it has been a long time since i have blogged. this one will be brief as well. i am actually asking for help. for those of you who know me, you know i am completing an advanced master's degree in theology, specifically Old Testament. i need help coming up with a thesis topic. my parameters are this:
1) i want to work with Old Testament narrative. i am particularly interested in the Torah, and then the Writings.
2) i want to deal with narrative more than poetry. Poetics are very challenging and usually have the oldest Hebrew, which can be very difficult to translate.
3) It has to be something that not too many people have written about. An example of something that I wanted to write about, but has too much already written is the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis. It is inserted right in the middle of Joseph's story. Feels out of place, but it isn't. Unfortunately, this has much written about it.
4) I want it to be applicable. I could choose to write about verb tenses and comparisons between poetics and narrative, but if it doesn't have any impact on our spiritual journey, who cares?
I'm going to be pouring a lot of time into this. Any suggestions would be very helpful.
Here are some questions that you could think through that might help me. What is your favorite Old Testament story and why? Where have you had questions about the theology or relevance of a story? What seems the weirdest to you? Have you ever wondered how a particular Old Testament story relates to the New Testament? Do you even read the Old Testament, or do you feel that it's antiquated and has little to do with you? have you read the new testament where it has mentioned something from the old testament, but you don't get it? if i can help you through my research, these are the things i want to do. thanks for your input.
