Research Papers

By | January 26, 2008
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In class yesterday, my second paper topic selection was approved.  So now I know exactly what I’m going to be thinking about a lot this semester:

For Gospels/Acts class: The location of the swine dive (Gerasa, Gadara, Gergesa).  I have thought a lot about this issue over the years, but several recent publications (but otherwise intelligent people) are miserable failures.  I’ve wanted to write a publishable article on this for some time, and this will be my chance.

For Torah/Former Prophets class: The reign of Jehu.  My intention is to write my dissertation on this subject, so this paper will be exploratory in nature.  (In case you forgot, Jehu is the only red arrow.)

This Week

By | January 24, 2008
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I did not write anything here for Tuesday’s class, which dealt with Matthew 1-4.  This may be owing to my sense of utter defeat.  That was not the only time this week that I felt that.  It’s not that I don’t know the answers, it’s that sometimes I don’t even understand the questions.  Today I tried to work on the Matthew argument, but really struggled to figure out what I’m supposed to do.  It’s not enough to write an “outline” of the book (that’s part of the whole), but you have to do it in a certain way.  And I’m not sure if my brain is up to it.  All of which to say that I don’t have much to say unless I write my resignation letter.

I might say too that there are some hard things going on for people around us that are burdening us right now.  Kelli’s Uncle Mike is about to be released from the hospital because there’s nothing they can do for his cancer.  He was in great physical shape a month ago.  And there are some other hard things with other dear people that I can’t mention here.

We’ve been “re-memorizing” Psalm 23 as a family (we did it a couple of years ago) and last night we play-acted it out.  Because it is so familiar, sometimes we might miss the power of its imagery.  But indeed, the Lord is our shepherd.  And he is a good shepherd.

Not really hard, but hard at the time, and possibly amusing here, was my dream last night.  I don’t remember too many of my dreams, but my truck was stolen last night in my dream.  Twice.  The first time a guy was pushing it away from our house with his vehicle.  He stopped a few doors down.  And for some stupid reason, I just went in the house.  I came back out later and it was gone and I was so mad at myself.  It was so real that I felt a huge relief when I woke up.

UPDATE: A couple of friends have asked if the first paragraph was serious.  It was, though “utter defeat” is hyperbolic.  The last couple of days have been better.  It was a bad time to get a very good job offer, but I am staying the course.

Torah and Former Prophets: Intro

By | January 20, 2008
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I’m not really sure how much I’ll be able to post about my classes as the semester goes (it’s the first week and I’m already feeling the pressure), but I’ve set aside 20 minutes tonight to mention my second class of the semester.  It is a Seminar in the Torah and Former Prophets (Genesis-2 Kings, except Ruth), which is a lot of material.

The requirements for the course:

  • Read the biblical text three times
  • Read 750 pages from scholarly commentaries
  • Read 15 recent journal articles and write summaries
  • Write a research paper and present it to the class
  • Prepare a response to another research paper and present it to the class
  • Write the Bible argument for Genesis

Added together, there’s a lot of work here.  I think it’s on the medium side of the difficulty scale in this program.  I am planning to write my research paper on the reign of Jehu, with the intention of developing this into a dissertation.

Most of the class session was a lecture by the professor, but many future sessions will be seminar papers.  Here are a few things he said (I’m just reporting, not necessarily agreeing):

  • Genesis chapter 1 ends at 2:3 (or 2:4).  This chapter division was the work of a drunk monk.  (You can see that the ancient scribes agreed by the presence of a samekh in the margin).
  • There are half a dozen Creation texts in the Bible.  Only the emphasis by the creation research people has given Genesis 1 the seeming singularity.  A biblical theology of creation that stays only in Genesis 1 is not a successful biblical theology of creation.
  • When the professor was a student, The Genesis Flood, by Whitcomb and Morris was a new text.  Imagine a textbook in science that is 40 years old and never had a revision, you wouldn’t dare use this in a class today.  But today you can buy the same book in leather binding with a gold ribbon.
  • The missions department at DTS sees world missions as a reversal of the Tower of Babel, bringing people back to faith who were disseminated.
  • The Bible doesn’t say that God cursed man and woman at the Fall, though all preachers say this.  It says that the effects of the curse on the serpent extend to the woman, and the effects of the curse on the ground extend to the man.
  • Beitzel’s view of a northern Ur is to be preferred to the traditional view of a southern Ur.
  • Popular Christian mythology found in all liberal books is that Abraham was a nomad.  But he was a sophisticated urbanite.  It would have been a little thing for God to tell him to move if he was a nomad.  Abraham was not a nomad; that guts the story.  No, he became semi-nomadic because of the call of God.
  • The Great Commission of the Bible is Genesis 12:3 (Matt 28:18-20 is just a recasting).
  • The ability of a 89-year-old woman to conceive required a greater miracle than just “giving her an egg.”  God had to completely rebuild Sarah’s anatomy.
  • We make far too much of Joseph and far too little of Judah.  Joseph is a flat character; Judah is the colorful one as he goes through the character change.
  • You must read “How to Read the Bible as Literature,” by Leland Ryken.
  • The story of Judah in Genesis 38 shows what would have happened to the sons of Jacob had they stayed in the land and not gone to Egypt. But by going to Egypt, where Semites were viewed as detestable, there was no intermarriage and thus the integrity of the nation was preserved.
  • Joseph’s fleeing of immorality should take our breath away.  Here is a person who from all apparent evidence is destined to an ignominious death in a foreign land, never to see his family again, never to have contact with people of faith again, and this woman is constantly enticing him.
  • Focus on the number of times it says of Joseph that “Yahweh was with him.”

