as sharp as ever, as he completed his degree even as he taught first and second grade full-time.

After a few years of teaching children in New Mexico, Duane was admitted to the Harvard Ed. D. program, where he worked with such outstanding professors as Howard Gardner, Eleanor Duckworth, Robert Coles, Robert Kegan, and Ted Sizer. Duane seemingly had a hand in everything—he taught a staggering 14 courses as a teaching fellow, supervised student teachers, and worked summers at the Kennedy School of Government as a Senior Advisor for program evaluation and new-faculty coaching. He was even appointed a lecturer at Harvard during his last year in Cambridge. He became a Harvey Fellow during his third year, having heard about the program from his church in California as well as from a friend of the Bakkes that he met in Washington, DC. He became a founding member of the Harvey Fellows Advisory Board, where he gained a reputation for being outspoken and led to his being asked to lead the Harvey Fellows program as well as the other scholarship programs that were then run by the Mustard Seed Foundation.

Duane initially took the position in 2001 but only committed for 18 months. His plan was to teach education at a top tier university. With a tenure-track position lined up, Duane was asked to step into the position of Executive Director for the Mustard Seed Foundation in 2003. He felt called by God to remain with the Foundation and served for several more years, overseeing the global operations of the Foundation, along with overseeing the Harvey Fellows program. When he moved back to Tustin in 2007 to care for his aging parents, he retained oversight of the Harvey Fellows program for two additional years. Finally, in 2009, Duane felt called to leave MSF to focus on research and writing and to study spiritual formation. His time is now occupied with caring for his parents, researching and writing a book on hope, growing a Spiritual Direction practice, and Chairing the Board of Directors of the Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies. He continues to be approached by universities and organizations. Will he take one of these jobs? “I want to finish at least one book first and continue to build my Spiritual Direction ministry,” he says.

What advice does Duane have for today’s Harvey Fellows? “Be intentional and attentive to cultivating deeper intimacy with God and a deepening experience of faith that will enable you to do the work you’re called to do—which will also make your life a more vibrant testimony to Christ. If you’re not attentive to your faith, there’s little to integrate with your life. Conversely, if you cultivate a vibrant faith, the integration happens naturally.” Reflecting the high value Duane places on listening [to God and people], he was noted for starting every class he taught at Harvard with this quote, from Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “The first service one owes to others is learning to listen to them.”

Duane lives and works in his hometown of Tustin, CA.

Harvey Fellow News

Mac Alford '00 and his wife Dragana welcomed their second son, Nikola Tesla, on November 17, 2009 in Hattiesburg, MS.

Max Anderson '08 worked with a group of classmates at graduation this year to found "The MBA Oath", a Hippocratic oath for MBAs. Now more than ever, they feel that business leaders must be called to integrity, honest dealing, and following the law. They had more than two-thirds of their Harvard Business School class sign the oath, and now more than 1700 MBAs worldwide have signed it. This spring, his group is reaching out to other schools, and Max is publishing a book about the oath. Although not a cure-all, Max thinks the oath is a small but positive step forward to improving the business leadership of our culture.

Matt Cabeen '07 successfully defended his PhD dissertation in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale in early January. Just a few weeks later, he and his wife Rose and 16-month-old son Tommy welcomed baby Benjamin Matthew, born January 20. He and his family will be moving to the Cambridge, MA area in the fall, where Matt will do a postdoc at Harvard.

Alison Klein Esselink '01 and her husband Rik welcomed a son, Philip Alexander, on October 15, 2009. They live in Amsterdam.

Nathan Grills '07 has been involved in facilitating the networking of small Christian community health programs in North India. This social networking is important for small Christian NGOs to give them credibility, improve their program quality, and ultimately better improve the health of people in India. Facilitating this type of network can be a key role for external agents and aid workers. Nathan will now be researching the effectiveness of this networking model. Please see more at www.chgnukg.org, and e-mail Nathan with any feedback.

We've reported before about Gregg Helvey '06's movie, Kavi, which is about modern-day slavery. It continues to enjoy great success at numerous festivals and competitions. Check out the excellent website if you haven't yet!

Nick Kuder '07 and his wife Emily welcomed a son, Ezra Mahlon, on Sept. 24, 2009.

