The Past

Since last November, when I last reported on the goings-on at SBL 2024, I have been busy. Here are a few things that I have done or have been doing:

1. November:
   • celebrating Bekah’s birthday
   • traveling to Connecticut with family
   • traveling from Connecticut to SBL in San Diego
   • traveling back to Connecticut to be with family
   • teaching an undergraduate course at the Catholic University of America—Foundations of Theology I: Scripture and Jesus Christ
   • writing my dissertation: introduction and what would become chapter 3 finished, working on chapter 2 (method)
2. December:
   • writing my dissertation: working on chapter 2
   • grading for the end of my Foundations of Theology course
   • traveling to Florida with family
3. January:
   • writing my dissertation: chapter 1–4 finished and fitted together
   • changing dissertation title from “The History of Influence (Wirkungsgeschichte) of the ‘Chair of Moses’ in Matthew 23:2″ to “The ‘Chair of Moses’ Saying (Matthew 23:2–3): Historical Concerns, Providential Applications, and Present Understanding”
   • starting a new (for me) online course, Principles of Biblical Interpretation, for Westminster Theological Seminary
4. February:
   • writing my dissertation, chapters 5 and 6 finished
   • starting another round of online Hebrew 3 for Westminster
5. March:
   • writing my dissertation: chapter 7 finished, everything compiled together and edited, everything submitted to readers, paperwork completed
   • grading for Principles of Biblical Interpretation
   • starting an adult Sunday School course on Jesus’s parables in the Gospel according to Matthew
   • teaching Hebrew 3 online
6. April:
   • teaching Hebrew 3 online
   • traveling to Erskine College as a candidate for a position within Erskine Theological Seminary and School of Biblical Studies (March 31–April 2)
   • Attending Presbytery (April 3)
   • Hearing back a “yes” from Erskine on my way to Presbytery (April 3): assistant professor of biblical and theological studies, primarily focused on undergraduates (more on this later)
   • defending dissertation with distinction (April 4)
   • after negotiating with Erskine, saying “yes” in response (April 8)
   • depositing dissertation
   • celebrating my eldest son’s birthday
   • planning fall courses—Old Testament Literature and Interpretation, World Christianity, Johannine Literature, Christian Theology, The Ancient and Old Testament Worlds (more on these later)
   • studying for ordination exams: general church history, ARP church history, sacraments, pastoral care

I hope you can understand why I haven’t posted much. But I hope to do a little more blog-writing over the summer.

The Present and Near Future

My current work and plans include:

1. Continuing the adult Sunday School series on the parables
2. Researching and writing for four-and-a-half new courses
   • Finding textbooks
   • Sketching schedules
   • Creating assessments
   • Finalizing schedules
   • Writing syllabuses
   • Writing lessons and lectures
3. Finishing a few book reviews: one on Young’s Scripture, the Genesis of Doctrine, one on Grønbech-Dam’s Jesus as the Son of 1–2 Samuel’s David, and one on Baxter’s Divine Shepherd Christology in the Gospel of Matthew—likely in that order
4. Reading a friend’s book manuscript
5. Figuring out where we will move for the new ministry at Erskine
6. Figuring out when we will move
7. Figuring out how I will move
8. Studying for ordination exams
9. Taking ordination exams (due mid-May)
10. Writing (more likely re-writing) a sermon as part of the ordination exam (due early June)
11. Preparing a breakout presentation for the ARPC’s Family Bible Conference
12. Moving
13. New employee orientation at Erskine
14. Preparing my dissertation for wider publication

Once my dissertation is fully available in ProQuest, I’ll post a link to it.

I thank God for this past year and for the prospect of the next. And I am grateful also to those who have supported me during my research and writing. May God be glorified by this work, even if only my mother wants to read it.