Ok, that’s more than I expected to write, but that’s your window into a doctoral course.  Next week the class will focus on Creation issues.

Miscellaneous

By | January 20, 2008
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Here’s a fun way to find out how stupid you are.  (The Lufthansa Virtual Pilot game)

Unfortunately, this guy is right:  “If we pull back to the 1967 borders, everyone should ask himself, what will happen the following day,” Lieberman said. “Will the conflict stop, will the terror stop? Nothing will change.”

Ladies, here’s a reason to thank the Lord that you did not marry a Muslim.

Want a phone that can do more than just communicate to others, play music, navigate, and surf the web?  Here’s the future.

How Forests Are Wiped Out

By | January 17, 2008
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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.

Our Fireplace

By | January 16, 2008
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After a long time, our landlord fixed our fireplace today.  When Luke got home, he was excited to see it and came and asked when we could use it.  Rather than telling him that I thought we’d try it out tonight, I asked him when he wanted to use it.  He thought for a minute, asked me why I was asking him, and then said he wanted to use it tonight.  My point, of course, in giving him “the choice” was that I was pretty certain he would say tonight and I thought he would like thinking that we would because he asked for it.  In other words, I thought his happiness would be increased because he received his request.

I wonder if God is ever like that.

The Beginning of the PhD

By | January 15, 2008
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Today I had my first PhD class.  It’s a 3-hour seminar on the Gospels and Acts, and meets once a week.  On Fridays, I have a 3-hour seminar on the Torah and Former Prophets (Genesis-2 Kings).  I’m considering blogging about them this semester.  There are some reasons why this might not happen: 1) If I don’t like the class or am struggling with some issues that I don’t want to put in a public place where potentially anyone could see it, I may skip it altogether; 2) If I simply cannot give the short time I would plan to give it; 3) If I can’t think of anything that I think would be interesting.

Today was an introductory class and it was mostly a lecture by the professor to the nine students in the class.  Nine is a large number to have in this kind of class.  I know two of the students – one was at IBEX and the other came for a DTS 3-week trip.  Of the others, three or four have Chinese heritage and one is from Africa.  Of the others, none strike me as young or good-looking as myself. :-)  More seriously, it’s really hard to determine ages of people at this stage in life, and I know that one is younger than me (the former IBEXer), but I just can’t tell on the others.  I think it’s safe to say that I’m in the younger half.

Some of you might be interested in the course requirements (what is a PhD course like, anyway?), so here goes.

Read four books.  Two of these have at least 500 pages and lots of fine print.  Read a couple of dozen articles from the IVP Dictionaries of the NT.  Read Matt-Acts twice.  Do a research paper, at least 20 pages in length.

The crux of the course, however, are the discussion of questions each week.  This counts for 50% of the grade (and all that reading is a mere 10%).  The way this works is that each week you have a list of questions about the portion of Scripture for that week.  You prepare answers to all of the questions before class and then in class you go around the prof asks different people to answer different ones.  So you may have to answer only a few, but you have no idea which ones.  For Matthew, there are 25-45 questions each week.  Next week we’ll be covering Matthew 1-4 and we have 25 questions.  Here are a few that I’ll be working on:

  • Summarize the argument of the book.
  • Evaluate various commentaries on Matthew. (I got this one nailed because I spent a lot of time researching in Matthew last semester.)
  • Explain the custom of divorce in 1:19.
  • Discuss the relationship of Isaiah 7:14 to Ahaz and to Matthew 1:22-23.
  • Explain “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2).
  • What is the meaning of “fire” in Matthew 3:11?
  • Was the Lord’s call of the disciples in Matthew 4:18-22 His first contact with them?  Discuss.
  • And one more, I can’t believe this is one of them: What village was Christ’s base of operations for His ministry?

