Unforeseen Blessings

This past weekend marked the annual “meeting of the minds.” It was SBL weekend—The Society of Biblical Literature’s Annual Meeting. That means that scholars and aspiring scholars from all over the world gathered at a major US city to catch up with old friends, listen to a few good papers (if they are lucky), defend their scholarly honor, and insult opponents in ways that only PhDs can. 

Consequently, this got me thinking. It got me thinking about the uniqueness of the SBL weekend and the expectations of graduate and post-graduate students as they labor through the lengthy process of a terminal degree.

Graduating with a PhD is a unique experience. When I went through my graduation ceremony, there were so many emotions. There were positive emotions such as fulfillment, pride, satisfaction, and excitement. There were also negative emotions, such as uncertainty, fear, and little disappointment (keep reading). You see, historically speaking, graduation with a terminal degree was often accompanied immediately, or shortly thereafter, with a job. However, as they say in the business community, “History is never a guarantee of future returns.” The realization of this old adage was the source of the conflicting emotions that I felt when I graduated in May of 2012.

Unfortunately, I was not, or am not, alone. We have all seen the depressing graphics that have circulated on the internet and Facebook (the one to the left is one of my personal favorites). More and more recently graduated PhDs are becoming disenfranchised and bitter to the whole post-graduation, job-search process. More importantly, potential students are, more than ever, giving new thought to whether they want to go through with the long process with the very real possibility that they will have to fight tooth and nail just to get a shot somewhere. I can’t blame them. It is the smart this to do, particularly when a family is involved.

However, I choose not to let the negativity of these discussion get to me. The reality is that when I take inventory on my life over the past 18 month I cannot deny the many good things that have happened. I have rediscovered an appreciation for a husband and father’s fundamental duty—provision for one’s family. I have developed professional experience in a vocation that has nothing to do with the academy, which incidentally offers me some vocational options. My family and I have also discovered the joy of a healthy and encouraging small group fellowship through our local church. Most importantly though, I have relearned some valuable theological lessons through the teaching opportunities I have been blessed to have.

I have had the privilege over the past 18 months of securing a few contracts to teach online courses for Adult Professional Studies students. Now, I realize the stigma that often accompanies such an educational context. Yet instead of dwelling upon the tendency for adult learners to be pulled in too many directions, and instead of focusing on a lower level of intellectual capability than say a promising seminary or graduate student, one cannot deny the hunger for learning and desire to accomplish a goal that often accompanies APS student. More to the point, these educational contexts have allowed me to appreciate a unique phenomenon of Scripture—Scripture is both simultaneously simple and complex. Scripture is clear, simple, and sufficient. It changes lives, and you do not need a PhD to experience that. However, if you want to devote your life to the study of it, you will never be satisfied. There will always be more to learn and understand anew. I have found that APS students, with their naive hunger merely to understand Scripture, tend to ask questions and engage in conversation in ways that demand that their professor rediscover the simplicity and complexity of Scripture.

So, yes. History does not guarantee future rewards. However, sometime future rewards are so different that they cannot be properly evaluated against past gains or past expectations. Rather, they must be evaluated with an eye to the future and where trends may be leading.