I don’t usually share family pictures on this blog, but I hope you’ll indulge me. Daniel turned five and Elizabeth turned two, both in July. Here are some fun moments from the summer.
If you’ve followed this blog over the last few months, you know that I’ve had a lot going on. I moved back from Europe, moved again into an apartment with my wife and kids, embarked on and returned from a five-state tour, and decided not to return to Europe. My wife and I have been employed nearly full-time helping my in-laws, with my father-in-law in the fight of his life recovering from his second surgery for brain cancer. Oh, and I started a new/old job.
Amidst all the turmoil and the painful decision not to return to LCC International University for the time being, God has still allowed me some time for reading, studying, writing and teaching. As I was finishing off a book review for RBL and two sermons in June, I received word that my dissertation had been accepted for publication by T&T Clark in their Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series (the successor to the JSOT Supplement series). I’m hoping to complete the revisions they requested by January, and if I stick to that timeline the book should be in print next fall.
Revising the dissertation is a big project, but a welcome one. First, it’s a tremendous honor and a step forward in my career to be accepted into such a well-known series. Second, it’s rewarding to go back over research that was substantially completed nearly two years ago (Oct 2013) and see that it “holds up”: I still think what I was working on is pretty fun, unique, and useful. I hope that doesn’t come across as improper pride, but rather as deep satisfaction.
I’m also preparing two papers for the annual meeting of ETS this fall: one on Samuel and Chronicles which is mostly written, and one on the LXX, MT and the OT canon. I honestly hadn’t expected to get two proposals accepted, but so it goes. The LXX paper brings together ideas that are scattered in various posts at THTW over the last few years, and I’m eager to get some feedback from the conference participants.
I’m still getting to do some teaching, as well. I’m supervising one LCC student who is taking Greek 1 by independent study during August. In addition, just this week I was invited to teach a freshman-level OT Introduction course at Eastern University this Fall. I’m scrambling to rearrange my schedule, choose textbooks, and outline a course syllabus. But I’m very grateful for the opportunity, and I’m hopeful that it will be the beginning of a longer relationship with Eastern.
These tasks feed my soul and keep me moving forward–always learning, always helping others learn. I’m so grateful to my wife for seeing the value in my work and encouraging me–even through this difficult time for all of us.
A reform plan would not be complete unless we get to the root of the problem. Planned Parenthood wouldn’t be able to rip babies apart and sell their parts if abortion weren’t legal in the first place. We have videos of doctors talking about crushing, crunching, and chopping up living babies because of the simple fact that abortion is legal.
This is the primary horror. If you are shocked by the recent videos, by the declaration of “It’s a baby!” or “We have another boy!” as technicians separate hearts, kidneys, spines, and lungs, and you don’t consider the fact that the causal agent here is legal abortion, then you’re missing the point entirely. While it is offensive and illegal that Planned Parenthood might be making money off the sale of baby parts, this is nothing compared to the alarming fact that they’re killing babies in the first place. If all we do is defund Planned Parenthood, babies will still be butchered, and their legs, arms, brains, and livers will still be sold.
Dear Friends,
We are so grateful for your support of our ministry at LCC International University in the form of prayer, encouragement and financial gifts. The last eighteen months since we decided to go to LCC have been quite a journey, and our lives will never be the same.
What’s Going On?
Last week, Corrie and I informed LCC that we would not be returning to Lithuania in January, and that the Theology department should look for someone to fill my role full-time for the Spring 2016 term and beyond.
Corrie’s father, Rev. Joe Hesh, is not doing well post-surgery–the road is long and difficult with this sort of tumor. We visited him as a family on Saturday for Daniel’s birthday, and he was slightly improved from last week, but it is still an open question as to whether he can work his way back cognitively and physically to where he was before the surgery. We need to be in the US for the foreseeable future, and that probably means beyond January. It therefore seems wisest (and only fair to the school) for us to move on from LCC.
This has been a very hard decision, because we were happy in Lithuania and would certainly have returned if everything were fine here. We will miss the school, the students, the staff, and all the friends we made there. But the right decision was clear, because honoring our parents is not negotiable. Despite the difficult circumstances and the long-range uncertainty, it is a comfort to know with absolute certainty that we are right where God wants us for now.
What Is Your Current Situation?
