Tiina is a 24-year-old theology major. We met with her to talk about what it really is like to study theology and how she managed to get a full-time job in the field that she loves already before graduating.
You’re a sixth year theology major. How have you liked your studies and the department this far?
I wouldn’t trade this time off for anything. I’ve especially liked my major, Church and Social Studies. Also, the feeling of community that we had during freshman year when basically all of us starting that year had the same classes together was great. It’s a shame that we haven’t really had that after the first years, although I’m sure it’s common since there are not so many compulsory classes anymore and people start taking different minors and so on.
Why did you choose to study theology? It is not exactly the trendiest field at the moment, is it?
It was very clear to me, I just had a feeling and I didn’t really even think about any other option. I actually started to read for the entrance exam with the intention of becoming a priest but very soon I realized that it would have been like a marriage of convenience. I was drawn to the idea of an academic education that would also give me a profession. But I understood quite early on that to become a priest I should have had a stronger calling. I have tremendous respect towards priests and people often tell me that I’d be a good one, too, but I just feel that it would be too much of a burden for me. It is a job that you have to do with your whole personality and I think that to be able to do that you need to have a calling for it.
It also has the aspect of being responsible for the state of someone else’s soul, which I feel is too big a responsibility for me to take. I don’t feel eligible to teach other people what to do with their lives.
But, despite deciding that I didn’t want to become a priest, after all, I still wanted to study theology. When I found out that with this degree I could also end up working within psychotherapy, which had always interested me, my thoughts became clearer and that became the goal that I’ve been working towards for the past few years, even if my career plans have changed a bit at times.
Actually, I think many people come to study theology to keep their options open. Many are interested in the world and people in general but aren’t quite sure what they’d like to do for a living. Studying theology can open many doors career-wise.
Why do you think becoming a theologian has become so popular among career changers?
I’d imagine that working life has become more demanding in the past years. People might feel that theology offers something new for their lives, if they find themselves feeling empty after having achieved their professional goals. People also grow spiritually when they get older – sometimes their values become softer. You get more interested in religious questions when you get older and have to deal with death, for example. However, it’s good to remember that being a priest is also hectic and stressful.
Even though university in general has been increasingly dominated by women, around 40 per cent of students of the Faculty of Theology are men. I’ve also understood that there are still quite many conservative students in your faculty. Is this true? What’s it like being a young liberal female theologian?
Every year there are students, both male and female, getting in who are more conservative than others. However, I’d say that they are a minority. There are a few who bring up their views at lectures, even loudly, but I think it’s a good thing that they are brave enough to come forward with their opinions. In fact, I think the more conservative students might find it harder here than the ones who are more open-minded.
On the other hand, there are also a lot of students who lead the “normal” student life with partying and drinking and everything. Sometimes people ask me if it’s true that theologians aren’t very good with alcohol and my answer to them is that at least they don’t have any tolerance! There are people who proudly wear a cross and, at the same time, brag about how they can’t remember anything about the past weekend. The majority of theology students are just like everyone else.
Of course, your experience depends a lot on what kind of people you choose to spend your time with. For example, if you’re a woman studying to become a priest, I doubt that you will spend much time with people who don’t approve your calling. I myself have friends from both groups – some are more conservative, others less – but I don’t identify with either of the groups. And what does “liberal theologian” even mean? There are so many definitions for that and it’s even used as an insult sometimes.
During my freshman year, I was good friends with some of the more conservative students, which was very interesting, and they were important to me. But then I just had to step back a little. Those two worlds are very different and at some point you have to make a choice whether or not you’re going to discuss the differences between them or not. For me, things changed when I moved in together with my fiancé which, unfortunately, ended some of my friendships since it was impossible for them to accept that. After all, we were not married. You have to take into account that the situation may be very painful for the other person, too, who feels responsible for your soul, even if it’s not really any of their concern. There are so many ways to look at things.
So do you feel like you’ve gotten new perspective into your life after these experiences? Have you become more tolerant?
I’m not a fan of the word “tolerant”. I see it as demeaning because it has the idea of someone having to “tolerate” something that is, in fact, somehow “bad” or “below” you. There are always some things that are acceptable to tolerate and some things that aren’t. And if you think about it, it is very difficult to tolerate everything. How do you tolerate something that you just feel in your heart is wrong? But these days I can understand people who are different from me and views that I don’t share better. I’ve also become more merciful, also towards myself. You don’t have to be perfect.
Do you ever feel that people expect you to be of a certain kind when they hear what you’re majoring in?
What I’ve noticed is that people tend to start explaining themselves a lot. For example, when I go to the dentist, I immediately start telling how I really do brush my teeth at least twice a day, sometimes even three times, while nodding vigorously at the same time. So when people hear that I’m a theologian, they often say things, like “Oh, I do go to church, at least every now and then, I really do!”
On the other hand, people sometimes ask me questions that are more personal than you would normally ask in small talk situations, like about my views on gay people etc. They also tend to open up easily and share quite personal things about themselves with me, too, which I think is great.
However, it can be seen that people don’t really understand our field or realize that it is a science like all the other university subjects. Sometimes people ask me if we couldn’t just close the whole Faculty of Theology or at least integrate it with religious science, though they are two completely different fields. Many people also see our studies as easy since it is not so difficult to get in. But I’d say that you can be good or bad in any field. Once you’re in, you have to work just as hard as in other faculties if you want to be successful.
In any case, I don’t feel that anyone has judged me based on my studies. Most of the time, people are interested in hearing more about them.
You haven’t graduated yet but you already got yourself a full time job. What’s that been like?
That was surprising! Like I said, my plan has been to become a psychotherapist and to get a degree for that I first need to work with people for a few years. So I’ve kept my eyes open for suitable job opportunities for a while now.
I started by thinking what kind of job I’d be interested in and came to the conclusion that I’d love to work in a school where autistic people, for example, could learn everyday skills. So I basically Googled it, found out there were schools like that close to where I live and I started to keep an eye on opening positions. However, I was insecure about whether anyone would want to hire me since my degree doesn’t exactly prepare me for the practicalities of that kind of a job. I had volunteered as a personal assistant for a disabled person for a few years but I wasn’t sure if that was enough. So I did a lot of research to find out what kind of a job would suit me in this field.
When I saw that one school was looking for personal assistants, I called them and asked if I’d have any chances to get hired with my education. It resulted in me getting invited for an interview and by the end of that was told that I got the job.
So basically being prepared for the worst helped me a lot because it meant that I did my homework and was active. Of course, there’s also a consistent lack of work force in this field.
Now I’ve been working there for a little over a month and I really like the job. It is interesting and I feel like I can make a difference. But it is also hard and busy and everything is still new to me. It is very rewarding, though. It’s amazing to see the students making progress. It might not seem like a very big deal to us but it is always a huge achievement for them.
On the other hand, I still have my master’s thesis to finish and working during the day and trying to write that in the evenings means that I don’t have a lot of free time at the moment. So I have to say that I wouldn’t recommend getting a full time job if you’re in the middle of your studies and still have a lot of courses to do.
What are your plans after you graduate? Will you continue in your current job or do you have something else in mind?
Time will tell. I’ve only had this job for a while. I love the freedom that I have at this point of my life. I may continue in my current job but I might as well move on to something else. I’d also want to try working as a teacher’s assistant in a normal school. But I believe that this job will benefit me in the future. At the same time that I’ve gotten more work experience, I’ve also gotten rid of the idea that no one would want to hire me.
I’m still interested in psychotherapy but I guess time will tell where I’ll end up.