Boersma awarded research fellowship at Durham University
The Rev. Dr. Hans Boersma, Chair of the Order of St. Benedict Servants of Christ Endowed Professorship in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House, has been awarded the Alan Richardson Fellowship at Durham University for the 2023-24 academic year. The fellowship, awarded annually, is endowed ‘“to promote research into the exposition and defence of Christian doctrine within the context of contemporary thought and its challenges.” Boersma is the second consecutive Nashotah House faculty member to hold the fellowship. The Rev. Dr. Matthew S.C. Olver, Associate Professor of Liturgics and Pastoral Ministry, recently completed the fellowship for the 2022-23 academic year.
By the Rev. Dr. Hans Boersma
This fall, my wife Linda and I hope to spend several months at Durham University in the UK. They have graciously offered me the Alan Richardson Fellowship, which makes it possible for me to spend time in Durham browsing the bookshelves of the library and working in peace and quiet on my current research.
It seems Durham University must have some kind of special fondness for Nashotah House, for this is the second year in a row that they are appointing someone from the House to the Alan Richardson Fellowship: this past year, it was Fr. Matthew Olver, and now it is my turn. With tongue in cheek, perhaps we should suggest to the folks at Durham that they have started a great tradition here, and they should keep it up!
Over the past several years, I have been teaching courses on Christian Platonism — courses with boring titles such as “Participation East and West” or “Christian Platonism: Constructive Proposals.” It has been a real privilege to explore with my students how it is that creation exists in dependence upon God calling it into existence. A key notion, for much of the Christian tradition, is that creation exists by participating in the being of God. Put differently, creation’s being shares in God’s being. What I’ve been exploring in my courses lately is how it is that we may understand this participation of creation in God’s being.
The Alan Richardson Fellowship allows me to continue this exploration and to work toward a book on the creator-creature relationship. I will do so in dialogue with a variety of theologians, drawing especially on Dionysius, a sixth-century Syrian monk, and the later Eastern monk and theologian Maximus the Confessor, who drew on Dionysius as he articulated his own thinking on how participation in the life of God relates to the Incarnation of God in Christ.
This thematic takes us into deep theological waters, which is not just an academic challenge, but especially also a spiritual one. To think rightly and faithfully about God’s relationship with his creatures requires a life of prayer and close communion with our Lord and with his people. So, the fellowship is both a blessing and a challenge. Linda and I would be grateful, therefore, for your prayers as we make our way to Durham this fall.