We have seen God clear a path for us to stay here and help Joe and Claudia. We just moved into a condo (see address below) that has been provided for us free of rent. We have received two reliable cars to use. I got my old job back at ICON Clinical Research (with benefits and slightly higher pay!). The kids both had enjoyable birthdays in July and are enjoying seeing Grammy, Pop-pop, and many old friends. Daniel loves our new place because it has trash pickup twice a week and blackberry bushes. Elizabeth is talking quite a bit now, and still says “Ačiū!”
We also have many opportunities with coworkers, relatives, hospital staff, and the 1,000+ people receiving updates to share the gospel and testify of the work God is doing in our lives, so our work as missionaries is by no means ending here. Even though this has been one of the most difficult periods in our lives thus far, we see God with us.
What Are Your Plans?
We don’t have any definite plans beyond December yet, and we would not rule out the possibility of going back to LCC someday. I will be applying for any teaching positions in North America that may come available for Fall 2016. It is possible that my six-month contract at ICON could be renewed in January.
If our family situation changed such that a return to LCC became a viable option once again, we would restart the process as if we were applying and preparing “from square one.”
Will You Still Be Involved in LCC? How Can I Stay Involved?
We will still be involved with LCC from afar in an adjunct capacity. I am supervising one independent study right now, and I will probably teach one class for LCC online in the Spring. We still believe very strongly in the mission of LCC, and we will promote the school every chance we get. We would be happy to visit your church or a group in your home to present what we were doing and talk about LCC.
We hope you will consider how you might support LCC or even serve there yourself. There are all sorts of gifts, skills and talents that can be useful at a university. And, if you are college-age or have a college-age person in your family, you should consider LCC for study-abroad or matriculated studies (it costs less than $6,000 per year for tuition, room and board–seriously).
How Can I Help?
Many of you have already helped us move, and are currently helping us to assist Joe and Claudia. Both our churches and our circle of PA friends have rallied around us, and we will continue to need your help when it comes time to move them out and make their house ready for sale. We will reach out through the church networks about needs that arise.
The Giffones are doing pretty well for now: We have all our needs met and then some. The next big challenge for us will be finding a job in ministry or higher ed where I can use my gifts and training for God’s glory. We would like to stay in the Northeast, but we are open in theory to anything in North America. We recognize that it’s a difficult job market out there. But if you know of any positions coming available for Fall 2016 or beyond, I’d be grateful for any leads or contacts you could provide.
How Can I Stay Connected?
Our email addresses are unchanged. Our USA phone numbers are: 215-873-6965 (Corrie–same as when we left) and 267-945-7354 (Benj–new). Our mailing address is: 413 Wexford Way, Telford, PA, 18969.
We would still like to send periodic updates about Joe’s health and our ministry. We want to make sure that you receive only the emails you want. If you want to receive any further updates from us, please click on this link and select which ones you’d like to receive. We will not send you any more mass emails unless you ask to receive them.
Any Final Thoughts?
When Corrie and I were married, we adopted Psalm 34:3 as a Bible verse that reflected how we wanted our lives together to be. That still reflects our deepest desire. We have decided that Ezekiel 11:16 has become more appropriate us, now that we have moved four times in thirteen months and will probably move at least once in the year to come: “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.'”
Love,
Benj, Corrie, Daniel and Elizabeth
“If the church’s existence is not purely creaturely but a ‘divine-humanity,’ then we need to spell out its link with the triune God more precisely if we are to understand its true nature and function. For the role or function of the church grows out of its ontological status as a divine-humanity. This ontological status is sometimes expressed in the concept of Mother Church, made famous by Cyprian: ‘He who has not the Church for his mother, has not God for his Father.’ That is to say, the church is our nourishing Mother, and we are entirely dependent on her for our existence as Christians. We are not saved as individuals first and then incorporated into the church; rather, to be a Christian is to be incorporated into the church by baptism and nourished with the spiritual food of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. Failure to understand this fact has led to a reduction of the church’s role to a largely sociological one of a service provider catering to individual believers’ spiritual needs.”
Simon Chan, Liturgical Theology (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 24 (emphasis added).
Today’s general theme seems to be the so-called “Millennial” generation, of which I am a member.
Hey Guys, I’m a Young Person and I Have Opinions (Rachel Held Evans, Millennials, Etc.): “It seems to me — and I’m just spitballing here — that if we’re genuinely trying to find Jesus, the best place to start is where Jesus himself promised to be — that is, in the bread and the wine of the Eucharist. After all, if we can’t even trust the guy on where he’s going to be, is he even worth tracking down?”
