"Bracketing"

I’m currently reading “People of Faith” by John Schmalzbauer for my Philosophy of Journalism course. The book provides a cursory overview of the history of the intersection of faith within journalism and social science, as well as the current attitude toward faith in these professions. Schmalzbauer interviewed prominent Catholics and evangelicals working in these professions and asked them questions regarding their personal philosophy of faith in the workplace. Four categories describe how his interviewees deal with their professions, which are known for emphasizing objectivity, and quelling questions of faith. These professionals, he says, use privatization, bracketing, multivocal bridging languages, and the rhetoric of objectivity to cope with this tension.

In particular, I found one example of bracketing (a tactic that allows for speaking about faith, but articulates a distinction between work and faith) obviously juxtaposed with how I hope to articulate my convictions when I enter the professional world. Maureen Hallinan of the University of Notre Dame, Schmalzbauer writes, “was more than willing to talk about her religious convictions” yet makes a distinction in doing so: she is not a Catholic sociologist, but “a sociologist who happens to be Catholic.” I take issue with this cliché distinction. Perhaps Hallinan considers sociology to be part of the essence of her person more so than Catholicism. A primary way her work and faith interact, she says, is that part of God’s nature is intellect, and when she engages in the intellectual process she engages in “God-like behavior.”

However, the distinction Hallinan made between Catholicism and sociology is rooted in a rather shallow view of faith. Although I do believe engaging our intellects is important (Scripture exhorts us to it), I heartily disagree with this statement. We may engage our intellects as people of faith, but people who claim to be without faith do so as well. Therefore, this cannot constitute a way in which our faith and our professional life interact. Faith is an acknowledgment of need. Our intellects, according to Scripture, are perfected by faith. We gain greater understanding through faith, and the reorientation that faith enacts. Our intellectual processes, evidenced by the state of our world, are broken and battered. Merely thinking is not participation in God-like behavior; thinking can be a very ungodly behavior when it is not submitted to God.

I am hesitant to define how my faith and my professional life will influence each other. I believe in using prudence in each circumstance presented to me – whether that involves keeping my convictions to myself, or identifying a moment when the articulation of faith will further inform a situation. In either case, because the essence of who I am is “Christian” – one who believes she looses her life in order to find it, as Scripture so severely states it – and not a journalist who just happens to be a Christian, my faith – my dependence on God for compassion, for understanding, for the search for truth, will not be privatized or bracketed out of my professional life.