Two Pens are Better than One
The Joys and Challenges of Co-Authoring
A couple of weeks ago, I participated in the book launch for Uncivil Disobedience: Theological Perspectives (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023), an edited volume bringing together theological and ethical perspectives on recent forms of protest that do not necessarily fit into traditional definitions of civil disobedience, including Black Lives Matter protests, Antifa rallies, far-right protests, including the storming of the U.S. Capitol in 2021, hacktivism, and environmental activism involving property damage and vandalism, among other examples. An effort was going to be made to put a recording of the book launch online, although it does not appear that has taken place yet; I will post a link when it becomes available.
Anna Floerke Scheid and I contributed an essay to the volume called “The Virtues of Democratic Disobedience: Catholic Ethics and Political Resistance.” I won’t go into the argument of the essay here, but I was re-reading it in preparation for the book launch, and I was amazed that the essay was even better than I remembered it from when we submitted our final draft to the editor. I don’t say that to brag. On the contrary, and although I can’t speak for Anna, what was incredible to me was the way that our individual insights had melded together into something more interesting and worthwhile than anything that I could have said on my own or that we had initially planned for as we drafted the essay. This experience of re-reading the essay got me thinking about the process of co-authoring and why it is not more common in the humanities, including theology, despite the clear benefits.
David Gides, the editor of Uncivil Disobedience, reached out to me in the spring of 2021 to ask if I could make a contribution to the volume looking at the theme of “uncivil disobedience” from a Catholic perspective. I accepted, but I immediately asked Anna if she would be willing to come on board as a co-author. I knew that the topic fit well with her own research interests and that she would be able to contribute much to the essay beyond what I was capable of.
When Anna and I started working on the essay, we wrote out an outline of where we thought the essay should go and then divided the writing responsibilities roughly in half. We then wrote our own halves of the essay separately, although sharing our work with each other as we progressed so we had a sense of what the other was saying. Finally, we worked on integrating the essay, identifying and accentuating common themes in our sections so that the essay had a seamless argument. This last step was perhaps not as organized as it sounds, since we were working under the pressure of the editor’s deadline and at the same time trying to track down citations and proofread what we had written. I think this was why my re-reading left me so impressed; my first reading had been rushed and came in the midst of identifying all of our mistakes and accidental omissions, which was not conducive to recognizing what we had actually accomplished!
Co-authored research is very common in the natural sciences, and to a lesser extent in the social sciences. In fields where it may require several people to conduct laboratory research, carry out interviews, or review existing literature, it makes sense for an essay or article to have multiple authors. Co-authored research is much less common in the humanities, including theology. If scholars in the humanities do work together, it will more commonly be through an edited volume written as a shared project, with individual scholars contributing separate chapters. For example, in 2011, I was part of a group of theologians who published Green Discipleship: Catholic Theological Ethics and the Environment (Anselm Academic), edited by Tobias Winright, that was intended as a textbook on Catholic environmental ethics. We are currently working on a revised edition that will be published by Cascade Books in 2024.
Why isn’t co-authored research and writing more common in theology? One practical reason is that the majority of theologians still work in academia, and co-authored works often do not count as much toward tenure. Most institutions require a scholar to produce a certain amount of peer-reviewed writing by the time they go up for tenure review, and so there is a certain logic in not treating a co-authored essay or book the same as something the scholar wrote on their own. Even so, it is unfortunate that the incentives of the tenure system discourage scholars from engaging in this kind of collaboration.
Second, scholars in the humanities think of ourselves as dealing in the world of ideas, and so we are tempted to think of ourselves through the lens of the stereotype of the “solitary genius.” There is an entire cultural mythology built around the scholar who studies in seclusion, and who engages in a lonely creative process, developing a path-breaking innovation or idea. Of course, there is a certain truth to this stereotype: study is often a solitary process, and new ideas typically emerge in the solitude of our own thoughts. But as I my own experience with Anna shows, some of the best insights emerge through working together. Humanities scholars are certainly aware of how, in the bigger picture, our work is carrying on a collaborative process of sharing ideas across the generations, so it is a shame that we don’t express that spirit more concretely through co-authoring more often.
Lastly, writing alone can just be easier. You probably have your own idiosyncrasies in the research or writing process, and having another person involved might throw you off your groove. It can be uncomfortable sharing your work with someone else before it is finished. And working with another writer certainly adds more steps to the process. On the other hand, breaking out of your personal writing routine and sharing the process with someone else might inspire your creativity in new ways. Sharing your work early on might improve your writing. And those added steps in the process may lead to a better final product.
Co-authoring certainly requires humility. You have to work together to determine the direction the essay will take, even if that direction is different from where you might have gone on your own. No matter how you divide up the work during the writing process, the final product will have both of your names on it, meaning that every word in the essay or book can be, and rightfully so, attributed to you. That means that during the writing process, you need to be able to edit your own writing so that your co-author can see themselves in your words, but also be willing to accept the words written by your co-author even if you might have worded things a little differently. This type of humility can be difficult, but I think it also makes you a better scholar and writer.
Is there any reason why theologians, in particular, should give co-authoring a try? I think so. More than scholars in other fields, we have a clear sense of working toward a common goal: the greater understanding of the mysteries of faith, at the service of the Church, society, and the academy. We should also understand our vocation as theologians as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to contribute to building up the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12), and so our vocation is corporate in nature and not purely individual. There are some notable examples in recent years of theologians who have worked collaboratively. Michael Lawler and Todd Salzman have together written a number of books on sexual ethics and Christian normative ethics more broadly. Mark Allman and Tobias Winright have written a series of articles and essays culminating with their 2010 book After the Smoke Clears: The Just War Tradition and Post War Justice (Orbis). These are just two examples that come to mind.
What are some other examples of good theological work that has been done collaboratively? What are some obstacles you have experienced to co-authoring an essay or book? Or if you have experience co-authoring something, what did you find rewarding about the experience? What did you find challenging? What are some other forms of collaboration that theologians should explore more often? Share in the comments.