Hiatus Over! What I've Been Up To
For regular readers of my blog you may have noticed the sound of crickets the past few months – my apologies. Life has been busy but I intend to get to more regular blogging. So what better way to break the silence than by telling you what has been filling my time!
Hudson
My wife and I welcomed our fourth child on March 19. Pregnancy is always tough on my wife, but as usual she was a trooper. There were some further health complications during the birth and after, but I'm happy to say that everything is great now. He brings joy to the house, and one thing I really enjoy is seeing my older children interact with Hudson, as well as them seeing how hard their mother works for her children.
Ordination
During my MDiv & MA at ADC I worked towards my ordination during my field education, but I did not complete the process, as I began working on my PhD immediately. Now that I have my PhD behind me, I have returned to completing my ordination process. It has been a great time working at my home church New Minas Baptist Church, and this August I go before the convention council. It has been an enjoyable process and I have appreciated working with my pastors and with my intern mentor.
Parallel Passages in the Pauline Epistles
In 2015 I pitched an idea to Logos Bible Software to create a parallel pauline reader. Logos had a parallel reader by Rick Brannan just on the pastoral epistles. I was happy to have Rick Brannan champion the project, and I spent many hours on this project. I was also most grateful to have a handful of grad students at ADC assist me with this project. The module is now published. Currently it is confined to Logos Now subscribers only, but I suspect it may be part of Logos 7, or purchasable on its own, at a later time.
Surviving and Thriving in Seminary
Many of you know that I self-published a small eBook a couple of years ago that has done quite well, but I really wanted to get some wider distribution for it. I am now under contract with Lexham Press to revise the work under the title Surviving and Thriving in Seminary: An Academic and Spiritual Handbook, and I am happy that Ben Forest has agreed to co-author the book with me. It should be out by the end of the year.
Young Scholars Summit
The Ellis Foundation has for the last 5 years hosted a young scholars summit, an annual meeting at Tyndale House. It was an honor to be asked to participate in the discussion on how Matthew makes use of Isaiah with several other young scholars from the states. Being in Cambridge was a wonderful experience, filled with great things to see, new friends, great conversation, and the wonderful atmosphere of Tyndale House. Out of the summit will come a presentation at an IBR session during SBL as well as a publication.
Job Transition
As many of you know, Craig Evans transitioned to Houston Baptist University at the end of 2015. This meant some additional work for me last semester, particularly in the form of thesis supervision. I'm happy to report that I have officially been made the Assistant Professor of New Testament, beginning July 1. In addition, my role as go-to guy for technology has ceased, as I assume two new roles as the Director of the Hayward Lectures and Direct of Online Education. As part of our new online education initiative, I spent several weeks preparing and recording lectures for ADC's Interpreting the New Testament course. Part of coming into this new teaching position is the teaching of courses I have never taught before, which means I will be creating several new courses over the next few years. As I am deep into the Gospel of John, I suspect I will spend some time on John related issues in blog posts.
Psalms of Solomon Commentary
I'm currently in the midst of writing brief commentary on the Psalms of Solomon for a one-volume commentary on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha being published Eerdmans. Ps. Sol. 17 and 18 were the focus of my MA thesis, so I am appreciating the chance to revisit this important pre-Christian work.
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
I am currently in the midst of a major revision of the Greek Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. The Greek text and English translation was published by Accordance over a decade ago, back when I was just Craig Evans' TA. I am extremely grateful to numerous grad students who have assisted me in the revision process, and I look forward to completing this massive project and seeing this updated edition come to print.
