Dillskyplayer

We, the human, love labels! From a biblical perspective: Beginning with Adam, co-creator and label-er of animals and plants, naming became part of humanity's power. We like to distinguish us from them. I don't think the poster was trying to be arrogant (I don't think you can try to be ignorant, quite the contrary)--but I think the poster was being neutral, beyond labels (or at least the baggage that they tend to carry)! I agree that non-denominational is kind of a flawed label, buttttttttt I don't think that was the point =] Kind of like the people who claim to be nihilists! =] Shalom.

Historically UCC in my roots. Agnostic myself, but with a strong UCC hermeneutic.

Wrong. Calm. I like HDS. I want to go to HDS myself. You CAN get a sound theological education from HDS. I am using 1. professors 2. recent scholarship 3. graduates and 4. things I read from enrolled HDS students as a litmus test. I may not have gone there/be currently enrolled there, but I have friends who are and I trust them! Not trying to be dismissive here. Depending on who you are, by the way, HDS can be the "big guy" or detrimental on your CV/resume. It all depends on what you want to do with your degree someday.

Makes sense. I'm much more of a face-to-facer, as sarcasm and turns of phrase are lost to, well, computer monitors and cyberspace and all that. Just an observation from going to a relatively conservative school -- though I am liberal myself: "language games" are, by and large, the reasons why much of the conservative students cringe at liberal student statements. We are kind of like dogs chasing our tails, not going anywhere, because we are stuck in the trappings of offensive/inoffensive language, until we distort it into some benign, innocuous, PC technicalia--we don't usually move beyond it. Regardless, point taken. There's all sorts of people on this forum,I suppose, from all sorts of different backgrounds. Perhaps the only thing we all have in common, and that's a bit of a stretch, is that we all want to get into a grad school!

The theological envelope, in Christian theology at HDS is staggering--a bit of everything, but not altogether interested in "traditional theology." That is, it is not so much conservative. There's a big emphasis on progressive modern interests (which have always been of interest but are becoming more and more a part of our public "awareness"): gender, sexuality, race, and equality issues to be sure. As a UCC candidate, it's the perfect draw! For the OP: The draw at HDS should be great not only because of comparative work to be available - but also the consortium in Boston.

Unfortunately I started out as an MDIV at my current school and switched to an MA. Then I pursued the Mth degree....the MDIV is something I need to do for my denomination in order to preach, which is something I wanted to do...but not exactly right now. I wanted to use my academic momentum to do a PHD while my life wasn't insane (no kids, at the moment) --- but I guess I'm called to do something different. Most of my classes will transfer and who knows, maybe I can be "bumped up" or offered a position in a PHD program if I somehow "wow" the faculty with my leet skills in an MDIV program =/ Unlikely, but there's always a glimmer of hope.

It wasn't GROSS as in, "GROSS" that's a gross topic -- transgendered! EWWWIE! Miscommunication, miss. What I meant to say, "It's gross" as in ---its the stuff people get WET DREAMS OVER in lefty liberal arts colleges! Might as well strike while the iron is hot with that one, no need to fight the paradigm or go against the grain, what you're studying is important stuff, it's the stuff lefties love, and that's the way that liberal arts education programs are going. Good for you. I myself am as far left as you can possibly go, so I get it. Chill out! No value judgments here... if anything, your assumption about me insulting value judgments is the same cycle of value judgments you seek to protest! If I run into you at HDS in a class some day I'll point out how hilarious this mis-communication was! And again, I cannot emphasize enough how I used your scholarship as an example of the "stuff" that lefty HDS loves -- not something that is "gross" because it has something to deal with transgendered images. We don't need to get all hyper-vigilant-defense-mode here. Everyone has "niche" scholarship to a certain extend, yours will work well at HDS if you are accepted. And Trin, I truly am sorry. It's been a crappy week. I wrote without thinking straight things through.

Harvard is famous for pushing the theological envelope and the obscure. A while back someone made mention of their work with pagan religious traditions and transgendered imagery or something to that effect---that's the kind of thing that they love--the stuff that lefty liberal arts college professors find their niche and get wet-dreams over. Gross. It's not a bad thing, it's just that HDS' program has been getting so far "out there" in the aether than it's hardly a Divinity school anymore, according to virtually every professor who wrote me a recommendation for Harvard this time around -- and according to multiple recent grads who went there to study theology. If you are looking for that sort of secularized approach, look no further, you'll likely get an acceptance and good funding to do so. Here's the rub with HDS though -- although you might not have anyone to work with specifically at HDS, at the masters level you can take the Invictus route and be the master of your own fate and captain of your own soul, your own destiny -- by carving out your own program. AND, and this is great -- you can work with many other schools and libraries surrounding HDS in the Boston area. There's some great resources and faculty available at the Graduate schools and the Boston area religion/theological consortium. In sum, sometimes to find a reputable school to cater to your needs you need to fandangle a little bit, because you don't want to end up some place really small, with no funding, because you're doing something new which pushes the envelope! Go big!

