At a recent luncheon, the Talbot faculty were reminded about the culture of academia, a culture that permeates Christian universities as well. The typical academic conducts research by herself or himself alone. Any paper or book that results may be reviewed by colleagues, but still the research is the product of one mind alone. Sometimes there are books that contain contributions by various researchers, but each article typically has also a single author. There are exceptions to the rule—books or articles that are co-authored. They are still exceptions, though, and not the rule.

In my own academic career, I have discovered that my best work has been produced in tandem with someone else. Here are a few of many examples. One of my first articles was about “creativity,” which I co-authored with an accomplished musician. Music is a highly creative activity, and the interactions we had as we pieced together our article resulted in something neither of us could have written on our own. Another time I worked with an MA student on furlough from an assignment with Wycliffe Bible Translators. With his linguistic expertise and my training in Hebrew exegesis we wrote a paper for a conference sponsored by SIL (the academic branch of Wycliffe). Most recently, a former student and I completed a manuscript for a commentary on Daniel. He is a pastor and focused on the homiletical part of our work, but again there was a synergism that helped us to better conclusions in both the exegesis and the theology and homiletics.

The culture at Talbot actually encourages this kind of synergistic work among the faculty and even among the faculty and students. Courses are sometimes team-taught; stipends are given for study groups; and a general sense of collegiality among the faculty encourages collaboration. The word we hear is that our situation is rather unique among theological schools. Oddly enough, competition and striving for recognition often become virtues in the very places where humility and love should be primary.

Pastors can also choose to prepare their sermons in isolation or cooperatively, even with the laity. On occasion I have visited a church, and somehow the pastor discovers I am a professor of Old Testament. This seems to be a terrifying experience for him, particularly if the sermon that morning was on the Old Testament. In the church where I have attended regularly for many years, a “sermon advisory group” developed a few years ago. It consists of three Talbot professors and the two pastors who share the pulpit ministry. We meet once a week and go through either the Greek or the Hebrew of the passage to be preached about three weeks out. For me