How Forests Are Wiped Out

Today I began what will likely be the longest academic project of my life.  No, I’m not talking about the PhD program (that started two days ago).  Nor am I talking about my dissertation (I will probably start initial research on that in a couple of weeks).  I began the “Bible Arguments” project, known more formally as the “Analysis of Biblical Books.”  If there ever was a time in which you wished that God had revealed less of Himself, this is it.  It’ll probably take me nearly 3 years to finish, working on it while taking other classes and over “breaks.”  A friend I talked with last week spent more than a year, doing nothing else.  Whereas the dissertation is limited to 300 pages, this project will be around 1,000 pages.

What is it?  For each book of the Bible, you write a paper dealing with introductory issues, detailing the book’s “argument,” and giving an extensive outline.  Introductory issues include authorship, date, audience, purpose, and problems particular to that book.  The “argument” is an explanation of the author’s purpose in writing the book, showing how each portion of the book supports his message.  This is the crux of the paper.  The outline can be many pages long and break the book down almost verse by verse (in some examples I’ve seen).

This is a great assignment for forcing you into the text and to think about it.  It’s easy to “read,” and not necessarily hard to answer questions about specific verses.  But determining and tracing the primary intent of the author throughout the book can be quite challenging.  Some books are written more like an “argument” and thus are easier (e.g., Romans and Galatians).  Some books simply don’t seem to have a single message (e.g., Psalms).  The one that I started today, Matthew, doesn’t state its argument clearly (as does John, see 20:31), so many ideas have been suggested (related, for instance, to the King, the Kingdom, etc.). 

My struggle today was that this sort of project, with its massive scope, will force me to work differently than I am used to.  What I normally do is to do exhaustive research, organize my notes carefully, think through each possibility, and come to a carefully reasoned conclusion.  If I did that for just one matter, such as who the author of the Gospel of Matthew was, I could easily spend 30 hours.  The book as a whole could then take 200+ hours.  And there are 66 books.  But since I don’t want to be finishing my degree when they’re admitting me into a nursing home, I have to work faster.  Which means doing less research, sometimes accepting conclusions that I already have without much opportunity for pursuing alternative theories, and writing quickly.  Today I spent about 6 hours and did maybe a quarter of the whole.  I was able to work faster because I took two classes on Matthew last semester.  I doubt Isaiah will go as quickly.  Even if every book went this fast, I’ll be working on this for a long time.  Fortunately, I get 5 units for it.