Sometimes you just need four concise points to deliver a compelling message. Paul Sloan does that for us in this week’s edition of “What makes a good biblical scholar or theologian?”
June is a busy month full of academic conferences in the UK. I’ve been running around the country these past few weeks trying to cram in as many conferences, symposiums, and whatever-you-want-to-call-them’s as possible, as the blog will...
Photos by Tavis Bohlinger One of the advantages to living in the UK is the ease with which one can get from London to Manchester, Oxford to Edinburgh, or, in my case last week, from Durham to Aberdeen. I found out on very short notice that Philip...
It’s hard to give a one-word answer that doesn’t sound trite. I’ll offer a hyphenated cheat: “confident-humility.” Biblical scholarship requires a willingness to keep every question on the table and to listen to others...
Words by Justin Allison, Photos by Tavis Bohlinger* On June 18th and 19th, students, staff, and local attendees gathered in Durham for an international conference entitled “Closing the Gap: Best Practices for Integrating Historical and...
Persistence. Dealing with failure and rejection are inherent parts of the academic game, be it in journal submissions, book proposals, conference papers, job applications, grant applications, fellowships, awards, or promotion.
Photos by Tavis Bohlinger Over the past week, theLAB has been granting unprecedented access to one of the best academic symposiums for biblical studies and theology in the UK, the St Andrews Symposium on Atonement. Today we cover the third and final...
Photos by Tavis Bohlinger Day Two of the St Andrews Atonement Symposium included plenary addresses by David Moffitt (University of St Andrews), David Wright (Brandeis University), and Martha Himmelfarb (Princeton University). Attendees were treated...
Photos by Tavis Bohlinger Yesterday we published a recap of the St Andrews Atonement Symposium 2018 written by Justin Duff, one of the three outstanding organizers of the event. Today and the rest of this week theLAB will publish an extended photo...
Words by Justin Duff, University of St Andrews; Photos by Tavis Bohlinger* Last week, my co-organizers and I had the pleasure of hosting the 2018 St Andrews Symposium for Biblical and Early Christian Studies. The theme and title of this year’s...
“Sympathy, curiosity, industry, creativity, intentionality, honesty, and responsibility.”
Mark Goodacre and Alan Garrow are due to meet at this year’s British New Testament Conference at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, 6‐8th September. The issues at the heart of the $1,000 Challenge will be debated in the Synoptic Gospels...
In my experience, it is the ability to listen that makes a great biblical scholar.
I’ve always valued a quote from Luther: “It’s not reading books that makes a theologian, but living, dying, and being damned”!
~Rev Dr Walter Moberly, Professor of Theology and Biblical Interpretation, University of Durham
One thing that makes a good scholar is the ability to be an original thinker. In one sense, this means the ability to approach problems from new angles. In another, but related, sense, this means the ability to see the edifice of a scholarly...
Collaboration, curiosity, endurance, creativity, passion, courage (willing to challenge stubborn consenses), and dedication. Many of the virtues of a good detective!
Latin is a language that I picked up during my PhD studies, and it has proved useful and enjoyable. I wish that I had learned it as a youth, which is why I’ve begun teaching Latin to my children. But if you’re reading this article, I’m guessing...
A good biblical scholar realizes that others are smarter than he is.
Editor’s note: Crispin Fletcher-Louis has disrupted our normal series on “What makes a good Biblica Scholar or Theologian?” with a title of his own making. We’ll let it slide, because his advice is just that good. Enjoy the...
A good biblical scholar is discerning. This discernment is exercised at key points in the research process. First, a good scholar chooses worthwhile research projects to invest time in. Time is a limited commodity, so choosing the right project is...
Editor’s note: Today we honor of the 73rd anniversary of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I asked my friend and Durham colleague, Jameson Ross, to write a short piece on the significance of the publication of the critical edition of Bonhoeffer’s...
by Tavis Bohlinger Even though a career in academia will be out of reach for most PhDs in biblical studies, (and theology, church history, etc.), there is no reason that biblical scholarship should be abandoned. Believing scholars of the Bible in...
Humility: Submit your work on the text and invite the critique and examination of others without defensiveness. Others help to improve your contribution.
Theology is a bit like a spider’s web, in the sense that cutting a single strand of a theological framework can drastically alter the shape of the whole.
What makes a good biblical scholar? Well, many things, of course. But one thing I seek to embody in my own work and to impart to my students is fairness to others, especially when I disagree with them.
If you don’t know who Jacob Neusner is, it’s time to bone up. Apart from his exceptional prolific publishing output (and that’s an understatement; see point one below), he was known both for his highly acerbic nature to some and his deeply...
Although the image of the lone scholar is prominent, it is not really accurate. All of us need other scholars to sharpen our ideas and to gain new viewpoints on the texts. As a result, it is important for scholars to be humble regarding their ideas...
A good biblical scholar or theologian thinks through their writing, page by page, from the perspectives of their various types of expected reader, from scholars, to students, to church ministers and, if appropriate, to church members. ~Peter Oakes...
I’ll never forget the day when I was sitting among other recently admitted post-grads at the University of Aberdeen in the presence of the I. Howard Marshall. Make no mistake about it: although we remained in our chairs, we were sitting at Howard’s...
Although missing the first page of most news outlets outside of the England, today was the first of three weeks of strikes at 61 universities in the UK. That number includes Cambridge, Oxford, and Durham, and over a million students from all over...