Been lacking my New Testament inspiration this quarter
If I needed any confirmation that New Testament and Christian origins are “my thing,” here it is. My current quarter contains no such classes and I’m feeling the energy drain. I feel like the extrovert without her crowd or the introvert without his quiet place. A few other factors may be playing a role. For example, I’m at the end of a three year program with the knowledge that a new program will be starting in the fall. Perhaps I have a little bit of senioritis. The remaining few months of my Fuller Seminary degree are at risk of being a “lame duck” moment.
And yet, out of mist of my final seminary moments rises a great opportunity. My future adviser, Scott Bartchy, has invited me to come to a lecture of and a dinner with the legendary New Testament scholar, Robert Jewett (here is his vita). Dr. Jewett is visiting UCLA to give a lecture in Bartchy’s Paul seminar, after which Bartchy, Jewett, the four others in my program and I will be sharing dinner. Jewett most recently published his massive commentary on Romans for the Hermeneia series, but he’s also authored some other interesting books, including Captain America and the Crusade against Evil:The Dilemma Of Zealous Nationalism (with John Shelton Lawrence, a frequent writing partner) and the Saint Paul at the Movies series. I’m always hooked with a New Testament scholar talks about “civil religion.” They know what makes this Anabaptist heart beat faster.
With this opportunity, I have had a boost back into more exciting studies for me. It also comes as a realization that, yes, I’m on the right path. If New Testament and Christian origins gets me revved up, then I should probably stick to it!
Monumental moments: some reflections
Since we moved to Pasadena, my wife and I have been living with an elderly couple (they just turned 96 and 99 recently) in an apartment within their home. The health of the 99-year-old wife has been on the decline for some time, especially in the last week or so. Just yesterday, she passed away. If you count the year that they dated before getting married, they’d been together for 70 years. 70 years!
This week I’ve been poring over websites about doctoral admission procedures and communicating with the people who are writing me letters of recommendation. Each program that I am applying to is wonderful and, I feel, is a good fit for my interests and personality. In order to apply to each school, particularly write the admissions essay, I have to really believe that I will be going there. Not just believe that I could get accepted, but I have to imagine myself setting foot on that campus as my home for the next five or six years. It’s quite an emotional roller coaster if you think about it. In a sense, I am psychologically packing up and moving to about eight different states in the country. This time next year, my wife and I will be in one of those eight states (assuming at least one school will have me).
Additionally, I am entrenched in the study of the Gospel of John. I am reading Meeks, Borgen, Brown, Lincoln, Beasley-Murray, Thompson, and of course many others. I am reading Philo and Josephus and 2 Baruch. I am thinking about “I am” and Logos and wisdom and manna. I was a little standoffish about the Gospel of John before, with my Anabaptist tendencies for the Matthew and Luke. But diving in like this, taking two courses from a world class Johannine scholar, has reoriented my thinking about the Gospel. I’m probably not going to write a dissertation on John or anything, but my mind has been expanded. I could probably even say that I’ve learned more this quarter than any other quarter of seminary.
I am going to SBL/AAR this weekend. Actually, since I am the new On-campus Student Representative for SBL at Fuller, I should probably be involved in something with the Student Advisory Group, but I haven’t heard anything yet. I am saddened that, just as I am getting started as a scholar, this will be the last meeting with both organizations together for awhile. I am a member of both SBL and AAR because I have interdisciplinary interests. But since, I guess I’d “land” more in the Bible area, I’m going to have to choose SBL for conferences. Sorry AAR. Why you gotta do this anyway? Also, at the meeting, I’m going to try to meet up with professors at the schools I’m applying to. I may be meeting people with whom I will have a very close relationship with for the next 5-6 years. Perhaps even for decades to come.
For next quarter, I’ve been green-lighted to take Don Hagner’s doctoral seminar on the History of New Testament Scholarship. Apparently, I’m the first masters-level student to take the course in 10 years or so. They don’t even have call letters for it in the system, so there are two or three departments at Fuller working to set up those call letters for next quarter. I am honored and astounded that so much effort is taking place so that little old me can take a seminar.
I am grading Hebrew exegesis and the academic fates of about thirty students rest in my hands. Okay, that’s overly dramatic, but it’s part of what I’m thinking about lately.
My Dad, my brother (not by blood–long story) and his Honduran wife are coming out to have Thanksgiving with my wife and me. They are driving from Austin to LA to get here. It will be the first time the five of us have been together, not including their schedule-hectic wedding in Honduras. It is going to be so wonderful I cannot even begin to express it.
We got a new cat about a month ago. Sometimes she stands up on her hind legs and it makes me happy.
After finals week, I’m going in for jury duty. Which will it be: prayer to not get chosen or dedicated attention to some specific case of civic justice?
Those are some thoughts on life right now.
