Yesterday was the last day of my last class. Ever. Now what?

Well, coursework is over. I've no idea what that means yet, at least not in its significance. I have a few ideas. Writing every day[1], at least 15 minutes, will help it sink in: I am not a student; I am a developing scholar. Just writing that is a bit odd. Submitting my first journal article is a big step, to be taken a few weeks hence. Submitting the book review is another: this happens a week or so later. Wow. What else is in store? I am not sure.

I do know this: Talbot has been a great place. The M.Div. plunged me into theological and biblical studies. The Th.M. held my feet to the fire of critical thinking and research. The Ph.D. (still in process, but moving to the candidacy and dissertation phase) is training me to be a scholar. Many of the lofty ideas at the end of the M.Div. and Th.M. (like saying, "Now I'm a theologian," and being corrected by a faculty wife--now I know what she meant, seriously) have been stripped away as dross, though I am certain some remain, lurking in the neglected spaces of my soul. What remains is a pile of questions and a realization that everything is bigger and smaller, easier and more complex than I would have ever thought.

It's been a good journey. The next leg begins today.

= = =

[1] Some resources for the next leg:

• Accidental Genius [book]
• Writing your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks [book]
• Research as a Second Language [blog] 
• The Thesis Whisperer
• maybe more later

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(C) Laura Springer

Laura's Writings by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.