Paper Accepted to SBL 2013 in Baltimore!

I received some good news Sunday afternoon (although I realize it pales in comparison to the good news of Easter Sunday, it was still a nice email to receive). It went something like this:

Dear Matthew,

Congratulations, your paper, The Role of the Divine Warrior in Hebrew Legal Tradition, was accepted for the 2013 Annual Meeting program unit Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature. The meeting will be held in Baltimore, MD from 11/23/2013 to 11/26/2013.

Please note that, by submitting a paper proposal or accepting a role in any affiliate organization or program unit session at the Annual or International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, you agree to participate in an open academic discussion guided by a common standard of scholarly discourse that engages your subject through critical inquiry and investigation.

And that is that! I actually had already been rejected from this program unit, but apparently one of the chosen papers backed out (I’m assuming they were accepted in multiple program units), and mine had been the last paper to be cut, so I’m in!

Look for me in Baltimore in November!

SECSOR 2013

I have not posted much recently because I have been busy writing; as I mentioned a few months back, my paper proposal to SECSOR was accepted, and this past weekend I had the opportunity to present my paper.

The presentation seemed to go great; there were four of us presenting seemingly unrelated topics, and questions were saved for the very end. I had 3 or 4 questions directed to me concerning my paper, but there was just enough unexpected overlap between papers that we could all interject with each other’s questions. This led to a Q&A discussion that lasted almost an hour!

Next step: turning this paper into a journal article and submitting it to a journal. Does anyone have any advice for that process?

A New Goal and Direction for this Blog

I have been blogging for two years now. I have a number of faithful followers as well as those who pop on in because there is a “controversy” or I use some controversial keyword (like “Mark Driscoll”). So far, I’ve had a number of thoughtful posts, but also more than a few rants. There has been quite a bit of discussion lately about the future of blogging in higher education, with special focus on blogging in the biblical studies / theology realm. A good introduction to this discussion of blogging and biblical studies can be found here, which then links to a number of other discussions (particularly of interest in Robert Holmstedt’s blog that he co-authors with my former professor, John Cook).

Ultimately, the concern is that your blog will come up (a) when you apply for PhD programs, (b) while you’re in your PhD program, (c) once you graduate and are looking for that first teaching position, and (d) when you are finally on the tenure track and up for review. The problem is that EVERYONE blogs the occasional inflammatory rant. Do we want that to get in the way of our academic progress?

That said, I am NOT going to stop blogging. Instead, I am going to change direction. I am starting a second Master of Arts degree this summer, and plan on applying for PhD programs after that. My goal is to read and write as much as physically possible between now and then. In order to organize my reading, I thought I might use this blog as sort of a “Forschungsgeschichte,” or “History of Research.” Basically, I will take notes as I read sources here on the blog, whether books, journal articles, or book chapters. I will write a “review,” followed by the pertinence to my current and (hopeful) future research.

I still will attempt to interact with the occasional current events in religion and theology, but I need to remove myself from the most inflammatory subjects for the sake of my calling and my future career.

What do you all think of this idea?

Stepping Out on Faith

How many of you have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? I watched this movie over and over again when I was a kid. It came out when I was six years old, and I had a new hero.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie was when Indy steps out in a “leap of faith” on to the invisible bridge.

Recently, I decided to take a leap of my own. My graduate coursework was not exactly of the highest quality (maybe I should rephrase: the effort put into my graduate coursework was not exactly the highest quality!). If I want to get into a PhD program, I need to find a way to improve.

A couple of weeks ago, I made the decision to apply for and enroll in a Master of Arts in Applied Theology at Carson-Newman University (my alma mater; I received a BA in Religion there in 2007). Many people have asked me why a MA in Applied Theology; my reasoning is simply: (a) To show that I can graduate from an accredited MA program with a 4.0; (b) expand my horizons and add theology to my biblical studies background; (c) be able to relate the academy to the church, and (d) have a supervised writing statement that I have to orally defend.

That said, when I made this decision and applied, I had no clue how I was going to fund this program. The program is new, so little to no financial aid is provided by the school. I stepped out on faith, and said “God, if you want me to do this, show me how.”

And it turns out that he has! The very next week I was asked to teach an additional summer course for the community college where I am an adjunct. This would cover the cost of the summer course I planned on taking. That same day I received an email from the dean of religion at CN saying that there is a good possibility that I can teach an undergraduate course, which will cover two more courses. Later that same week, I received an email from another community college, offering my a course to teach in the fall. Suddenly, I have Summer, Fall, and most of Spring paid for!

I don’t often mix theology and emotion, although I probably should consider that to be acceptable practice. Today is different, because I am in awe at how God provides.

Amen and amen!

Reading, Reading, Reading … Writing?

I MUST get some thoughts down on paper.

I have read a couple thousand pages over these past four weeks about my paper topic, but I have not been able to scribble more than a few notes. I need to put some words down on the page. They want a draft in February for the presider and respondent, and I am NOT on target to have that done.

In other words – I need to get to work!

My goal is this: Write.

That is it; I have to write. It doesn’t matter if the writing is great, good, or terrible. I can fix that later. I just have to write this all down. Once I have a draft, I can edit to my heart’s content.