Next quarter's classes: Lots of NT and Greek
I’m all settled up for my classes next quarter. With the Greek waiver exam behind me, I can move on to more advanced classes in Greek. I will be taking:
- NE502: Exegetical Method and Practice taught by Love Sechrest
- LG517: Greek Reading taught by David E. Kiefer (Fuller’s Registrar)
- NS525: The Cross in the New Testament taught by Marianne Meye Thompson
- FE501C: Part-Time Church Internship (final quarter of three)
Dr. Thompson’s class will be my third class fulfilling the MDiv’s New Testament Theology requirement (the others have been Early Judaism with James VanderKam and Paul and the Law with Donald Hagner). Dr. Sechrest is a recent graduate of Duke’s New Testament PhD program and I’m looking forward to her class. I also like talking to recent PhD grads. I like to hear about their experiences, but I also just seem to click with them. Go figure. I’m really looking forward to diving into Greek and getting much better at sight reading the New Testament. I’ve got to work on my vocabulary base some more.
The internship at Pasadena Mennonite Church has been going great. It is a fascinating time to be an intern too! We’re going through a big transition and we’ve got budget problems. We’re trying to figure out where we’re going as a community and it is a great learning opportunity. This quarter, I finally get my two lousy units for a whole school year of interning. Three quarters of part-time work and I only get 2 units. Oh well. I wouldn’t want it to take up more electives, so I guess that’s okay.
The quarter is over and I feel free
This past quarter was brutally spread thin. I’m afraid one of my classes in particular got the sore end of the deal. I thought it was going to be easy review for me and much of the class time was, but then we had a stickler TA who bombarded our exams with extensive loss of points. It was one of those reality shockers when I thought I just lost maybe a couple points on one of the essays and instead two of the essays were just all slashed up. It is also a shocker because the professor is the embodiment of mercy, grace, and humility. I guess the TA represents judgment and wrath, for me at least.
I already don’t like taking exams, but when there is added pressure, I tend to freak out so much about detail that I overwhelm myself. I bring myself to the point where, come exam day, I question every answer I make as I imagine a bloodthirsty grader wielding his big fat red pen and joyously finding every little bit I’ve left out. It makes me a slow test taker. And it makes me wonder if these tests are really generating solid learning. I think I’ve decided not to give my students exams, at least the same kind, if I ever make it to the other side of this education alive. Don’t get me wrong. I love the professors I’ve had here and the classes are good. I think my major problem is that we’re on the quarter system. Everything just gets so jampacked and stressful. Fuller does also have a problem with huge survey courses with 70-80 people in them, that’s a little unpleasant.
Yet I still learned a lot this quarter! And over my break I hope to cipher some of that learning in written form onto my blog. Many of my assignments towards the end of the quarter would be perfect for blog adaptation, but I was just too busy. Over my break, then, I’ll be posting sections from my women in ministry paper, reflecting on Bockmuehl’s book, and throwing in some research exercises from NT research methods (like the season-appropriate translation of κατάλυμα in Luke 2:7 . . . Mary and Joseph weren’t turned away from an inn, folks!).
I have naturally set myself with too high expectations for my break. My priorities include studying Greek nearly full-time, reading the first volume of Meier’s A Marginal Jew series, preparing Bible studies for my church-based internship (see this and that book I’m using), and maybe reading one of the books required for next quarter. All of that within three weeks. Oh, and I’m preaching a sermon at church on December 31st. It’s my first time preaching since being a chaplain in college five years ago. For the curious, next quarter I’ll be taking:
- NS532: Paul and the Law with Donald Hagner (Elective)
- OT506: OT Exegesis: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings with Jim Butler (OTBE)
- CH500: Early Church History with James Bradley (CHA)
Finally, I hope to get a new look for my blog. I don’t like how narrow the space is for my text and I’m going to see if I can make it look a little spiffier. So I’ll be experimenting on a test blog for that.
SBL 2: (Un)Important Interactions?
I am generally having a good time at SBL thus far. I am certainly not one of those people who has dreams of biblical or religious academia, goes to one conference, and calls it quits because of a horrible time. Well, at least not yet. I still have a few days to go. My personal favorite presentations have been two done by Richard Hays, who is ever the skilled communicator. I also got to have dinner with my former prof and college mentor and some of his friends last night, then a good Quiznos lunch with a fellow PMCer (Pasadena Mennonite Church, that is . . . we’ve got a bunch of people here). I wanted to highlight two interactions, though, as an interesting moment of the day. One that made me feel about as significant as a gnat, another that boosted me up quite a bit.
I was perusing the grand book exhibition, looking for super deals, when the first incident happened. I found a book that is on my list of “priority books” that I made for the conference and it was a third the price. I had picked it up and was looking for the place to purchase it, when one of the women working there said (in a tone befitting a scolding parent slapping the wrist of a child with a hand in the cookie jar):
“Oh, we’re not selling the last copy.”
