Old Testament, the Blog in the Upcoming Year, and News

Last updated on: April 5, 2018 at 11:55 am by Ben Spackman

Old Testament, the Blog in the Upcoming Year, and News 2018-04-05T11:55:03-05:00 Ben Spackman

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Coming back to the Old Testament means I’ve been at this solo blog thing for a while, and I have a lot of prewritten material to work with. In the next year, I’ll be reposting and updating all of my Old Testament Gospel Doctrine posts, so they should appear as “new” posts in your feed and on the blog. If for some reason you get ahead of my updating/resposting, a google search for Benjamin Scribe Old Testament Lesson X or using the blog index (link at the top of every page) can get you to the old post you’re looking for. I also anticipate writing some new posts.

Between now and December when I start those, I’ll be posting two things. First, my Sperry paper will get turned into individual post-size chunks, and then I’ll post the whole thing as a PDF. I also recorded my final presentation of it, and will post that as a screencast, soon. The paper has some things the fireside didn’t, and vice-verse.

Second, I have several posts in the works about what resources to read to better understand, appreciate, and teach the Old Testament. I’ll probably start with a Top 5 post, and then some individualized posts about different kinds of resources.

Along those lines, at the bottom of every post is a link to my GoFundMe PhD campaign. I recently changed the rewards structure so that anyone who donates $25 or more gets early access to one ($25) or several ($50+) of my forthcoming papers/publications… although not my book. I can report that the book is moving forward and being refined and I remain quite excited about it, but I made the mistake of leaving the hardest writing for last. It might be 80% done (to pick a number), but I’m really struggling with the last parts as well as the editing of what I’ve already written. The perfect is the enemy of the good and all that, but it also needs to meet a certain standard.

As for the rest, I’ll cap my coursework by participating in an archaeological dig in Israel over the summer, but have begun early reading for my three comprehensive exams: American religious history, Reformation history, and history of science. Since Claremont requires the dissertation proposal along with the exams, I’ve been working on that as well. I’ve got some good ideas, but have to do some research and read the tea leaves before I decide on what I’m doing. It will almost certainly involve intellectual history, interpretation of scripture, evolution/creationism, and probably Mormonism in some way, all yet TBD.

The future is bright, and I’m really looking forward to Old Testament again. As I’ve said in my firesides, I think the Old Testament is a gift we have failed to really unwrap.

As always, you can help me pay my tuition here. You can also get updates by email whenever a post goes up (subscription box on the right). If you friend me on Facebook, please drop me a note telling me you’re a reader. I tend not to accept friend requests from people I’m not acquainted with. Thanks for reading

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D&C Gospel Doctrine Lesson 42: Some important background and resources on OD2

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November 15, 2017 Virtual Sperry Fireside On Reading the Old Testament in Context

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