the paper
the reason for the tardiness of this post is simply due to the necessarily long recovery process. writing term papers usually causes missed nights of sleep with a side of grumpiness sprinkled throughout. i do not envy those who surround me during the closing weeks of the semester. i’m sure my neighbors are convinced i’m going insane. insanity, however, is the best cure for writer’s block. but i digress.
all semester i avoided the dreaded research paper in my biblical backgrounds class. don’t get me wrong, the class topics were everything i had hoped for. no joke! i had been waiting to take a class on the formative texts for our canonical authors. i was born for this class! the subject matter was not at all the issue.
the issue was fear. starting as a first year student in intro to bible i was struck and captivated by the author of our text. the insight drew me into the field of biblical studies and has proved to be foundational for my subsequent studies. the author? you guessed it…my biblical backgrounds professor! since taking intro to bible, this professor has achieved legendary status in dan custer’s professor hall of fame. to actually take a class by him was…well…scary! i have the utmost respect for him and now looking back on this past semester find evidence for this. his teaching has encouraged me to reach higher and search harder in my studies.
you can understand my fear then. in my mind, writing a paper in this class would result in nothing more than inadequate words on a page. don’t get me wrong, he is a gracious professor…as is evidenced by my current grade (minus the final research paper…which i’ll find out about tomorrow). my fear was that i would finally prove to this distinguished professor that my work is inadequate. this fear kept me from writing my research paper alllll semester.
you can only avoid papers for so long though, right? with each click of the keys, the anxiety drained from my mind, into my fingers, and onto the screen in front of me. who knew writing could be therapeutic! the semester long research paper, reduced to a weekend of insanity, ended last thursday as i hesitantly slid my 10+ page paper on the comparison between the scriptural exegetical methods of the dead sea scroll and new testament communities under my professor’s door. all done. subsequently, if you’re interested in discussing the interpretive methodology of the dead sea scroll (at qumran) or the new testament communities, let me know!
oh, and i learned how to do footnotes…hence the website about footnotes in the background.
that’s right…i used hebrew in my paper!
that’s at 10 inches if you can’t see that close!
i apologize for the less than spectacular photography above…i took them at 2 am after i finished writing my paper.
HAPPY SUMMER!