Me (feeling scolded): “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was the last one” (nor did I realize they weren’t selling the last one as there was no sign indicating such). She handed me the catalog where you can order it for 20% (whoop-dee-doo, I can get it for less on Amazon).
Me: “Will you be selling it on the last day?”
Her (hesitantly): “Yes . . . but it’s first come first serve” (meaning: I don’t think you’re going to be the first served.)
As I placed it back, she said (as if with hope for some alternate means of discount . . . i.e. a free review copy?): “Do you teach?” Alas, she had found my weakness. “No.” “You’re a student?” “Yes.” “Yeah, you look too young to be a teacher . . . [pause] I hope that’s not offensive to say.” Me (feeling belittled and, yes, offended): “No.” And I walked off.
But then, I turned the corner and saw my adviser from Messiah, Mike Cosby. He was on his way to a meeting with an editor, but he stopped and said hi. Then, he said (in a laudatory fashion): “You look very professional.” “Thanks!” There wasn’t much else said and I hope I get to see him again during the conference, but it was just the medicine I needed to get over the unfortunate incident with the no-last-book lady. I should note that I understand why they weren’t selling the last book, it was just the way she handled me as an unimportant customer that was bothersome.
I’ve got more to check out this afternoon and evening. It looks like it’s going to shake out into a good evening.
Update (11/21/2006): Two things:
- I went to the booth for the book in which I was interested to see if I could indeed be the first one to grab it and, lo and behold, it had been “reserved” with a scholar’s business card. Interesting that they extended the privilege to “reserve” a book to someone other than myself. I am still a peon.
- The next day, I found Mike Cosby after going down to the exhibition hall for the express purpose of finding him again. We had a great little 5-10 minute catch-up conversation.
Summer Quarter is over
Hallelujah! Amen and amen.
My So-Called (Seminary) Life…
Ah, the blissful days of Summer! The birds chirping in the air. The calm waves lapping upon the Malibu beaches. The palm trees swaying in the peaceful wind. To break open an irresistible epic novel. To admire the majestic landscape of Southern California on a satisfying hike. If only such things could be the objects of my attention!
Instead, the Summer has been quite taxing. When my friend Kent asked me what I was doing with my Summer and I told him, he said, “Wow. That’s pretty much the most I’ve heard of anybody doing with their Summer.” Kent’s overstatement has certainly felt true during this busy season! I began the Summer with two 2-week “intensives” back to back. The first was Systematic Theology 2 with Dr. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen and the second was Introduction to Early Judaism with James VanderKam. Incidentally, Dr. Kärkkäinen had assignments due on every day of the two week course. Then, while my second intensive was taking place, Dr. K had three assignments due on the first Friday and a research paper due on the second Friday. Meanwhile, I was frantically reading texts from Second Temple Judaism from the time I got out of class (at noon) until I went to bed. We had a midterm test for the Judaism class on the second Monday and a Final exam on the second Friday. If you followed all that, you would not be surprised to read that I was not readily available to others during this time! (This is not to complain about the classes in themselves, mind you, because they were fantastic otherwise. Dr. VanderKam’s course was especially envigorating.)
Alas, there is some breathing allowed after the first four weeks. But I did not mention that, during these four weeks, I had simultaneously begun a Theological German course at Fuller and a GRE course taught by Kaplan. Not much got done for these classes in the first weeks, so I have been catching up since then. My days are now spent studying high school math, highfalutin vocabulary, and German texts that I marginally understand with a big dictionary sitting next to me. But wait, there’s more! As an undergrad at Messiah, I took two years of Greek and was subsequently a Greek teaching assistant, so I would like to pass out of the required one year of Greek here at Fuller. To do so, I must dust off Greek vocabulary and grammar from the spare bedrooms of my brain and take the test (hopefully before Fall class registration, so I can take a class that requires Greek next quarter). If it is to be accomplished, it is quite urgent and I’m planning on taking it in the next week or so. The GRE will be in early September. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I have to do my 10-page research paper for Introduction to Early Judaism by September 15th. Oh where, oh where, has my Summer gone? Seminary took it away from me.
But I know that this is what I’m signing up for, getting on the doctoral studies track. It just helps to articulate it from time to time… and vent. Besides, kata ton biblon wants to know how I feel. It beckons to me for my thoughts and reflections. It is this great void that cries out for completion. And who am I to disappoint my poor, needy blog?
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Elsewhere . . .- Blog titles beginning with "A" to "Z" on your reader Mark Goodacre
- Of making many books there is no end Chris Brady
- Free Online: The Liddell-Scott Jones Lexicon S and C
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? II agathos
- Steven J. Friesen and the Identity of Satan’s Throne in Pergamum alan
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? agathos
- Bloomsbury buys Continuum Mark Goodacre
- Imperial America Peter J. Leithart
- C.F.D. Moule on the Birth of the New Testament d. miller
- Responding to Kostenberger (with comparisons to Marshall) Jeremiah
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