Aziz Ansari: Love, Online Dating, Modern Romance and the Internet.
Yes, My Grown Homeschooled Children Are Odd – And Yours Will Be Too!
Today is my third day back at ICON Clinical Research. If you have followed this blog for any length of time (or if you know me in the flesh-and-blood world), you probably know that I worked at ICON for eight years while in seminary and graduate school before finally jumping into life as a full-time assistant professor at LCC International University last year. My father-in-law’s health has taken a dramatic turn for the worse, however, and my wife and I have returned from Lithuania to Pennsylvania to live near my in-laws and help with his care and their move to a different home. I am officially on medical leave from the university for the fall term, but the possibility that we will return for the spring term seems more remote each day as he declines and as we get a fuller picture of their finances.
When we knew in March that we’d be taking leave from LCC, I contacted my former manager at ICON and asked if there were some role that I could jump into as a contractor or a temp for six months or so. He eagerly said, “Give me three weeks, and let me see what I can do,” and sure enough, a few weeks later he had a contract for me: my old pay rate, with benefits, for six months with the possibility of renewal.
I have no doubt in my mind and heart that this is God’s provision for us during this time. It is a blessing to be able to pick up meaningful, interesting work that pays quite well, rather than having to work at Starbucks for insurance. I liked my ICON coworkers, and most of them are still here (some did a double-take when they saw me in the hall).
But I can’t deny that it is very difficult to set aside the professorial life for now. I had prepared for so long and worked so hard in graduate school while working full time (not to mention all the sacrifices my wife made), and God opened all the doors and smoothed the way for us to get to LCC–and now, apparently, is taking it all back. I admit that I’m angry sometimes. It’s hard enough to see a loved one suffer and decline, but then to have to move again and change careers again while that is happening–everything is compounded. This is probably a post for another time, but God has taught me a lot over the last few months about his sovereignty and his plans for us (or, you can listen to my recent sermon). My anger is selfish, and the Holy Spirit is working to rid me of it.
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I’d say that academia is particularly difficult to transition in and out of as a career, for a few reasons. First, research and teaching momentum matters. Second, CV and continuous employment matters. But momentum and continuity also matter in other fields.
Academia–more than other fields–cultivates in its trainees (graduate students) the notion that self-identity is wrapped up in one’s area of study. In order to complete a dissertation, it is almost necessary to enter a state of temporary narcissistic insanity, with the student believing that his/her topic is the most important thing in all the world. I’m only slightly exaggerating, and if you think I’m wrong, talk to some professors in the humanities at a research institution.
When you finally achieve that prize, the “PhD,” academia changes your name–not your legal name, but your form of address: you are now “Doctor ____.” No other profession does that except the church or certain government positions. It’s like you’ve been “ordained,” “installed,” “confirmed,” or “sworn-in” as a member of an eternal order: The Order Of Those Who Know More About One Thing Than Anyone Else In The World.
Of course, being called “Doctor” doesn’t make you one. Even having a doctorate doesn’t make you a “doctor” in a meaningful sense. I can’t help you with that sore on the base of your spine! For a while last year, I used “PhD” in my ICON email signature because I felt that it would make some colleagues take my department seriously (a perennial problem). I eventually took it out because it was disingenuous: my doctorate has nothing to do with my work at ICON. My five-year-old son doesn’t care that I have a doctorate; neither do my dentist (though I care that he has a doctorate!), the cashier at the store, or most of my friends. It’s just not relevant to most of life; to those people, I’m not “Doctor Giffone,” I’m “Benj” (“Daddy” to two little people).
Graduate school also breeds in students the sense that failure to complete the degree and attain a tenure-track position is failure at life.[1] The reality, as we all know, is that a small fraction of doctoral students in the humanities will ever have a full-time tenure-track position. (I’m one of the lucky ones who did, but I had to go to Eastern Europe and raise 65% of my own salary.) As is well documented, graduate programs do a good job of teaching adults to think critically, but a poor job of pointing them to ways that they can use those critical skills outside of academia.
I’m one of the lucky ones, I think. I worked in a professional “real-world” job for eight years (and counting), and I have the specialized academic research training. Even though the fields were totally unrelated, the skills I learned in one world helped me in the other (mostly verbal skills and people skills). In retrospect, I’m glad that I didn’t get into one of the stipended PhD programs I applied to in 2009, because six years later I might have a PhD but also more debt and very little in the way of job prospects. My wife wouldn’t be home with the kids; she’d have to work full-time. As it is now, I can feed my family in pharma if teaching doesn’t work out. For me, “PHD” doesn’t stand for “Pizza Hut Driver,” “Pile it Higher and Deeper,” or “Pretty Huge”–well, you know.