Not confessional. Doing editing for a journal should have helped too, as it was a spot that post-grad program only offers to one student in a competitive pool (I beat out the PHDS for it, booyah!). The teaching should have made some difference -- but not much (ANE language courses). Yes, everyone gets teaching experience. It depends if it can be related to your discipline or not, and it is. It's unfortunate that this is such a crap shoot. I was told not to take any rejections personally, but it doesn't make it any easier to go about it with a cold, disconnected attitude. Regardless, I hope you guys who have 2-3 programs to pick between get hit by a truck! hah!

For modern religions, eh? If you don't mind studying them from a virtually completely secular hermeneutic, then try Harvard of Duke. For these places, theology is something of a dead-art. And Scripture, to be sure, is to be treated like an autopsy on a dead-letter. Just my observations for scholarship and students.

What a shitty week. Rejected by Princeton, Yale GDR, Emory GDR, and Vanderbilt. Looks like I'm screwed this round for PHD options... University of Chicago is all I have left out of my 6 applications and there's no way in HELL that I'm ending up there. I still have 2 M.div programs to wait on, sadly, since that was a PLAN B. Looks like I'm destined to not teach for a while...despite journal publications, working FOR a journal, great grades, years of teaching experience...what a crap shoot. I want my thousand dollars worth of applications back! I need it for moving!

Someone from Candler just called me and was kind of wondering why I hadn't accepted the offer. Until I find out financial aid -- I wait.

Said person has OK stats. Far different research interests than my own. Different reasons for wanting to attend than my own. It's hard not to take this stuff personally, but when I weigh my application against said persons -- it makes me wonder "what happened?" I'm getting bummed. I'm 0 for 2 presently and it doesn't look good.

Just got my rejection from Princeton Seminary in the mail. I know one of the wait-listed people....and their stats....kind of want to throw up in my mouth a bit right now.

If you don't happen to get in, do not fret. I was advised my first time around when I was applying for MAs to apply for the M.Div programs -- as they are sometimes easier to get into -- and then transfer from MDIV to MAR during year 2. By and large, classes will ultimately be the same your first year no matter what the program, lest its Children Youth and Family ministry! (or so it has been in my experiences)

Frank Moore Cross and Pat Miller's stuff on God as Warrior in the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near East. I've always been pulled into questions concerning violence in the Bible, whether human or divine. The Divine warrior is most prominent in the Hebrew Bible, and is first attested in Exod 15:1-21 --- the Song of the Sea. The LORD is a warrior! The LORD is his name! Curious stuff. Goes quite nicely with liberation theology.

Without editors where would we be? =] I've been helping with the editing of a theological journal for some time now. You would be FLOORED at how many BIG name people you read and how quickly they are "demystified" when you read their drafts, hah! I think you'll be fine with anything that was thrashed in the '70s -- a lot can change in that time. Heck, I do Divine Warrior stuff and that fizzled out in the '70s and '80s but is now gaining popularity again! Start the revival! =]

It is a competitive program. With good grades, relevant recommendations/recommenders, languages, and a nice CV you should be fine. I think people psych themselves out with programs with big, bad, names like "Yale" and "Harvard" --- they're not as ridiculously difficult to get into as a lot of people think that they are. In one of the classes I am teaching I have a few Harvard/Yale Divinity School graduates, and their Hebrew/Greek stinks the same, they make just as many dumb mistakes, and write just as poorly as anyone else that you could imagine! They've just got a nice school name to slap on a resume/CV and some nice networking connections to name-drop. Graduate school is what you make of it, no matter where you are! In sum, give the best application you can. Have a plan B. And leave the rest up to the higher powers that be! The Baals of YDS! =]

Fear not. I don't think it will matter for a MAR admittance. I would be absolutely floored if they actually expected students to be able to write worth a damn at the MA level. I've been reading MDIV and MAR papers for years as a TA for about eight classes now. You'd be surprised how craptacular some of the writing is from students who come out of *cough* "top-tier" schools. Why? Well, most incoming students to these programs are college-age students, who are used to college-age writing. Or, they have taken a few years off from school and have forgotten how to "do academic writing." OR they are second career students, returning after a career, with families, and so on -- and they're learning how to write all over again. Here's the rub: Having some scholarship to write about or connect with, though it may be dated, is certainly not anything that will be a problem or that you should be hesitant about on your statement of purpose. To be sure, for a MA program, you'll probably end up starting out thinking you know what you want to do and will end up taking a few "generals" and will end up doing something totally different. Be like Qoheleth, never settle till your dying breath!

Just giving you a hard time =] I too have interests at home in Hebrew Bible/OT studies. I do ancient Near Eastern iconographic work with war and war artifice. It sounds like we all are qualified at this point to do our work, but its a matter of who will take us!

Second Temple Judaism? As in, any and all Judaism existing after the Second Temple --- =] As in, now? =D

March 15th! Hang in there.

March 15th! Hang in there.

Good luck with Marquette. They pissed me off so badly I just never submitted my application. They didn't hold my transcripts, GRE, or anything because I didn't hit "submit" on my application before I had everything mailed to them. Therefore, they wanted all new GRE, transcripts, etc. Screw that! Wisconsin? Pass.

Hi. I do theological studies (Hebrew Bible/OT) but was not interviewed, sigh, at Emory. I saw just today that someone on 2/18 received a rejection email from the Emory PHD in religion, so assuming that he/she was not initially interviewed and received this, I must not be totally out of the running yet.