On sabbath and sabbaticals

There's a post on Christian Scholar's Network about Sabbath and sabbaticals. Or maybe better: How academics don't take a sabbatical during their sabbaticals.

You should read the whole thing, but here's a smattering. After realizing that they were even more fraught during the "sabbatical" than before, here's her reaction:

At this point, I did what academics do best when lost. I read books on sabbaticals, leisure, and the sabbath.

Can I get a witness? : )

And this is excellent, as well:

If, as humans, we are indeed image-bearers of God, then it follows that we should emulate his example of resting. As someone who considers herself a creator through her words, the Holy Spirit could not flow through what I write if I did not embrace rest as he did. During sabbatical, I learned that academia, and its norms of overwork, had become an idol for me. Soon, I observed a disturbing trend in my mentors and my contemporaries on social media, too, including those who profess to dedicate their studies to the concept of rest. Many would lament, paradoxically, that “studying and advocating for rest is hard work.” Others freely admitted to advising others to rest while struggling to make time for it themselves, maintaining that badge of honor of working too hard even as they claimed to resist the glamour overwork provides. Work, in the academic world, produces accolades. Rest, on the other hand, produces guilt and shame. It challenges the ideals of production our institutions, and our capitalist economy, celebrate. We might tell others rest is needed, but we would rarely admit to enjoying its dividends for ourselves.

Amen and amen!

Most of my Christian life, I've been pretty adamant about taking a day off from regular work. Even in grad school, I would close the books for a day. Yes, even in the midst of my PhD comprehensive exams, which ran Thursday, Friday, Monday, I closed the books Saturday night and didn't open them until Monday AM. (I passed.)

But, once I became self-employed and working from home, that practice collapsed for almost ten years. I've recently reclaimed it and take one day to do nothing related to editing. I'll read some extra Greek and Hebrew and a book. A side benefit is that my to-read pile isn't growing as fast! But, I also come back to work on Monday refreshed and less stressed.

I highly recommend trying it!