Qiong (Juliana) Wang '08 shares the good news that she just defended her PhD dissertation on Environmental and Natural Resource Economics at Yale. She will graduate May 2010 but will continue to live in New Haven, as she accepted a job with the Yale Climate and Energy Institute.

Reflection | The Cross Exemplifies Every Virtue

From a conference by St. Thomas Aquinas

Why did the Son of God have to suffer for us? There was a great need, and it can be considered in a twofold way: in the first place, as a remedy for sin, and secondly, as an example of how to act.

It is a remedy, for, in the face of all the evils which we incur on account of our sins, we have found relief through the passion of Christ. Yet, it is no less an example, for the passion of Christ completely suffices to fashion our lives. Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what he desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue.

If you seek the example of love: Greater love than this no man has, than to lay down his life for his friends. Such a man was Christ on the cross. And if he gave his life for us, then it should not be difficult to bear whatever hardships arise for his sake.

If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten; he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth. Therefore Christ’s patience on the cross was great. In patience let us run for the prize set before us, looking upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who, for the joy set before him, bore his cross and despised the shame.

If you seek an example of humility, look upon the crucified one, for God wished to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to die.

If you seek an example of obedience, follow him who became obedient to the Father even unto death. For just as by the disobedience of one man, namely, Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man, many were made righteous.

If you seek an example of despising earthly things, follow him who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Upon the cross he was stripped, mocked, spat upon, struck, crowned with thorns, and given only vinegar and gall to drink.

Do not be attached, therefore, to clothing and riches, because they divided my garments among themselves. Nor to honours, for he experienced harsh words and scourgings. Nor to greatness of rank, for weaving a crown of thorns they placed it on my head. Nor to anything delightful, for in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

This selection is taken from the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours for January 28, the Feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Harvey Fellow Profile | Marty West '04

by Anne Chen ’06

“Providence,” reflects Marty, “confirmed my vocation.” From building faith as a collegiate wrestler to understanding education policy as a scholar, the long arc of Marty’s vocational path has been marked by God’s providential hand.

Marty's story begins in Rockville, Maryland, where he grew up in an environment he reflects upon with thanksgiving: A Christ-filled home that was actively involved in church life, and through which he came to know the saving love of Jesus at a young age. "I can't remember a time when I was not actively involved in our church's youth programs," Marty recalls. "It was a big part of our family life."

After graduating from high school, Marty went to Williams College and studied history. There, collegiate wrestling was a big part of his life—not only through participating in the sport itself, but in a bible study for athletes he led throughout his time at Williams College. That experience helped make an intellectual understanding of his faith more practical in day-to-day life and practice—similar to the difference, Marty remarked in quoting Jonathan Edwards, between knowing honey is sweet and tasting it on your tongue. “Having grown up in an environment where it was possible to take Christianity for granted,” he explained, “experiencing my faith more authentically has always been the challenge in my Christian walk.”

Academically, college was also a time where God began to plant the seeds for his vocational calling. He had already possessed an interest in teaching, but had not yet clarified at what level or in which discipline. A turning point came during a summer internship in Washington, DC, when Marty worked at a policy think tank for former Secretary of Education William Bennett. The more he learned more about America's educational system, Marty recounted, the more he realized that he had had a very unusually high-quality education. “So I just started asking questions: Why doesn't everyone have these opportunities? What can we do to remedy that?"

Those questions led to more questions, and soon, Marty found himself taking education classes, writing about education policy, and generally gravitating towards related topics in his collegiate studies. These experiences helped confirm his interest in graduate study, but still left him uncertain of the exact field he wanted to enter. Attracted by the opportunity to study abroad, Marty applied for a two-year fellowship to Oxford, which he used to complete a M.Phil. in Social and Economic History.

The next two years proved to be a honing ground for vocational discernment. Marty’s time at Oxford played a fundamental role in guiding him away from history and towards social science research on contemporary education policy debates. Additional summer internships—first as a high school teacher in New Hampshire, and then as a research assistant for a Harvard political scientist—confirmed his interest in a career in higher education. Out of these experiences, Marty returned to the States with a passion for teaching and conducting research in education policy, and soon began a Ph.D. program in Government and Social Policy at Harvard University.

