Earlier this month, Michael St. Marie, a Whitworth student studying Theology with minors in biblical languages and English, presented a paper at the Exploring Early Christianity Conference, put on by Center for Patristics and Early Christianity at McMaster University. He presented the paper, titled “Basil of Caesarea on the Image and Likeness of God,” to an audience of students, scholars, and eager listeners.
The conference was a perfect outlet for St. Marie to channel his passion for early church patristics. Using prior research regarding St. Basil and the Cappadocian fathers, he was able to able to dig deeper into a subject that already interested him.
“I’ve, for a while, been interested in the idea of image and likeness of God and researching that in different ways. And so this was a good opportunity for me to explore that In the patristic world a little bit more,” he said.
The paper looked at St. Basil’s respective descriptions of the image and likeness of God in humanity.
“[St. Basil] has image as kind of rationality and our intellectual of mind, and then likeness as the ability to become more like God. Then my paper was exploring what exactly does that mean for how we think about that, how we live that out becoming more like God.”
For St. Marie, the patristics research doesn’t stop here. He plans on doing further research into this topic for his Whitworth honors capstone project, which will only further equip him for his postgrad plans.
“My honors project is kind of laying the groundwork for a thesis that will quite likely become my master’s thesis… which then might also go on to influence my doctoral dissertation” he said.
As a part of the honors capstone project, he plans to present at two more conferences before he graduates: the Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference (SIRC) and an additional humanities conference offered in May.
Besides giving him space to further his research, these conferences give St. Marie an opportunity to network and make connections around the best in his field.
“Knowing people is everything when it comes to academia in general. It’s super important to know people and have connections. And it is also not something that a ton of undergrads get to do. So if you get the opportunity. I do highly recommend it,” he said.
Traveling to conferences can be a great expense- but it doesn’t have to be. Depending on the budget of the department, it is possible to appeal to Whitworth for financial assistance for travel to academic events. And if travel is not a possible option, keep an eye out for conference opportunities in Spokane like SIRC and others.