I Just Finished My Bible Diploma... My Thoughts

A new chapter has closed for myself as of a few weeks ago: I have finally concluded my time at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David for my Level 6 in Bible and Theology. Having finally submitted my final piece and subsequently spent a week in Scotland with my beautiful girlfriend for our anniversary, I have had some leeway to reflect on my time at UWTSD, where I'm at in terms of my thought-life right now, and what the future holds for me in the realm of biblical studies and beyond.

I would first like to offer my thoughts on the diploma and the my experience as a UWTSD student. I certainly had the best results of my academic life doing this course, with only about 2 or 3 of my essays going under 70/100 which was brilliant. That being said, work and other commitments precluded me from packing my bags and leaving for the tranquil countryside of Lampeter campus in Ceredigion, Wales. I was thus forced to complete my diploma online. 

I, like many ill-fortuned students of the early 2020s, was never fond of the shambles that were quarantine lectures. Forced to endure lectures through the dull environs of Zoom and Microsoft Teams, you never felt like you were getting your money's worth; those modules were clearly not built to be delivered through such an impersonal medium. Whilst I harboured similar feelings during my two years completing this diploma, it was a fundamentally different atmosphere. Firstly, it was on a subject I actually cared about. I could discuss biblical studies without sounding like a freak. Secondly, the module was designed especially for part-time students with other life commitments through the means of online learning. Meetings were agreed upon and arranged which mostly went off without a hitch. This was especially profitable when I was the only student to actually turn up to some of the seminars which gave me full attention from the lecturer. Thirdly, I felt like I was actually learning something! I came away from my diploma with a greater appreciation for ancient philosophy and classical literature. I was quite impressed by much of the content I was presented with. All in all, a highly recommended course to do. I would like to especially give thanks to Beatrice Bandeniece for her module on Augustine and ancient cosmology as well as Catrin Williams for her module on Paul. These excellent scholars have expanded my horizons for my current study and that is all I could ask for from a course like this.

Now with my final project out of the way, I have also had time to reflect on what has been a calamitous last few months beyond the realm of biblical studies—a world that seems to have been turned upside down again. For the last month or so, my native UK has been wracked by civil unrest following the Southport stabbings in which three young girls were murdered by a Welsh-born man of immigrant-descent. A powderkeg of fear, misinformation, and discontent resulted in riots erupting across the country. The riots were quickly labelled as "far-right" and many arrests have been made for both the rioters and those encouraging violence online.

I've been very discouraged by these riots and the response to them from media, politicians, and personalities. On the one hand, the thugs going around torching places in Sutherland and Leeds clearly do not have the foresight to recognise the inevitable repercussions of their actions. We've just elected a very left-wing government. Starmer is more than happy to put them all behind bars if it means increasing his standing with his supporters. It does not help that certain conservative commentators cannot find the grit to condemn the riots. There has to be a better way to express dissatisfaction at police incompetency, extreme violent crime, or mass immigration without jumping on every perceived incident of migrants/asylum seekers committing crimes (which, turns out, was part of the misinformation that led to these riots). As far as people are concerned, these riots took place solely because of the perpetrator's ethnicity and that will be used to quell further criticism of multiculturalism and immigration policies.

That being said, the "other side" is not so innocent either. It was only four years ago that the Black Lives Matter protesters erupted onto the streets of London following George Floyd's murder, with many attendees attacking police and journalists. In the wake of the Southport controversy, its as if these riots never happened. How have we gotten to the point where even an LBC commentator found it bizarre that a caller compared this summer's riots to the 2020 riots that swept the world? The comparison is not without merit: tensions over injustice and/or police failures boiling over into total anarchy that has little to do with the original tragedy that sparked the outrage. I see no issue with this comparison.

Moreover, in a similar fashion to how the BLM riots overshadowed the more peaceful protests who demanded justice after Floyd's death, there have been many peaceful protesters over the previous weeks who have been comparatively absent from the news feeds. As stated by FullFact, "many protesting have done so peacefully and without being involved in any disorder." Sadly, we have a Prime Minister who bent the knee to the 2020 mobs despite their violation of COVID restrictions, yet delivers swift and unrestrained justice to the Southport rioters. Starmer is doing little to calm increasing concerns over alleged "two-tier policing."

As this wave of primitive rage has swept through my country, I've felt a pull back to politics that I have not felt since the days before I began my journey into biblical scholarship. I won't pretend as if I'm not disturbed by this development. My passion will always lie with the academic study of religion; learning and subsequently teaching about these phenomena of human experience will (hopefully) be what defines my career. So to find myself juggling politics and religion in a way not too dissimilar to my old habits, I have reason to be concerned.

Other recent controversies have forced me to think about politics seriously again. The Olympics scandal over Algerian boxer Imane Khalif and the recent cancellation of the Star Wars Acolyte show have revealed the disturbing nature of modern identity politics in ways like never before. They have revealed that the ugly horrors of 2020 have not left us and are very much alive in current discourse, polluting nearly all participants. 

What does all this have to do with my field of expertise, that of biblical studies? On the surface, very little. People of all convictions act like morons when emotion mixes with the momentum of a powerful campaign. It exposes the almost religious nature of these movements. But in essence, it speaks to a larger need to challenge disinformation and open up critical dialogues between people who disagree. Politics and religion are fracturing at the seams in ways we have never seen before. Any hope for the tension and vitriol of 2020 subsiding is long gone. These topics must be confronted and those who hold diametrically opposing points of view must learn to sit down peacefully and talk. I can only hope that the future holds a place for myself in those discussions. 

In the coming weeks you can all look forward to more articles on biblical studies (perhaps I can even get them published) as well as more commentary on recent events that are of interest. I am also hoping to reignite my YouTube endeavours, though what form this will take, I cannot say for now. Stay tuned!