Well, today was a rather fantastic day. I had the great privilege of sitting in, for the first time, on a dissertation defense. While the dissertation material itself was quite fascinating and an interesting contribution to knowledge, I was fortunate enough to also meet this PhD candidate’s outside reader: Mark Goodacre. For a first year PhD student like myself, this was a rather stimulating day, for it won’t be long before I sit at the other end of the table being grilled over how and whether my project contributes to knowledge and the discipline (not to mention whether it is coherent, intelligible, and plausible!). Thus, I was struck by Goodacre’s cool demeanor, warmth, and brilliance. He posed some very challenging questions and it was quite fun to “watch him in action” as it were. I always pay keen attention to scholars, how they handle themselves, speak, question, and engage, especially well respected scholars of Professor Goodacre’s caliber. I was exceptionally impressed.
Further, subsequent to the dissertation defense, Goodacre was kind enough to join our PhD students for our New Testament Colloquium meeting, which he presented a lecture on the outlines and contours of the argument he has set out in his forthcoming text on Thomas and the NT Gospels. Although, I haven’t spent and extended amount of time in Thomas, I was aware of some of the issues. Goodacre’s book with undoubtedly raise important questions for the relation of Thomas to the NT Gospels, which he suggests the former is secondary to the latter (though he is reticent to use the terminology of “dependence”). In fact, I would have to say, after having listened and had the opportunity to discuss with him, my interest is certainly peeked. I do look forward to reading his forthcoming text.
In sum, today was a nerdy PhD student like me’s dream, to hang out with a bunch of incredibly intelligent experts in their field, listen to the probe a project and then learn about current work and the potential insights gained from that work.
Special thanks to Mark Goodacre for being so kind as to dialogue with me. It was an honor to meet him and hope to see him again, perhaps at SBL. Thanks to Profs Warren Carter and Fransisco Lozada Jr. for hosting the colloquium and encouraging us to attend. Thanks to Brite Divinity School!