I’m glad God gave me at least a year of full-time teaching, because it was so much fun and so meaningful, and because it will (I hope) help me set aside that achievement that I idolized. I do hope that I get back to teaching and research someday (and sooner rather than later), because that’s where my comparative advantage is, I believe. But I don’t need to prove it to myself anymore. And that leaves me more open and (increasingly) willing to use whatever skills and opportunities I have to glorify God–by providing for my family, first and foremost.
[1] Inklings: The “Follow Your Passion” Trap; Non-Academic Career Options for PhDs in the Humanities and Social Sciences | Center for Career Education.
In an article, “What Can You Do With a Humanities Ph.D., Anyway?”, Elizabeth Segran writes: “So why are humanities Ph.D.s outside academia so invisible? One reason is that within academic departments there is a culture of stigmatizing doctoral candidates who take non-academic posts, making them less inclined to stick around and contribute to debates about the future of the field. When I spoke to Rosemary Feal, executive director of the MLA, she said, ‘There is a discourse of failure and shame that intimidates Ph.D.s and makes them feel not good enough if they don’t get an academic job.’ This dynamic is a byproduct of a value system that prizes intellectual pursuits over business and industry. ‘Some dissertation advisors are prejudiced against many jobs outside academia that Ph.D.s pursue and find highly satisfying: They cannot imagine a “life of the mind” unless you become a scholar,’ Feal explained.”
This is the audio (35:53, 32.8MB) of a sermon delivered at Preakness Valley United Reformed Church on June 28 entitled, “The Wrong Kind of Glory.” The text is 2 Corinthians 11:16-33. I should cite N.T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God as the source of the notion of the corona muralis parody in verses 30-33.
Here is an excerpt of the sermon:
Paul speaks to the Corinthian church about this impulse to gain the respect and admiration of others, and to have that respect live on beyond our earthly days. He speaks to them harshly but playfully, even sarcastically, because their idea of glory and respect is so skewed away from what it should be. He shows them how absurd their expectations are, but points them instead to his own example as an apostle, and to the example of the Messiah who laid down his life to rescue them.
Audio and text: ©2015 by Benjamin D. Giffone. Reproduction and distribution are permitted, providing that the author is properly credited and that no fee is charged.
The purpose of my “Links” series is to provide interesting and informative reading material so that my readers might think hard, and think well (hmm, has a nice ring to it). It should go without saying that I don’t endorse everything said in every article to which I link.
Sex and marriage:
More:
Something important to think about:
This is the audio (32:05, 29.3MB) of a sermon delivered at Preakness Valley United Reformed Church on June 28 entitled, “A Future and a Hope?” The text is Jeremiah 29:1-14. Dedicated readers of THTW know that I Love Ruining Bible Verses; this sermon fleshes out some ideas in that post.
Here is an excerpt:
The danger in taking the promises in verse 11 out of context and applying them directly to our lives is that we can so easily replace God’s plans, God’s future, and God’s hope with our plans, our future, and our hope. God is the sovereign Lord of all his creation, including me. He doesn’t have to conform his plans for my life to my plans for my life; he can use me however he chooses. Even when he makes promises to his people because of the special covenant relationship he has with them, he doesn’t always fulfill them as we would want them fulfilled. I’m sure that the exiles in Babylon would not have chosen seventy years, if it had been up to them.
And yet, when we accept God’s plans for our future, we can see that they are infinitely better than our own plans. Yes, God brought Israel back from exile—but things were never as glorious for them as they had hoped. In fact, the spiritual state of exile continues on for hundreds of years–interestingly, in the book of Daniel chapter 9, Daniel is praying based on this Jeremiah passage, and an angel tells him that the exile is not 70 years, but 70 times 7 years! But when the fullness of time had come, Paul says in Galatians, God came to them directly, in the person of Jesus Christ, to rescue his people from their spiritual exile and bondage to sin. That promise of rescue from exile, and a future hope of resurrection from the dead, is offered to all who confess their sin and throw all their hope and trust in Jesus.
Audio and text: ©2015 by Benjamin D. Giffone. Reproduction and distribution are permitted, providing that the author is properly credited and that no fee is charged.
think hard, think well 