Graduate School

After considering an offer to go straight into a PhD program at Claremont Graduate University, my wife and I have decided to accept an invitation to read for the Master of Studies in Jewish Studies at the University of Oxford. We're excited to spend some time in the UK. I'm presenting a paper in the Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible session at SBL this November, so I'll have to turn around and fly back for a week within two months of arriving. Despite all the flying, I think it will be a great experience for my family and me.

No Jobs?

Throughout my undergraduate years the professors in and around my emphasis made sure to warn everyone that in our field, there were no jobs. If we weren't willing to go teach high school somewhere because we couldn't get hired we shouldn't be in the major. I was always a little skeptical, mainly because everyone who was telling me this had a job. In the last three days two job postings have been made public for Hebrew Bible positions on PaleoJudaica.com, here and here. One of them has a pretty small salary, but it's a foot in the door. It seems to me there are still jobs out there.

biblecriticism.com

The youngest ever PhD from Hebrew University has launched a new website that seeks to trace, among other things, the sources of the Hebrew Bible. The author provides Word documents that color code the texts of the Bible, up to 2 Sam 5, according to the Deuteronomistic sources. I'm a little wary of that degree of specificity, but judge for yourself. The website is here.