On Being Ph(inishe)D, On Finished Being

On Friday, Southeastern Seminary’s Graduate Studies faculty accepted my dissertation, “The Hermeneutical Roles of the Teacher of Righteousness and of Jesus of Nazareth in the Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts and in the Epistle to the Romans” (abstract). This acceptance followed Wednesday’s oral defense where the committee had passed my project with minor revisions (i.e., correcting some remaining errata, describing a few further implications). The Southeastern committee members included Andreas Köstenberger and Benjamin Merkle, and I was also privileged to have James Charlesworth as the project’s external reader.

Throughout, I found the project particularly rewarding, and the oral defense certainly proved stimulating. I am very glad to have finished the PhD, and I look forward to completing several more writing projects that are already queued up, including pursuing the dissertation’s publication. As are many other new graduates, I am continuing to seek a regular, full-time faculty posting, but meanwhile, I am working to collect adjunct teaching opportunities, particularly online and in the Greater Nashville area.

So, as one phase concludes, another begins, and whoever started using the term “commencement” to describe graduation exercises certainly seems to have made a very appropriate choice.

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16 responses to “On Being Ph(inishe)D, On Finished Being”

  1. Matthew Crowe Avatar

    Congratulations David!

    1. David Stark Avatar

      Thanks so much, Matthew.

  2. Jeremy Avatar

    Congrats! Looks like you and I achieved roughly the same result. Pass with minor revisions … sweet!

    1. David Stark Avatar

      Indeed. It was very nice to have that probable result become official. Thanks so much, and congratulations to you too!

  3. Matt Emerson Avatar

    Congrats David! I look forward to being hooded with you in a few weeks!

    Matt

    1. David Stark Avatar

      Thanks so much. Looking forward to the same!

    1. David Stark Avatar

      Thanks so much, Ken.

  4. Joseph Kelly Avatar

    Charlesworth, what a treat! Congrats!!

    1. David Stark Avatar

      Absolutely. I’m very glad he was willing and able to participate. Thanks so much, Joseph.

  5. Kirk Lowery Avatar
    Kirk Lowery

    Congrats, and welcome to the guild! I well remember my emotions after my oral defense. Watch out for the emotional letdown!

    1. David Stark Avatar

      Good advice. Thanks so much, Kirk.

  6. Brian LePort Avatar

    Awesome, sounds like a very interesting subject!

    1. David Stark Avatar

      Thanks so much, Brian.

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