I love the New Year because it is a chance to evaluate life, see where you’ve been, ask some questions about where you are going in the next year, and if you’re lucky like I was, you can do this with the help of some good friends.

One of the big questions on my mind recently is: What do I want to be when I grow up? I am well into the process of getting a masters and I need to make some decisions about the direction of my MA thesis, and where I should look to do doctoral work. While the scope of this question is far larger than one post can handle, there is a related question that was inspired by a great conversation I had over the holiday. Should the title of this blog remain ryantorma / theologian or should I change it to my friend’s suggestion of ryantorma / philosopher? Honestly dear reader, I am flummoxed, so I turn to you for help. Here are some of my reasons for liking and disliking each. Your thoughts as comments would be greatly valued; what should this blog be titled?

Theologian
I am very interested in questions about religion, media, culture, god, churches, and how people make sense out of their lives. And since I am asking these questions as a student at a seminary while working at a church, Theologian seems a good title. Plus there are some excellent theologians who have some writings I very much admire. However, there seems to be at least some limitation in the name. Theologian as a word seems to indicate that there may be some assumptions about god, religion and church that come with the title that I may not be willing to make personally. As a theologian are some questions off limits because they challenge assumptions made by the church?

Philosopher
This title has a lot more room for questions and it doesn’t seem to have the problem of being implicitly tied to a particular church denomination or belief system. I am also a fan of the translation of Philosophy from Greek—“love of wisdom.” On the other hand, I don’t know of any philosophy working with media and religion, plus primarily working with a specific belief system is not a bad thing. What to do, what to do?

Do you like either, neither, both, or something different. I am curious about your thoughts, so please post them. Thanks.