Perhaps the reason that I have been so silent on my blog lately has been the monumental transitions in my life. At the top of that list is my coming fatherhood. My wife and I are expecting a baby boy, born in early December. Advent will have tremendous meaning for us this year!

Besides thinking about birth and parenting issues lately, I have been finishing up my last courses at Fuller Seminary and preparing for my first quarter as a doctoral student this fall at UCLA. My blog had previously been tied to my identity as a Fuller student in a drive to get into a doctoral degree. Now that my search is over and Fuller coursework will soon be finished, my blog has to adapt.

I now hope to adapt to the changes by writing about my doctoral studies at UCLA and my thoughts about being a dad in academia.

The classes I’m currently enrolled in are: History of the Early Christians (Bartchy), Spirituality and Sexuality in the Early Christian Movement (Bartchy), and Jews, Gentiles, and Christians in the Roman World (Boustan). I will also be studying elementary Latin at Pasadena City College, which is a more convenient commute and covers basically the same material as UCLA’s Classics Dept. I will probably also be a “reader” (aka a grader) for an undergrad course at UCLA, but that hasn’t been set in stone yet. That all begins at the end of September.

My first parental sacrifice seems to be that I will not be able to attend SBL in Boston. Since I grew up in Massachusetts, I’ve been looking forward to this one for a couple years. It’s very sad, but it really is a no-brainer given the timing. My baby is a higher priority than SBL!

More thoughts to come . . .