I think I’ve found my Ph.D program. Okay, so I know this might as well be about a million years away and a million things could happen to change my plans between now and then, but it can’t hurt to dream, right?

I originally was thinking about Brandeis’ Ph.D in Bible and Ancient Near East, but then Calvin pointed me to the University of Chicago’s Divinity school, where they have a Ph.D in Biblical studies. They have 3 classes, count ‘em 3 whole classes!, that focus entirely on mythology, and a prof that specializes in that area! That is very exciting as I am just fascinated by the mythological influences of the Hebrew Bible and would love to do more work in that area. What I also like is that you choose 3 exams to take out of the 4 areas they offer - they have 2 Hebrew Bible areas and 2 NT areas - which gives me the opportunity to specialize in Hebrew Bible, of course, but then to branch out a bit and study the NT a little. Which is something I do want to do, because there are some specific topics in the NT that I am very interested in working with, such as the Day of the Lord themes and how they carry over and are used, as well as the few mythological references in the NT. I just really like the program. There are also a few other classes that sound very interesting, that don’t nessecarily deal directly with mythology, but could possibly have some mythological backgrounds to them.

Of course, this is all just a bit of dreaming at the moment - and as I well know, the best laid plans of mice and men…