Dissertation Update

I won’t be graduating this May. That’s the short of it.

The long of it is that I will probably graduate in August and that I may even be a “doctor” before May—but not in enough time to walk in the ceremony. I do not know when my defense will be, though the committee is aiming for April right now.

There’s more to the long of it: as you might guess, delays don’t happen for no reason. Suffice it to say that the committee needs more time to evaluate my work. I don’t mind adding that they found numerous things to disagree with and critique. But critique is what I’m paying them for, after all. I am very thankful for their input, however idiotic they sometimes make me feel (“Did I write that?”). As a friend commented that one of my favorite authors commented, “A PhD program that doesn’t make you sweat and feel like a twit at times isn’t worth the expense.”

Readers, please pray that my work would be refined carefully—and that through this process I would come to know God and His works more reliably and love Him (and them!) more deeply. My prayer from the beginning, too, has been that my work serve the church. I just stopped and prayed it again. I want my work to be refined so that I don’t feed the church any molecules of poison—or pablum.