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theLAB

The Logos Academic Blog

What’s the Point of a PhD in Theology? Part 1: Academic Teaching with Support Raising

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I asked this very question myself even before completing my PhD in 2019: what’s it all for? Considering the slumping academic job market, and fierce (read, ridiculous) competition for the few jobs in my discipline each year, I wondered what the point was of nearly a decade of rigorous intellectual forging through two masters degrees and a doctorate in New Testament.

So I was grateful to find recently a superb resource on the very question. Charlie Trimm and Brittany Kim have compiled numerous testimonies from PhD’s now putting their education to use in various fields including the pastorate, administration, editing and publishing, Bible translation, and more.

We’re going to be publishing these testimonials over the coming weeks as a way to encourage you to consider entering the long, hard road of doctoral studies as a means to serve the church, to serve other people, and to serve our Lord.

Perhaps the high aspiration of many a newly minted PhD, i.e. a tenure-track post at a prestigious institution of higher education, is not the only worthwhile, nor actually the best, reason to earn a doctorate.

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We Need More Pastor-Theologians

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Tremper Longman III

TREMPER LONGMAN III | WESTMONT COLLEGE

I became a Christian my senior year in high school during the so-called Jesus Revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was an exciting time, particularly on college campuses where there was something of a revival going on.

I arrived at college the next year, half Jesus freak and half football player, but not really interested in academics. Two factors changed my attitude toward academics, one positive and one negative.

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The Spiritual Discipline of Reading Your Theological Dissidents

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Years ago, The Atlantic had an article entitled, “Study Theology, Even If You Don’t Believe in God.” The author of the article (Tara Isabella Burton) is a Clarendon Scholar at Trinity College, Oxford, where she is working on a doctorate in theology and literature. In this piece, she talks about studying theology as a secularist.

While reading, I was immediately drawn into thinking about my own theological education in various schools in the States and the UK that confessionally are very broad. As well, my pastoral ministry sparked many thoughts reading this, as a member of clergy for over two decades in a theologically minimalist denomination embedded in a complex urban center (Los Angeles, California) that is filled with many traditions, ideas, dogmas and questions. I thought, “If a nonbeliever can study theology, certainly believers should be studying theology with folks of different theologies.”

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The Model Scholar: Bernard of Clairvaux

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by Greg Peters | Associate Professor of Medieval and Spiritual Theology, Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University

As a scholar of monasticism it seems to me that what roots biblical scholarship is rootedness in the text in such a way that it becomes one’s language of prayer and meditation. In this regard I would suggest that Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) is a good model. Let me explain why.

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Larry Hurtado was my Mentor: A Eulogy

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by Mark Zhakevich | The Master’s Seminary and University

As I reflect on the life of my Doktorvater, Professor Larry Hurtado, a fitting description for his legacy is Pastor-Scholar. Before Professor Hurtado became a renowned New Testament scholar, he was a pastor.

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Lucy Peppiatt on “What Makes a Good Theologian?”

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There are a number of ways of answering this question. I see the task of a biblical scholar as different from a systematic theologian, but as systematic theologians are taken up with reflection on the doctrine of God, this can’t be done without a deep engagement with scripture.

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Gavin Ortlund on “What makes a good Biblical Scholar or Theologian?”

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“What makes a good theologian or biblical scholar?” Many things could be said about this question, involving a range of both academic and personal qualifications. Here I’ll just offer a few suggestions—this is by no means an exhaustive list, and I should mention up front that these values assume a level of Christian commitment.

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The Interdisciplinary Scholar

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by Chris Porter

Coming to biblical studies from prior research in the social sciences I am often asked what makes for good interdisciplinary research. While a valid question, I think the more interesting question is what makes a good interdisciplinary researcher. Here I will try to answer a modest version, what makes for a reasonable interdisciplinary scholar.

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