I get questions all the time about the state of my PhD dissertation. For the last year it has been more or less done, although like the coming kingdom, it is “already finished” but “not yet done.” But this morning I handed in the “final” copy of my dissertation today to the PhD secretary. While she savages my work with a red pen, the search for an outside reader continues. I do not yet have a defense date, but it is looking more like early spring and a May graduation.
I am also frequently asked what my dissertation is on. After all this time writing it, I am not even sure, so I randomly drew biblical studies buzz-words words out of a hat and entitled it “The Origin of the Eschatological Feast as a Wedding Banquet in the Synoptic Gospels: An Intertextual Study.” I suppose I might have to change it if it turns out Eugene Peterson already used that title, but that is the title for now.
I am quite happy that the glacier-like process has finally begun to move. I have a number of projects I want to work on which have been on the back-burner waiting to finish my up my degree. Looks like I will be able to devote more time to a few of these writing projects soon. Of course, the first step after graduation will be getting my dissertation published.
The “Not Yet” is looking a bit more like the “Already.”