As Marty grew in his knowledge and understanding of his field in graduate school, God was also shaping him to think through his faith as a member of the larger body of Christ. Although not initially involved in church, Marty gradually began to see the value of church community, becoming more committed to his local church especially in the later stages of graduate school. “One challenge with graduate school is that you can see yourself as transient—that because you’re preparing yourself for the future, that there’s no reason to be involved where you are at the time. But I learned over time that I should really invest in a church community, even if I did not feel entirely settled,” Marty said. “You can’t do this on your own.” During this time, Marty also grew through personal relationships—and one relationship in particular: when Marty’s college wrestling teammate moved to the Boston area, he introduced Marty to his wife’s best friend from high school, Grace. Grace and Marty soon began dating and were married within a year of first introductions.

Graduate school also was a time where Marty developed his faith as a young scholar. The Harvey Fellowship program, which he learned of and applied for midway through his Ph.D. program, played a key role in this development. “I saw the whole process as providential, because it was what I really needed at the time,” Marty said. “I hadn’t thought enough about how my faith intersected with my vocation.” The Summer Institute, which that year had hosted Mark Noll, author of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, to speak, was another turning point for Marty’s development in this area. “It really challenged me to do think through that intersection, and raised my awareness of the extent to which Christians were underrepresented in the academy. It led me to ask why Christians often see the academy as foreign territory and shy away from intellectual life. And it really helped reinforce my sense that the academy was the place where I should be.”

Even so, Marty’s professional path was not without its bumps along the way. His research had begun to develop in the direction of education program evaluation, a subject not typically at the forefront of political science. Marty began to wonder whether he should consider professions outside of academia. After a year working in public policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., however, he quickly realized that he missed the university environment and the opportunity to teach and mentor. He also saw how political actors were relatively restrained agents in designing and implementing policy. The academy, in contrast, seemed to have greater freedom to shape the culture and ideas that could eventually become policy and practice. So despite an uncommon research specialization for his field, Marty began looking for academic jobs.

He found that providence remained close by. As Marty put it, “God solved the problem for me,” since he received a job announcement that sounded like it had been written for him. It was an unusual position at Brown University, a Department of Education opening situated in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences rather than the School of Education. “It was really one of just a handful of jobs that I would have been a good fit for,” reflected Marty, and it helped assure him that God wanted to provide a route for him in the academy. Two enjoyable years into his time at Brown—a time that included the birth of a new son—he was contacted about a job opening by his alma mater. After prayerful consideration, at the end of his third year at Brown, Marty found himself and his family readying for another move. He and his family transitioned back to Boston this past summer, where Marty now serves as an Assistant Professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has enjoyed returning with his family to his old church, Christ The King—Cambridge, where they have become involved in plans to plant a new congregation across the Charles River in Newton.

Life is still not without his challenges. One of the biggest ones, Marty will tell you, is balance: balancing the desire to teach well with the demands of research, and balancing family life with work life. The former challenge, Marty acknowledges, is a hard one to tackle, especially since there is always the risk of letting teaching overtake one’s research agenda. While he seeks to fulfill his responsibility to his students, Marty works to contain that time so he can do the research that allows him to fulfill his calling and that is valued by universities. Marty tries to see the latter challenge as a positive: “It’s amazing how having a wife and child really focuses you in your job by making you more efficient and productive. I think it can be a good thing.” He is also aided by, and feels fortunate to benefit from, Grace’s choice to stay at home as a full-time mother and part-time fitness instructor for new moms. And even with these challenges in mind, he is grateful for the providential direction that God has given him, step by step, to lead him to his current environment.

What advice would Marty give to young Harvey Fellows still in training, or just starting out their careers? “Get involved in a church,” Marty said immediately, thinking of graduate students who could consider their training as a reason not to be as invested in the church community. Mindful of Proverbs 19:2 (“It is not good to have wisdom without knowledge”), Marty would also exhort other Fellows to embrace the life of the mind as something that does not have to be in conflict with faith, especially considering the minority of believers in the academy. “Have confidence that you belong there,” he said, and remember what believers have in common with the academic community and with what universities aspire to be: seekers of truth. “We should be looking for opportunities,” said Marty, “to embrace that common purpose.”

Dr. Marty West lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife, Grace, and their two-year-old son. They attend Christ the King Church in Cambridge.

Harvey Fellow News

Ang Tong '08 and his wife Karen and are very happy to announce that their son, Koen O Tong (湯信恆), was born 6:32pm October 31, 2009 at the Hoboken University Medical Center in New Jersey!