Body Politics

I was just admitted into the DU/Iliff Joint Ph.D. program in Biblical Interpretation. I felt very strongly, from the moment I was accepted there, that the department was advocating strongly for me, in terms of funding and other issues. I am really happy with my decision. Of course, I have yet to start coursework, but I remain incredibly excited about the program. If you are still considering DU/Iliff in a few months, perhaps you can PM me and we can chat about it. My experiences will perhaps be of somewhat limited value, I'm sure, since you are looking to do theology and I am a biblical studies concentration. Still, whatever help I can be.

Zotero forever.

Write, proofread, share with others (profs, fellow students you are applying with, people who have been through this before), re-write, proofread, re-share, re-write, proofread, think about it, tweak, lose sleep over it, tweak some more, freak out, send it in. You'll be fine.

I crammed for the new GRE in a month and got a good score (well, not on math, but that's because I haven't had a math course since high school). It's not that hard.

As long as there are Christian colleges, Bible will not be a bad choice. But then you'll probably get fired for challenging fundamentalism.

UT Austin seems a good place to consider nowadays.

Yes to all, except maybe teaching experience. That can't hurt, obviously, but I think many schools just assume that you're going to pick up teaching experience during their doctoral program. I could be wrong. I think you probably want to strike a balance when it comes to publications and conferences and the like. You want to appear active, but not as though you have been so active as to be unteachable. I was speaking with a friend recently and we agreed that having, say, a monograph already published before a doctoral program is probably a strike against you. Sure, it shows that you can write and work hard, but it also may indicate that you consider yourself to be beyond the "student" phase of your academic career, ready to be the teacher. I think, at the end of even the best M* program, that is a little premature. But, I don't have anything but a few reviews published, so I could be dead wrong. Grain of salt and all that.

Develop some bad habits (drinking, smoking, too much caffeine, too little sleep). The rest really just comes together as you go.

Hanging out with my wife (who probably doesn't have cancer [see 'Where are You Going' thread]!!!), reviewing Hebrew, doing some Greek prep, and self-teaching German or French. Also, drinking scotch, watching shit movies, and taking naps in the hammock on the porch.

So...I might not be going after all. We're in the midst of a health-scare in our family, and that utterly reshuffles the priority deck. If you are the praying sort, please do. I could give a damn about the Ph.D. at this point; please pray for my wife's health.

Lately I've noticed an influx on my RSS and Facebook feeds of people posting articles and essays cautioning students against pursuing the Ph.D. I get it. The job market is horrendous, adjunct pay is shit, academic freedom in confessional schools is under fire, and tenure is quickly going the way of the buffalo. Really, I get it. Now that I've been admitted to a Ph.D. program, I'm done thinking about it for a couple years (because I'm going to be pissing enough blood over the degree itself without worrying about what's [not] to come after it). But I do get it. But, honestly: I'm tired of the posts. I think they are unintentionally damaging Religion departments and the Humanities in general, as they not only discourage M* students teetering on the brink of applying to Ph.D.'s, but undergraduates as well. If I'd been inundated with such a spewing of "the bad news about graduate school" at age twenty-two, I might've jumped ship. I imagine others might have done the same. Who would have suffered for that? The struggling Ph.D.'s who wrote the article/blog post who teach in seminaries or graduate Religion departments. We're killing ourselves, man. There is a case to be made that laying on the reality check/discouragement is the ethical thing to do, but I'm afraid of the unintended consequences and the scores of bright undergrads who will be dissuaded from pursuing further studies in the Humanities because of these posts and articles. I'll now offer the soapbox to anyone who wants it. Your thoughts on these sorts of "Debbie Downer" Ph.D. posts?

Just a smattering of book reviews. I would like to turn my thesis into an article, and could see it fitting in at CBQ.

Denver University/Iliff School of Theology

Attitudes are changing about the MDiv because it is largely becoming more and more practical ministry-oriented. There are some MDivs, for example, that you can finish without having to take a single semester of language---even at larger, more 'big name' schools! The fact of the matter is, some people just don't view the MDiv as an academically rigorous degree (and sometimes they're right). I wouldn't worry about it, though. If the MDiv is the right degree for you, and if you feel you are being prepared for an academic vocation, then screw anyone who thinks otherwise.

In my experience, I found that my interests narrowed the further along the path I went. I wouldn't worry about it. You will cultivate your passions naturally.

Yes. Some schools, like UToronto, come right out and say that MDivs are not considered adequate M* degrees for applicants to the PhD/religion dept. I think this is true of many non-divinity schools/religious programs across the board. There are certainly exceptions (a friend of mine got into JHU's NELC program with an MDiv), but I think the attitudes toward the MDiv are changing as the degree itself becomes more and more practical ministry-oriented. If you apply to mainly div schools for the PhD, as I did, however, an MDiv will not really hinder you, provided you show that it was an academically rigorous program.

166 Verbal, 142 Quant (lol), 5.0 W. I don't really know that my low math scores closed any doors for me, nor do I really care.

Nevermind ---

I really think so. SBL/AAR was an excellent opportunity to meet with POI's this year, and I think it may have significantly assisted me in getting into two of my programs. Secondly, as a member of SBL, I was able to submit a proposal to the regional SBL conference in Greenville, SC. Having the opportunity to present and get feedback from scholars active in the field has bee immensely helpful for my own development. Also, being a student member gives you great deals on regional and national meeting registration costs and looks just fine on a CV.

I am about 90% sure I'm going to accept the offer from University of Denver/Iliff School of Theology.

One of my programs has asked me a couple times for a decision about their offer. I just received an email from them today that said it was okay if I needed more time, and asking that I give them a date by which I would have a decision. Problem is, I don't know when my other two programs will give me their final offers. What makes this all the more maddening is that this school gave me a magnificently low offer, but I don't want to turn it down outright just yet in case it ends up being the best offer I get. What should I do?

It can't hurt. No one's going to lower an offer they've already made just because you're honest about debt and financial concerns.

I don't think a master of theological studies is typically a first step toward a career in government.

Couldn't hurt. Go for it!