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The big Clash ...

Thursday, Sept 12, 2013. When you work in science or medicine, there are different groups doing research and development, different schools which follow and develop some philosophy or technique. Often, these schools have their own terminology, their own jargon, their own group history and idea about what is well-known and what is a challenge.

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Finding your Role …

When you are just applying some technique, it is usually uncritical. Then you are looking towards your particular customer. But you might also be involved in developing techniques or knowledge yourself. Then, it is ok as long as you are savely part of one group. When you stay oriented towards this group, they will recognize you and you can interact with the other members. There might still be all the typical human group processes going on, but that is just the normal thing.

But when you come from one group, and for whatever reason work in the area or with techniques of the other group, it gets very difficult and complicated. You use the wrong language or jargon - and people do not know you. So you might need ten years or more to be accepted as someone who has something to say in the other group. This is quite some time - when you do not start as a student, your lifetime might not be enough.

It is a basic task or goal of science to develop knowledge or techniques and then share them with the community. So there are two parts: “knowledge” and “sharing”. Sharing takes place in the form of research papers or books. So being recognized is a key part of this communication issue. Communicating means being recognized. If no on listens, and if you cannot get anything published, you are dead in this community. Being accepted by one group is strongly linked to being able to publish. When you do not fully take up their langunge, they will not accept you and you cannot communicate.

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The direction the Lord gives …

Looking into this challenge, I ran into the following text from Philippians, which makes things even more difficult. This text questions the whole process going on in and between these groups: 1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves**. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Phil 2,1-7)

Here, the apostel is giving us the goal to fully appreciate the others. God is setting guidelines for our community. Unfortunately, these are not easily compatible with the basic rules of the scientific world, where competition and recognition based on leadership is the key driving force.

How do you reconcile these two worlds? Can you really live as Christian and be a successful scientist? I have been trying to work with this and live with this now for 20 years, being fairly successful, but I am still suffering from the situation. There is the big clash between the world of acceptance and mutual support, which we find in the biblical books, and the world of competition and rejectance of everything which is not your established jargon, which we find in science (and many other layers of society). Jesus told us, that there are the two ways - and we will not get out of it until his kingdom fully reigns. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts

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