Imagining research
It was kind of surreal today to be searching in the Holiday Inn on Dixon Road for a meeting room, and running into John Stackhouse who I blogged about a couple of days ago (here) in a dim hallway. I’ve never met him before, but he looks just like his thumbnail photo. It’s kind of odd how you meet someone for the very first time, but you know a lot about the other because you’ve read each other’s blogs. Wierd. But a great point of connection as we didn’t waste time with the superficial get-to-know-you questions.
We were headed into the same meeting: a gathering of researchers and academics – I being the obvious exception – who were giving input to the EFC into the nature of analysis being undertaken by their new Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicalism. Because there is little Canadian research out there regarding the unique contributions evangelicals are making into Canadian society, we get lumped into the American experience, and assumptions are frequently made which, I suspect, are not true. One example is in politics where Canadian evangelicals do not tend to vote as a bloc, as do American evangelicals.
Reg Bibby from University of Lethbridge was also present, and he gave us a copy of his latest book which presents research he compiled on Canadian boomers.
As an American transplant with close to 20 years of experience living in Canada, I’m tempted to make a generalized statement that Americans and Canadians really aren’t that different. After all, we shop at many of the same stores at the mall, the grocery store, same work ethic, same suburban/city life. But underneath, particularly in the Christian culture, I know there are significant differences. I would be interested in a follow up post here on your meeting or maybe a review of Bibbys book.