So, I already know the answer to #23.  More work ahead…

Presidential Delusions

By | January 13, 2008
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The latest Messiah in the Middle East is George W. Bush, who appears convinced that he can save the Israelis and the Palestinians.  The Washington Post today has an interesting editorial on his mission.  It begins:

On Thursday in Jerusalem, President Bush completed a full circle on the Middle East from his starting point as president. In 2001 he disparaged and quickly abandoned President Bill Clinton’s personal attempt to broker a final peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians during his final months in office. Seven years later, ending his first visit to Israel as president, Mr. Bush set a goal of finishing that peace treaty during his own final months; said he would personally involve himself in pressuring both sides; and, like Mr. Clinton before him, laid out his own parameters for a deal.

Anybody want to bet me what Obama is doing in 2016?

Me and Your Money

By | January 13, 2008
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When I write on this blog, I’m generally directing my comments to former students.  I know that others might read from time to time (hi, Mom), but if you don’t fit into the category of a 20-something TMCish grad with no life and this blog doesn’t seem relevant to you, I know why.

But with the passage of time, it’s possible that one thing about my readers is changing: they are getting a life.  By this I mean that they are no longer sheltered in a Christian cocoon and eating Top Ramen which they bought with the last 39 cents in their pocket.  Some of these students (not necessarily the ones reading this blog) are now bankers, lawyers, and real estate agents.  And many others are past Top Ramen days, in a wide range of places.  All of this is a rather long intro to explain why I am now dispensing Investment Advice.

This was prompted by a Washington Post editorial today.  It’s short and recommended reading.  Here are some tips from me:

1. If you’re out of school and working, you should be putting money into a retirement account.  Even before paying off school loans or many other good things.

2. If you have any notion that Social Security will ever give you a penny, you’re completely out of touch with reality.  In addition to the money that SS takes from you (7.5 or 15%), you must save elsewhere.

3. It’s not a bad idea to save in multiple places.  If your employer matches your retirement savings, put the maximum amount that is matched (sometimes it’s a 50% match, sometimes up to 100%, up to a certain percentage of your salary).  This is absolutely the best investment you’ll ever make as you get 50-100% “interest” immediately.  Do this even if it means you’re back to eating Top Ramen.

4. It’s also a good idea to save in a Roth IRA.  The “Roth” part means that you put the money in “after taxes,” and taxes for many of you poor people isn’t much.  The beauty is that you never pay taxes on that money again.  So when you’re a millionaire when you retire, you get to draw all of that account with its compounded interest without paying taxes on it.  Another advantage of a dedicated retirement account is that it’s harder to take money from it for other purposes.

5. If you think that because you’re young, you don’t need to think about retirement, you are wrong.  In fact, saving a little now is much better than saving a lot later.  That’s because of something called “compound interest.”  Here’s an example.  Let’s say you put the maximum of $4,000 into a Roth IRA this year (or better last, since you can still do that until April 15).  Assume 12% interest, which I think you can easily beat in the long run if you diversify across several higher-growth mutual funds.  The Rule of 72 quickly tells you that that will double in 6 years (72/12=6).  In 30 years, your $4,000 will be $128,000.  If you wait ten years to start saving for retirement, you’ll have to put about $15k in the bank to get the same results.  And in 10 years, you’ll probably have more kids and more things to take your money away.  The younger you are, the easier it is, usually.

Maybe this advice sounds strange to you.  I remember that the constant messages I heard in college were usually about growing in holiness or serving overseas.  Those are good.  But I think that one possible downside to a TMC-type education is that you may not think shrewdly about what lies ahead.  If the Lord is giving you a certain amount of his money now, I think that he would want you to invest it wisely.  In fact, he gave a few parables about this during his earthly ministry.  I’m not suggesting that you not give generously now, but I am suggesting that you plan ahead wisely so that when you’re old you can give generously.  And eat.

Where do you start?  I have an account with Schwab, but there are plenty of other investment places.  Do not put your retirement money in a regular bank account or in 30 years, that $4,000 will be worth $4,003.  Which, in 2038, might buy a tank of gas.

Clutterham Follow-Up

By | January 13, 2008
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I talked with Josh on the phone yesterday and he said that for the last couple of days he has had a brutal headache.  I’ll spare you the details, but I think that “brutal” is a fair word.  He has one of these lame insurance deals where you have to go to an incompetent doctor first, and this one told him to “give it some time.”  I’d suggest that those of you who know him pray 1) that the pain is reduced and 2) there are no lasting effects from the accident.

Some times we take things for granted, so I’ll mention another person I met recently.  A few weeks ago I went out to lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant with a DTS prof.  Unless he retires soon, this prof will likely be the most important one in my program.  About five years ago he was in a bicycle accident in which he landed on his head.  The helmet took the impact and he seemed ok, but a month later, excruciating headaches began.  Until today, he has these headaches which prevent him from teaching, thinking, writing, unless he has had or given a massage within the last 48 hours.  Without further detail, that may sound strange, but the simple point I want to make is that not all injuries are visible or noticed immediately, and we all depend upon God’s grace just to do the most basic things.