Doing Theology Together in a ‘Baptist way’? An Evaluation of the Potential of Curriculum-Embedded Collaborative Research Projects

Abstract

In the autumn of 2020, students who were enrolled in the course ‘Doing Theology’ at the Dutch Baptist Seminary engaged in a small research project on the effects of the covid-19 pandemic in baptist communities and on the spiritual life of its members. The research was done as an experiment in collaboration with a number of churches, church leaders as well as regional coordinators of the church fellowship. The stated aim was to help churches reflect on the effects of the current crisis, while also giving students first-hand fieldwork experience in actual communities. As such, the experiment attempted to join the academic triad of education, research and valorisation in a curriculum-embedded collaborative research project. This article discusses and evaluates its potential for baptist ways of doing theology.