Beginning
August 1st, 2014, I have officially been the brand new professor of
Biblical Studies at Baptist College of Ministry in Menomonee Falls, WI, for
which I thank the Lord. Fortunately, I do not actually teach a class until late
September (a 9-week block), but at that point I will be teaching Jewish History
(junior-level college), Beginning Biblical Hebrew (seminary) and Composition
and Rhetoric (college freshman level class, focusing on research and writing).
[A Bible college prof has to be flexible J All this is somewhat ironic since I’m a New
Testament guy, but I’m just happy to be teaching the Bible! All these will be
fun classes, but I’m really, really looking forward to Hermeneutics, which I’ve
been promised for Spring 2014]
Already,
since moving up here, my father and I have attended an multiple-school faculty
summit and presented papers, and I have also submitted said paper to a journal
for publication (first time in about 3 years I’ve submitted a paper; we’ll see
what comes of it). Here, however, are my priorities now that I’m preparing to
teach: first tier, second tier, and third tier
First Tier Responsibilities: Those
directly related to classes and the church
1.
My
very first action as professor, which occurred technically before I was
officially staff, was to choose a textbook for Beginning Biblical Hebrew (I
went with Pratico/Van Pelt’s Basics of
Biblical Hebrew after consulting with some esteemed Hebrew teachers). This
was important because, although I made some minor changes to Jewish History,
adding the Zondervan Bible Atlas (but still kept last year’s textbook, Merrill’s
Kingdom of Priests), in Hebrew I was
making some more substantial changes.
2.
Begin
putting together syllabi: Jewish History has been a huge priority here, because
laying out the class schedule and content is less intuitive than working off of
the textbook in Beginning Biblical Hebrew. Also, the textbook does not go as
far as AD 70, which is where the class is supposed to go. I’ve also begun
putting together new syllabi for Hebrew and Comp/Rhetoric, but Jewish History
definitely takes priority.
3.
Begin
personal research for classes: once again, Jewish History takes priority here,
since I’m starting from scratch; Hebrew will be fairly easy to construct a
syllabus, figure out the content (although starting next week I intend to start
my own program of Hebrew review; I’ve already started daily readings out of my
Hebrew OT). For Jewish History, I’ve purchased a number of books at my own
expense, especially benefitting from John Sailhamer’s short but handy Old Testament History and also
Rooker/Merrill/Grisanti’s OT Intro The
World and the Word, also K. A. Kitchen’s On the Reliability of the Old Testament.
4.
Become
integrated with my local church: while this should be a high priority for any
professor, it’s especially important for me since BCM is a ministry of a local
church. As an employee of the college, I am also an employee of the church. I
am looking forward to being plugged in to ministry here and contributing to the
overall mission.
Second Tier Responsibilities: Personal Research,
part 1; thinking of Spring ‘14
1.
I
am extremely grateful that by this point my book is done, in the final stages
of production, and I look ahead to my next publishing endeavors. First of all,
though, I really, really need to get back into Theological German so I am going
to try to start a nightly program of studying German and reading the German
Bible. This is essential if I want to continue contributing to Biblical
scholarship.
2.
Next
two articles, next book: at this point I’ve started laying the groundwork for
two more articles, ideally (and maybe naively) that I hope to finish by the end
of the year and submit to publications. My next book has also started to coalesce
in my mind, but it will be a simpler, less-academic and more practical book for
which I have already started doing research.
3.
Looking
ahead to next semester: I already have ideas for Hermeneutics. I need to start
formulating what I want to do with that and the other classes.
4.
By
the way, a really important note: in the fantastic book Those Who Can, Teach: Teaching as a Christian Vocation, ed. Porter,
there’s an essay in there called “From Doctoral Program to Classroom” by Steven
Studebaker which talks about how, even when you’re not teaching classes that
necessarily tied directly in with your dissertation, you can still benefit from
researching for those classes (both by broadening your horizons and figuring
out how they can tie in with your research goals).
Third Tier Responsibilities: Personal
Research, part 2
1.
Once
I start fulfilling my other responsibilities and goals at a satisfactory clip,
I can start to think of my next truly academic book (hint: something to do with
Peter again . . .)
2.
And,
I also have some other articles that I want to get off the carrier, at least,
though they may be shot down by the SAM missiles of peer-review, but enough
with this silly analogy, full-afterburners ahead!
And,
always a 1st-tier, 2nd-tier, and 3rd-tier responsibility
simultaneously, be thanking the Lord that I’m actually in such a position to be
blogging on this topic as a teacher!
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