School.

I hope to be done with my dissertation this week. Barring a critique from my supervisor that would force me to frantically rework the paper, I should be able to send it over to the UK by the end of the week. My time at St Andrews has been rewarding, challenging, and frustrating. Originally enrolling in the course to "get my feet wet" in the world of academic theology and to test out if this was something that I wanted to pursue further than just reading books on the side, I have been thoroughly bitten by the bug, as it were. Doing a distance learning course has certainly had its benefits and disadvantages, allowing me to teach myself how to do research and to write better papers, but excluding the face to face time with both peers and professors that is so essential to the learning environment of the academy. I have to say that the program would have been far less enjoyable and profitable without the residential week at the beginning of each semester. Going to Scotland four times over the last two years wasn't much of a burden, either.

I took three modules: "Fictionalizing the New Testament", "Theology, Art, and Politics", and "Public Theology"; and wrote a Dissertation on James MacMillan's St John Passion . Through these modules and the research I have been doing for the last seven months, I feel like I have acquired a decent understanding of how to approach theology, politics, and the arts; I say approach because I feel like this degree was more of an introduction to these things than a thorough exploration. I am fairly satisfied with my dissertation, but I feel, having gone through this experience, that I have simply learned how to start thinking about music and theology. I feel that if I started now, with all that I have learned through writing this paper, I might be able to say something more substantial. Nonetheless, I am thankful beyond measure for this experience and I feel that I am entering Duke Divinity with a solid foundation.

I am very much looking forward to being a full time student. Duke is a beautiful place, and I am privileged beyond my wildest dreams to be studying at such an institution. There is an anxiousness burning in my belly to begin the fall semester. I am a bit nervous. Not because I don't think I will be able to handle the work, but rather because I am not yet fully convinced that I belong here. I didn't even take Algebra 2 in high school and my undergrad experience was defined mostly by my attempt at rock-stardom, not by any scholarly efforts or achievements. But, whatever. God works strangely- or at least makes the world strange; here I am.