Milestone #2

For those of you keeping score at home, this morning I completed another phase in my PhD program.  I will never again sit in a classroom as a student.  Until, of course, I do.  But assuming that I pass all of the present courses, I am not required to enroll in any more seminars for this program.

I think of my program as having five phases:

#1: Finish ThM (one class); completed Dec 2007

#2: Complete 27 hours of coursework; 2 years; completed this morning

#3: Write analyses of 66 biblical books; goal: Dec 2010

#4: Take 6 written and 1 oral comprehensive exam; goal: Feb 2011

#5: Write dissertation; goal: May 2012

I leave for Israel after Christmas and until then, I hope to work on digging out of the hole that has developed in the last months and years.  When I return from Israel, I plan to hit the ground running in writing my analyses.  I’ve completed (or nearly completed) some already: Genesis, Samuel, Chronicles, Isaiah, and Joel in the OT.  In the NT, I’ve finished Matthew and Galatians.  I’ve mapped out all of 2010 with approximately one book a week. Psalms will get two weeks, and some shorter prophets and epistles will be doubled up. I will begin Exodus on January 15.  My plan is to work through the OT in revelational sequence (chronologically, not canonically). 

In my thinking, the core of my program are the analyses (aka “arguments”) and the exams.  These are what attracted me to the program.  I am excited that these then are the next two on the list.  The dissertation I expect to be the most challenging and least enjoyable portion.  It also is the one that may be most difficult to complete according to my timeframe.

Another way to look at this is that I’ve been in the program for 2.5 years and I hope to finish in 2.5 more years.  It took less time to earn a bachelors and a masters, get married, and start teaching.  I guess things slow down as you get older.