Body Politics

Just chiming in to laugh at the absurd turn of phrase, "the science of religion."

A ThM from one of the top tier schools at which you'd be absolutely bowled over to attend for a PhD is good. ThMs from other schools range from fine to waste of money.

As someone who went through the process during an active year for the GradCafe forums, I honestly can't say that flying blind would've been worse. Probably better, in fact. I fretted over this board and checked the results daily, while my colleague in the next carrel over didn't check GradCafe til the day before he accepted an offer. That guy was way more at ease throughout the process than I was, and I think GC was probably part of it. But, like I said, I hung out here during my app season, so don't hear me telling you that you absolutely shouldn't. It was a pressure release sometimes. Y'all do you. Whatever works. The process sucks ass however you go through it.

In Bible, it's getting more and more rare to see folks with UK PhDs teaching in non-confessional schools. That's anecdotal (I didn't run a study on this) but, more and more, this seems to me to be the arrangement of the tea leaves. How one wants to read them, I'll leave that to others.

I love that Perique69 is still here trolling (with some wisdom, no doubt), as well as that no one is really listening.

The Society of Biblical Literature national and regional conferences will be what you're looking for. Both have lots of different sections, many of which will be intensely focused on the Hebrew Bible. If you are anywhere near Atlanta, I wholly recommend joining the SBL and then coming to the national meeting in November. Otherwise, join the SBL and then just look up when/where the next regional meeting is in your area. If at all possible, do both.

B > P. Definitely don't do Pass/Fail.

The interface of orality and writing in early Christian media culture.

Patience is pretty much your only move.

I think I had opened the app for the MTS or ThM or something, but I never submitted anything to Harvard. I knew it was an error as soon as I got the email, but it was fun to tell folks that I was officially a Harvard Div student for the forty-some minutes it took for them to rescind my notice of admission into a program to which I'd never applied. I had actually already accepted an offer for a PhD elsewhere when this happened, if memory serves. It was a fun morning.

That totally happened to me, too. Spring 2013, right??

I don't think there's any way for me (or anyone here, really) to give you a definitive answer, or even a good one. Nonetheless: If you are comfortable with the language of "calling" (and I suspect you are), do you feel "called" to pursue the vocation of an academic? If so, go for it. One thing I will note, as a current PhD student and friend of many Christian professors: The balance you would like to strike as a professor and preacher will be significantly difficult to attain. The two vocations you feel drawn to, teaching and ministering, are both full-time gigs. Pastoral ministry (as you know) is much more than just preaching on weekends, just as teaching is much more than showing up to lecture on Tuesdays and Thursdays. What I'm trying to say is: be careful. That is a huge load you are looking to take on.

It's the end of app season; let's all be assholes.

I know it's hard to wait, but it doesn't do you any good to contact that department directly.

First round offers for HB are out.