The Chronicle’s Catchup series continues with an interview with Lucas Mix. Discover his passion for martial arts, science, academia, and, of course, Durham. By Luca Hughes Joshi.
The first thing to ask about is your role in college: what exactly does that entail?
I am the Project Manager and Co-Director for Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science (or ECLAS).
Now that’s a long title, but what it means is that I help manage and coordinate a bunch of programmes that we have which connect senior church leaders around the world with science. That involves a team of 11 people employed by the college and 20 people around the world. David Wilkinson is the Director and I’m responsible for managing programmes as well as staff and money.
We have both research programmes and grant-making programmes – we give grants to congregations for scientists to do programmes, and also to seminaries (like Cranmer Hall – one of our awardees) to include science within their teaching. One of the other benefits of the job is the project’s connections with Kenya, India, Singapore, and Poland – so I can go to these places and talk with academic and church leaders there, and later this year they’ll be coming here!
How long have you been in this role? And what was your previous career path?
Well, it’s been about 4 years now in this position. I’m a bit of a hopeless academic – I did 15 years of college including bachelor’s Degrees in Bio-Chemistry and Comparative Religion, a Doctorate in Evolutionary Theory, and a Masters in Divinity. I then went on to be ordained in the Episcopal Church (USA), but at that point I’d say I was unfit for honest work because I’d been educated for too long! I have done many things, with particular highlights being working for NASA on interdisciplinary communications in the search for life elsewhere, and a research grant allowing me to write a book on the history of definitions of life (Life Concepts from Aristotle to Darwin, 2018). And then when this opportunity came along, I thought it was perfectly suited – it combined my academic and ministry backgrounds.
So, if you were raised and spent the majority of your life in the US, I have to ask you: why Durham?
Oh, you’ve thrown me there with that question! Well, the simple answer of course is that the job arose here. But I love Durham because it’s got that really rich college atmosphere and it feels almost like a small town. However, Newcastle is within reach, and I can get to London on the train if needed. So for me it’s perfect because I don’t like a big city – but I do like some of the things a big city contains like good shops, and people to talk to, but I feel Durham has the best of both worlds in that respect.
And that links perfectly onto some more Durham-specific questions that are the backbone of these features: firstly, what is your favourite place in Durham?
That’s a tough question. I think I’m going to say the shrine of Saint Cuthbert in the back of the Cathedral.
The other thing to touch on about Durham is, of course, St John’s. My favourite question to ask everyone who has been interviewed as part of The Catchup is what makes John’s John’s?
I think the people make St John’s. I got brought in for this project by David Wilkinson who was awesome, Jolyon is, of course, amazing and inspirational, and I love all the College Officers. I don’t get to interact with students that much in this role, but the times I have worked with some, they’ve been wonderful. I do really enjoy the opportunity to work with such a broad range of people – from first-year students to senior academics.
Hopefully this interview will raise your profile a bit then!
I do really enjoy the opportunity to work with such a broad range of people – from first-year students to senior academics
And what is your favourite place in John’s?
Well, I’m a churchy person, so I’d have to say the chapel: St Mary’s.
I hear you’re a bit of a martial arts fanatic – care to expand on that?
I always like to talk about martial arts: it’s the family business. I’ve been doing it since age seven. My primary art is hapkido, which is all about balance taking and conflict resolution. I’m a pacifist so it’s really important to me that it’s a method of dealing with physical conflict productively. Everyone in my family teaches it – many people are surprised when I tell them it’s my mother who’s the senior martial artist in the family! So that’s something that people don’t know about me: I’m a priest but also a martial artist!
Would you ever consider doing a session in John’s?
Definitely! I’d love to set up something – time and space allowing.
Any concluding words?
I have spent a lot of time in residential colleges and I think that it’s an awesome opportunity being in one. So I hope everyone in John’s gets the chance to interact with people who live in the college – students or staff – as it’s a cool way of having an extended family of sorts.
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