One Month

One month from today I plan to begin my exams.  My present preparations have slowed down this blog and probably will continue to. 

Most of my readers probably have not and will not enjoy the experience of doctoral comprehensive exams.  Those of you who have (or will) may have very different experiences.  My program consists of six exams, each of which lasts six hours (including one hour for walking to/from the exam room, printing, restroom, lunch).  The six tests, in the order I anticipate taking them:

• Pentateuch
• History and Poetry
• Prophets
• Gospels and Acts
• Epistles and Revelation
• Hermeneutics and Backgrounds

Everyone will say that the biggest challenge in this program is the scope.  Sixty-six books is just a lot of material to know.  Among the items we are responsible for: each book’s outline, message, and argument.  We must know major interpretive difficulties and major themes in biblical theology.  So, for instance, they could ask me to write an hour essay on any of the following:

• Ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies related to Genesis 1-2
• The Abrahamic Covenant throughout Scripture
• The nature of the Law in the Pentateuch
• The sacrifices in Leviticus
• The argument of the book of Ruth
• The Davidic Covenant in Samuel and Psalms
• The nature of a lament psalm
• Psalm 2 and its use in the NT
• The development of the “branch” in the OT
• The “Day of the Lord” in the prophets
• The role and identity of the Servant in Isaiah
• Major interpretations of Ezekiel 40-48
• Daniel’s presentation of the future
• The messianic prophecies of Zechariah
• Matthew’s presentation of the kingdom
• The interpretation of the fulfillment passages in Matthew 1-2
• The function of the seven signs in John
• The argument and use of the OT in Peter’s sermon in Acts 2
• A detailed itinerary of Paul’s journeys in Acts (finally, an easy one!)
• The function of Romans 9-11 in the argument of the book
• The unity of 2 Corinthians
• The relationship of the New Covenant to the church
• A defense of the pre-tribulational rapture view
• The interpretation of “women will be saved by childbearing” (1 Tim 2:15)
• The argument of 2 Timothy
• The use of Psalm 110 in Hebrews
• Perseverance in the General Epistles
• The function of Rev 2-3 to the book’s argument
• An outline of the book of Revelation
• The history of hermeneutics
• My view of typology
• The biblical and archaeological history of Megiddo (I’m ready for that one!)
• A survey of intertestamental history
• Definitions and location of 20 important terms in the epistles (we ‘ve been warned that we ‘ll see this one)

Many of these topics probably sound familiar and important.  Indeed they are!  (And that’s why I like this program; I’m not learning esoteric minutiae that I will never use.)  The challenge is keeping all of that (and more) in your head at one time.  And no, you cannot use a Bible or any other resources in the exams.  Just me and my pen keyboard.

If I fail any test, I get a chance to re-take it (after the faculty decides how long of a remedial study period is required).  If I fail it again, we ‘ll be leaving Dallas sooner than we expected!  After I pass them all, I will be scheduled for an oral exam.  This is a 2-hour ordeal in front of 4 random faculty members who will test my knowledge on whatever they want.  I ‘ll have to prepare somewhat differently for this, because the answers will be short (not hour-long essays).  I understand that sometimes they like to pursue a series of questions to test the bounds of your knowledge.  I imagine something like this:

• What’s the outline of Isaiah?
• Why do scholars reject the unity of Isaiah?
• What is the purpose of chapters 40-55?
• Where are the “Servant Songs” located?
• Why do scholars believe the Servant is Israel?
• How does 49:1-6 present problems for the scholarly view?
• How is 49:5-6 used in the New Testament?
• Do you agree with Longman’s interpretation of this passage?

At whatever point I say “I don’t know,” they slump in their chairs and then move on.  The number of squares left on the Jeopardy board at the end of the period determines whether I pass or not.

Since I haven’t done any of these, and since students who have are sworn to secrecy, all of the above represents my best guesses based upon what I have studied, the meetings of a study group, and the advice that professors have given. 

I didn’t plan to write all this when I started, but I guess I needed a break.  Today/tonight I’ve been creating “study sheets” (in PowerPoint) from my arguments for 1 Timothy through Revelation.  I have about 300 (mostly detailed) slides and I’m not finished with Revelation.

In 31 days I begin.  I have 15 days to take the six exams, which amounts to nearly a test every other day.  Then I wait to hear the results.

Below is a screenshot of the slide I was on when I took my break.  I ‘ll probably have about 3,500 of these when I finish.