Postgraduate Students
Bryan Allen-PhD Religious Studies
My story is common amongst bricklayers: one morning you are busy building an extension on a semi-detached house, when suddenly you decide that you would like to go to University to study religion. The next thing you know you are writing a thesis on the theoretical development of Christian New Religious Movements, and people start calling you Doctor - I am sure that there must be hundreds of bricklayers for whom this is an all too familiar story. My somewhat tongue-in-cheek description above is remarkably close to the actual facts. I did happen to see an advert in the local press for an ‘Access’ course which was being run through the University, and I did make one of those instant decisions to check it out. The venue was a ‘Portakabin’ on the Pibwrlwyd campus, Carmarthen, the course was on New Religious Movements, and taught by Dr Sarah Lewis, someone who has had quite an influence on my life ever since. The whole point of the course was to help people step up to higher education, but to me at that time ‘Access’ was higher education, so I was a little unnerved when Sarah suggested I should apply to do an undergraduate course at the university. So during the summer of 1997 I set things in motion, and was accepted on to the undergraduate programme by the Theology and Religious Studies Department.
My next challenge was to get through the first year. This may not sound like much of an ambition, but for someone like me, fresh off a building site, there was more than one occasion when the academic aura of the University made me wonder whether I really belonged there. I spent most of my first year being amazed at how clever everyone else was, and as the first-year exams loomed I thought I had better make the most of it before I was ‘rumbled’ and asked to leave! However, one thing I did not allow for was the sheer ‘niceness’ (for the want of a better term) of the TRIS staff, and the support and encouragement which they offer to each and every student. Needless to say, I did make it through the first year, and went on to complete the undergraduate programme. My time as an undergraduate is full of exceptional memories of being taught by some exceptional people. When I now think back to these early times I remember them with such genuine affection. I suppose that for the teaching staff who delivered the hundreds of lectures which I attended over the three years, it would have been just another working day, but to me they were directly responsible for opening up thought processes within me that I never knew existed.
Just when I thought my University days were coming to an end Sarah put the thought in my mind that I should consider doing a postgraduate research degree. She suggested starting with an MPhil and then upgrading to a PhD. When I realised she was serious, I began to put some ideas together, and this was the start of countless hours of research, reading, and really hard work: I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. I signed up for a part time MPhil, and after two years I managed to upgrade to the PhD. Sarah had agreed to be my supervisor; she was absolutely fantastic throughout. I cannot thank her enough for her patience and support as I sought her opinion on the reams of material which I threw at her - I could not have done it without her help! My viva was also a great learning experience; it was a great privilege to meet Dr George Chryssides and Dr Wendy Dossett, and to have them take such an interest in my work. Although George and Wendy’s suggestions lead to me carrying out a significant restructuring of the original draft, I believe their comments only served to improve my thesis greatly.
This covers the past dozen or so years, and now here I stand PhD in hand. Though I say so myself, I am very proud of my achievements during the time I have spent in Lampeter campus, but if I ever find myself becoming insufferably pompous as ‘Dr Allen’ I will remember the bricklayer who turned up on the first day of the ‘Access’ course. My special thanks goes to Sarah who has been with me on this journey from day one - so if there is a difference between the ‘me’ on that particular day, and the one who now holds a PhD, then, it is entirely down to her and all the fantastic people that I have been privileged to meet at this wonderful institution. Many thanks to the University!
