Now that I’ve finished my master’s degree and submitted about half of my doctoral applications, I have some time to relax and read for pleasure―and to blog a little. This is really the first time in a while that I haven’t had homework hanging over my head, all Damoclean-like. I took a winterim last year as well as a summer independent study (that turned into a summer-fall independent study!), so I’ve been going pretty much non-stop since I started at PBU last September.

My reading list is incredibly long, but with only three days per week of work at this point, I hope to take a considerable bite out of that list rather quickly. Right now I’m working on Hays’s The Moral Vision of the New Testament, Levitt’s SuperFreakonomics, and Richards’s Money, Greed and God. I also have quite a few more technical econ articles I’m excited about.

I’m also spending a lot more time just reading Hebrew and Greek rapidly. This morning I spent an hour-and-a-half doing my daily office from the BCP, because I decided to read all the biblical texts in Hebrew and Greek–one Psalm, and one passage each from the prophets, Revelation and the Gospels. It’s very rich and rewarding to read the original texts devotionally; I hope I’m getting better at seeing past the niphals and pluperfects in order to experience Christ in the texts. Tom Wright says that someone advised him early in his academic career to have one Bible for scholarly study and one Bible for devotional readings―and that, thankfully, he didn’t listen to this advice.

I’m hoping to pick up my German studies again in the New Year―my Austrian buddy has moved to MD but is willing to tutor me via Skype. I also want to get down with some Ugaritic; would anyone like to recommend a textbook?

I also have some time for research projects I’ve been meaning to finish. I did some work last year on Jewish self-identity and the matrilineal principle, and I need to revise my acrostics project based on some new reading I’ve done.

Hey, if I can accomplish half of this stuff in the spring, I’ll be a happy clam. What’s on TV?