Kuriakos
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Posts posted by Kuriakos
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P.S. If you have questions about Baylor, feel free to PM me.
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So far, my 100-page ThM thesis will have nothing to do with my dissertation, but it would not be a problem if they were related. It is expected that you will try to expand on research you've already completed. That is part of moving from a masters student to a doctoral student. As long as you realize that you are not actually writing the first one or two chapters of your dissertation and you are open to the fact that doctoral coursework will push you in new directions, then I don't see how this could be an issue.
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Those application fees can really add up, too!
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I don't think UNC offers a terminal MA
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A lot of universities will offer summer intensives in Attic Greek and Latin (and in modern research languages like French, German, Spanish, and Italian), so you could always do some of those even if they did not all end up being applied to your degree.
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- You are an undisciplined person, which you cover up to your advisor with claims of needing to do some "additional research" while you mostly sit around reading buzzfeed articles and wikipedia entries on legacy Sega Genesis games all day.
That is suspiciously specific.
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Was the degree from an accredited institution?
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I don't know about all the details, but the University of Toronto is, at least from what I've seen, very highly regarded.
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Perhaps it is just the Christianity oriented classes?
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I still have nightmares about slogging through Mark Taylor's About Religion.
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I have no personal experience, but someone else in my program did their MA at UChicago and described it exactly the way MarXian did.
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From what I remember, the advice was generally the same. Get a second master's or do a post-bacc in Classics somewhere.
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Oh yeah, if we're talking about all the people throwing it out there as one option along side starting a non-profit, going to live in a Chilean village indefinitely, etc., I knew plenty of those! Damn, I'm a jerk, haha.
I laughed, so we can be jerks together.
As far as Fuller goes, lots of people toss the idea around of a PhD, but very few follow through once it becomes apparent how rigorous the application process will be. Unfortunately, many desire to do a PhD once they have completed half their course work and are carrying a relatively low GPA. As far as evangelical seminary admits, UCLA's Near Eastern Studies and ancient history departments have admitted at least 3 Fuller students in the last 5 years, fully funded. These are 1 admit per emphasis apps that are, like most, highly competitive. But these Fuller students went through extensive training in languages and probably were not your typical Fuller student. I know that most of my peers at Fuller were more interested in missions, church planting, and a host of other things that at times I would also rather do than than pour over hours of research. I think the difference was that, while most of the students were there in large part for the the MDiv and the overall seminary experience, I was there for the specific type of training I would need for a doctoral admit.
As far as those who take a foolhardy approach to their PhD apps, I just figure it was to my advantage, as those types of people helped me to get admitted. It sounds callous, but if everyone had shown my dedication, I would probably be applying again next year.
This reminds me of the time I was going to get a form signed by my academic adviser and had to wait outside while she was dealing with another student. I overheard this student seeking advice for getting into PhD programs who had a GPA barely above a 2.0. Yikes.
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Are you the same guy who posted on the SBL facebook group?
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I would not recommend anyone get a doctorate from Unisa. I'm glad it worked out for your supervisor, but for most people it would be career suicide (is it still career suicide if it is over before it began?). If you are thinking of going the SA doctorate route, then Pretoria or Stellenbosch is a much better option.
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I'm sure there were way more than I realized. I think it was just because I got into a small group of people all interested in philosophy and theology and all interested in PhD programs. I knew very few people outside of that group who were applying.
Edit: Now that I think about it though, I guess I'm vaguely aware that a lot of people there want to go on to do biblical studies PhDs so maybe I didn't notice as much because I knew that wasn't going to be my field so I wasn't competing for the attention of MMT and the like.
I don't know how many people were serious, but I heard a lot of people casually suggest going on to a PhD like it was no big deal. I'd hate to be Fuller faculty during application season.
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It's interesting to hear you say that MarXian, because I felt like everyone at Fuller wanted to get into a PhD program.
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It's a growing problem that makes Americans having UK doctorates suspicious. It seems a lot of conservative Christians are finding that they can go abroad and maintain their conservative beliefs/the appearance thereof. Having no coursework and 'checking in' with your adviser raises less questions about how 'indoctrinated' one becomes at the American 'secular' schools.
I think this is why you see so many conservative evangelicals doing UK doctorates focused on grammatical issues or textual criticism. It is especially easy to avoid difficulties.
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It is very easy for Americans to get into UK PhD programs. Americans = $$$ (or £££ I suppose)
PhD or ThM or MA?
in Religion
Posted
Lots of people enter PhD programs with just an MDiv. The decision to get a ThM or not is one you have to make based on how ready you think you are and how good your application currently is. For me, the ThM was an excellent way to get experience in doctoral seminars and gain the confidence to move on to a PhD. Not everyone needs that. As for going to a conservative school, my feeling is that most places won't penalize you if you demonstrate that you have left inerrancy and such behind. You can get a good basic education at a place like TEDS or Wheaton, so as long as you demonstrate you are ready to move on it probably won't matter. Some conservative seminaries have poor academic reputations which might be a problem. Places like Moody or any of the SBC seminaries can really hamper an application. If you went somewhere like that, getting a ThM from Duke, Candler, etc. can act as a palate cleanser of sorts.