Quick Catch-Up.

So I received today the official record of my final year at the College, and as I suspected I passed. I have now completed all the requirements for the M.Div degree which will be conferred this coming September at the Convocation/College evening.

Also, Prof. Visscher is now Dr. Visscher, having sustained his dissertation defence last Tuesday (a week ago) at McMaster. Here is the blurb from the College website:

On May 20, 2008, at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Prof. Gerhard H. Visscher successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Abraham, Faith, and Works: the Role of Romans 4 in the Discussion concerning the New Perspective on Paul” and therewith completed all the requirements for the Ph.D. degree.

Here follows the Abstract of the Dissertation, which was completed under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Westerholm:

Since 1977, scholars associated with the New Perspective of Paul have suggested that Paul was misread by many during and after the Reformation period as they too often equated those whom they thought to be in error in their times with those whom Paul opposed. According to such New Perspective scholars, Judaism knew much more of grace than has generally been realized, and hence, Paul was opposing not works in general but specific works (often referred to as “boundary markers”) which served to distinguish Jew from non-Jew. This involves a reinterpretation of Paul.

Those opposing this reinterpretation of Paul have suggested that it is especially Paul’s words in Romans 4 which prove that this reinterpretation proposed by New Perspective scholars fails. This thesis reexamines Paul’s argument in Romans 4, asking whether New Perspective or more traditional scholars provide the more convincing interpretation of Paul’s words.

In the dissertation, the writings of five New Perspective scholars (E.P. Sanders, J.D.G. Dunn, N.T. Wright, T. Donaldson, H. Raisanen) are discussed, followed by the writings of five opponents of the New Perspective position (T.R. Schreiner, F. Thielman, M.A. Seifrid, S.J. Gathercole, S. Westerholm). Thereafter, the context of Romans 4 is examined by reviewing the background of Romans, the argument of the prior chapters, and the relation between Romans 3:27-31 and Romans 4. By then examining Romans 4 at length, the conclusion is drawn that while the New Perspective position presents some helpful insights, it fails to do justice not only to Paul’s words in Romans 4:1-8 but also to the rest of the chapter, 9-25. While Paul's objective is to speak about the relationship between Jew and Gentile, to do so he emphasizes the absence of works (in the traditional sense) on the part of Abraham and those who follow in “the footsteps” of the faith of Abraham, whether they be Jew or Gentile.

Congratulations, Dr. Visscher. I hope you find something with which to fill all your new-found free time!

I have also decided, due to a discussion about Kierkegaard with Sherri I had last week, to make Wednesday evenings Kierkegaard evenings. I plan on reading through some of Kierkegaard's works (probably starting with some of his discourses), and I thought that putting it into my schedule would help me keep it up. Also, making it only Wednesday nights means that it won't eat into too much of my time for other things, and that I don't over-dose on Kierkegaard either.

That's it for now. I am still preparing for classis. Once I am done my doctrine preparation (perhaps tomorrow morning), I will post some of the conclusions or summaries I have made.