Paper Proposal – Accepted!

I received some great news this week – my paper proposal for SECSOR 2013 (the South East Commission for the Study Of Religion in Greenville, SC this March) was accepted in the Bible and Modern Culture: (3) Interpreting Biblical Stories/Parables of Violence and their Significance for Contemporary American Culture program unit!

I will include my proposal below:

Divine Violence: How do we Promote Peace without Taming the Divine Warrior?

Violence, while a part of our culture, is held out at a distance by most people. The Church attempts to do the same thing, condemning most or all forms of violence. Sections of the Bible that deal with violence are either exemplified as righteous examples of proper violence, or glossed over in an effort to tame the Divine. How then, do Christians deal with violence int heir own religious texts without changing the original meaning of the text to tame God, buts till continuing to promote peace as Christ-followers? The purpose of this paper is to better understand the use of violence attributed to God in order to gain a fuller understanding of how these texts can still apply to religious followers today, without taming the Divine Warrior. The sample text used will be Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55).

The paper will be divided into two parts. The first part will utilize the methodology laid out by Dr. H. Wayne Ballard in his The Divine Warrior Motif in the Psalms in order to identify the passages in Second Isaiah that contain the Divine Warrior Motif. By identifying key words and word usages Dr. Ballard was able to plot out the occurrences of the Divine Warrior Motif in the Psalms. In similar fashion, I will attempt to plot out the frequency of these same words and usages throughout Second Isaiah in order to determine the
applicable passages.

The second part will attempt to understand the purpose of these passages in light of the Ancient Near Eastern context and then interpret them for a modern readership. After discussing each passage in order to ascertain the socio-historical context, I will attempt to explain what impact these texts should have on a modern Christians and students of the Hebrew Bible. In light of modern ethical concerns about violence, particularly in religious texts, how can presenting a deity figure as a warlord in battle bring anything positive to the table? This paper will seek to answer that question and hopefully convince the audience that the Divine Warrior brings comfort instead of pain, and hope instead of terror.

So, this means that I have submitted two paper proposals (SBL this November and now SECSOR in March), and have been accepted to both! Does a 100% paper proposal acceptance rate garner any bragging rights? Or should I keep my mouth shut in order to not jinx myself (or possibly even to attempt humility, eh?).

Lazy Summer

My blog entries this summer have been much less frequent than I had hoped. I do not think that it is all bad, however. I am working on a couple of writing projects, as well as continuing to write book reviews.

I am nearing the deadline (the end of next month) for my entires in the Lexham Bible Dictionary, which include “The History of Israel (Monarchic Period),” “Phoenicia, History of,” “Phoenicia, Geography and Demographics of,” and “Phoenicia, Culture and Religion of.” These are in addition to my previous entries, “History of Mesopotamia,” and “The Canaanites.”

I am finishing up reading Biblical Hebrew Grammar Visualized, by Fancis I. Anderson and A. Dean Forbes, in order to review it for JESOT. I am also finishing up and revising a few reviews that are going to be published in Bible Study Magazine this fall and winter.

I am editing and revising my paper which has been accepted for the Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies section at SBL 2012 in Chicago this coming November. The title of my paper is “Overcoming the Challenge of Underprepared Students: Teaching Biblical Studies in a Community College Setting.”

And finally, I am looking for a job! I’ve had two interviews in the past two weeks, and while I have received one rejection letter, I am holding out hope for the other job!

Needless to say, this summer has been pretty busy so far, and I am alright not writing a blog every other day, as I had been in the past, because I just don’t have time.

First Proofs …

I just received the proofs for a book review I did for Reviews in Religion and Theology. For those academics out there reading this, I know you’re probably thinking, “big deal.” This, however, will be my very first review to ever be published (granted, I have about 7 or 8 more already submitted to different journals and magazines that will be published this calendar year, but this is the first!), so I am extremely excited about it.

Thanks to RRT for this opportunity and for publishing my first book review!

I Love Free Books!

Just received this one in the mail today:

Smith, Christopher R. Job. “Understanding the Books of the Bible” series. IVP Press, August 2012. 144 pages. $10.00.

This one is to be reviewed for Bible Study Magazine. I love the opportunity to read and review books, and it is especially cool when the book has yet to be released and I get these fancy preview copies! Ha!

Thanks to Bible Study Magazine for the opportunity to review for them!

Society of Biblical Literature Paper Proposal – ACCEPTED!

I got a wonderful email today, the first paragraph I will post here:

Congratulations, your paper, Overcoming the Challenge of Under Prepared Students: Teaching Biblical Studies in a Community College Setting, was accepted for the 2012 Annual Meeting program unit Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies. The meeting will be held in Chicago, IL from 11/17/2012 to 11/20/2012.

This is my first conference paper (and I am particularly excited that I have the opportunity to present it at the annual SBL, even though I have not yet presented anything at a regional SBL!), and I am extremely excited for this opportunity (and more than a little bit nervous!). I now have 7 months to revise this paper over and over until it is ready to be presented!

If anyone has any advice for preparing a paper for a conference (and particularly preparing a paper that is not technical but instead is more of a hands-on, how-to type of paper), I would love to hear it! Thanks!