Sarah Stewart-Kroeker

I’m a professor of ethics in the Faculty of Theology. Ethics is a subject that affects us all, but we don’t often subject our moral intuitions to critical analysis. Through ethical research and teaching, I seek to look at how people act and also how we think about that action.

I’m passionate about thinking critically about fundamental questions, either through research or teaching. In my research, my teaching and during discussions, there are moments where I feel like I’ve been hit by a bolt of lightning – all of a sudden, things become crystal clear, and my view of something changes quite unexpectedly. These moments of inspiration or disruption are real gifts of academic life.

My career path. There has been at least one key person at each stage of my career who has provided essential encouragement and support – after all, it’s a long journey. That support has come from my private life, through my family, and from my work life, through my professors but also my colleagues. I’m lucky to have a group of colleagues, created during my PhD, who continue to meet up once a month – via Skype these days – to read each other’s work and talk about books and articles together.

A downside or obstacle ? In academic work and humanist research, there’s always more to be done in terms of quantity and quality. You remain well aware of what more you could have done – or what you could have done better ! It can be difficult to strike the right balance. And in a field where there aren’t many women, it can be hard to overcome the implicit prejudices : you don’t necessarily realize what you’ve internalized, or even simply what image you have of a particular teacher or thinker. But I think that’s true for everyone, men and women.

I’m proud that one of my strengths is that I can see unexpected links. I often try to show how much old ways of thinking, which might seem quite different from our way of thinking today, can enrich our contemporary reflections.