Update on Tom Head's Ph.D. Hunt

I've narrowed it down to five options: two British, three Australian. All look feasible, but the one I'm favoring is actually an Australian Ph.D. program in philosophy (that can be tailored to philosophy of religion, and in fact features a very prominent religious philosopher on its faculty). More details to follow after I've nailed a few things down.


Peace,

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Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

 

Tom,

I'll be looking forward to hearing more.

 

Thanks -- I appreciate it!

How goes your own hunt...? One thought that just occured to me, and may or may not be helpful: Charles Sturt University's Th.M. can also be done in a purely research-based mode, I've been told. I wonder if a dissertation focusing on Christian literature, with an accompanying creative project, might be workable. Ken Lewchuk can tell you more, I think.

Peace,

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Tom Head
www.tomhead.net

 

Thanks, Tom!

It seems that I keep coming back to systematic theology as the discipline which seeks to address the most important questions of life--and yet the arts remain an integral part of who I am. I keep thinking of practical theology as a possible discipline for my concentration, or maybe a MDiv, but I really don't have an interest in church administration and such.

If I could just somehow integrate a creative component into a systematic theology concentration, I believe I would pursue that. I wonder if that's possible.

 

Happy hunting Tom and best of luck. I look forward to hearing about your choice and topic for research.

North

 

I throw this out as bait for those who know what they're talking about, but perhaps the first step is to decide philosophically between MDiv and not-MDiv; the difference in scope is so large that it may frustrate the type of comparison that you're making. If you choose MDiv, then you may have to find the creative element in piecewise fashion. It would be difficult to have an overall creative theme to the entire program, but since it involves nearly thrice the course work, you'd have ample opportunity to tie many study areas together (which later could be tied together more neatly in a Ph.D. program).

An MA offers a more focused opportunity for blending in the creative element, but...I leave to others to say whether this is the best path for a pastoral career. I don't know if you're more interested in a pastoral or academic career path.)

Good luck.

 

Bill,

Until recently, I've been interested in both a pastoral and academic career path, but presently I'm leaning more toward academia.

 

Dude, in keeping with your non-traditional ways, I think you should pioneer home-schooling to the PhD level. You could write a very self-referential dissertation on the process. Do you think the parental units--the Head Masters so to speak--would go for it?

 

Though the M.Div. is longer, it may be beneficial--like killing three birds with one stone sort of thing. The first bird is the pastoral/ordination prerequisite. The second, you can specialize within the M.Div. (beyond the pastoral component) for Ph.D. work. The third, the extra time for the M.Div. can be used to your advantage if your Ph.D. area requires lots of languages.

Some people finish their M.A.'s in 1 1/2 years but if they haven't done their languages, they usually take another 2 years or so (or add the extra time within the doctoral program). Languages for theological disciplines are many. If you plan it correctly, in the 3 years that you take the M.Div., you could also satisfy most of your languages (both biblical and modern).

EsqPhD

 

I'm sure they would. Only thing is that for a philosophy dissertation, I'd rather do something a little more out-there; I did promise myself that if I ever did Ole Miss's extension Ph.D. in educational leadership (my nearest residential option), though, I would find some way to do a dissertation on homeschooling.


Peace,

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Tom Head
www.tomhead.net