Steven S Veach

As part of my Doctor of Theology program at Forge Theological Seminary I am posting this as an update to my progress as I (theoretically) begin Phase II – Research.

Issues with Phase II

Well, I guess the biggest issue, with it being 12pm on Tuesday and I was supposed to start Phase II of my ThD program yesterday, I can’t seem to get started.

Sunday I was a bit anxious. Didn’t really know what I was going to do with myself and I started experiencing some peculiar anxiety about actually digging into the research finally. Here I am, with my MA finished and I’m in the perfect doctoral program (for me) and there is even a surprisingly positive outlook for employment at at least one seminary and possibly another volunteer position at another. The future also looks rather positive (for me) if the culture continues to atrophe and formal, professional Christianity is forced to flee from the main stage. If and when she does, there will be a moment to capitalize on the unnecessary element of secular accreditation.

But, then again, I have to ask myself, do I really want to be a full time professor at a seminary? Do I want to be a part-time professor at a seminary in person? Wouldn’t I be happier simply staying where I am (secular part-time employment) to fund my independent research and maybe dip my toe into the water of non-accredited academic mentor/professorships, while focusing the bulk of my attention on 1. Disseminating the persecution curriculum. 2. Developing new courses in Christian Philosophy? I can scratch the itch to teach and mentor by launching 2 podcasts, one for Persecution and Christian Philosophy discussion and the other a secular podcast focusing on unschooling college, university, and seminary. No bosses. No culture. I work on my own terms, utilizing my own format (asynchronous – email – portfolios).

At this point, I need to finish (get started) on my dissertation. Then I need to complete the Defense. During that time I also want to finish at least one future planned article for submission to FTS’ new academic journal Ecclesia Militans. Not sure what I’m going to write about, though, of course, I imagine it will have something to do with death, the enochian worldview, and how one of those are connected to persecution of the church.

This week I’m focusing on the outline. I want to review it several times, edit, expand, and then transfer it to Scrivener. If I can finish this by Friday, I should be doing pretty well. I would also like to have a list of the first books in each section I plan to review. I’m thinking 10 in each category would do it. Then, going forward, I would just do segments of the bibliographies by 10s. Of course, this is just cursory reviews of the sources to determine if they should get just a keyword search, a more critical examination and further review, or if they are important enough to actually be read.

There is one critical connection that I need to make in the research itself. I’m confident on my connection between a philosophy of death and persecution, simply that the martyr is the one persecuted to death. What the individual’s philosophy of death is will inform and stage/frame the individual’s response to persecution (resulting in death) and what opportunities the individual seizes while experiencing first hand that circumstance to witness boldly to witnesses and to their persecutors. But, I do not yet have a clear (or as clear) a connection between persecution and the Enochian Worldview. It is my hope this connection will identify itself as I work through the source material.

Logos Updates

Part of the distraction (though I think it was self-fabricated) was a preoccupation with updating my Logos software program. As someone who has lived on less than $500 / month for the majority of my adult life (not by force of poverty but by personal choice), I come to the issue (upgrading) conflicted. I have more than enough money. I could technically buy all but the greatest program right now with cash if I so desired (the most expensive package is $16,000, which is out of my reach, though I would not desire it anyway). I was, though, admiring the $1000 package. It provides all the English translations (Reverse Interlinears) that I would desire (NKJV, NIV, NASB, NLT, etc). I already have the NET, the Orthodox, and the English LXX.

I also needed a new Greek Bible. The current one I had that came with the base package was a conglomeration of the SBLGNT and Sweete’s LXX. Unfortunately the SBL was not an interlinear at all and the LXX was only a Greek to Hebrew interlinear. I was hoping to find the equivalent to the Apostolic Bible Polyglot, which is an eclectic interlinear text comprised of the LXX G/E and the TR or Majority text New Testament. This is available in the Word Bible Software and has been sorely missed since my awkward move to Logos (through Accordance – still gives me nightmares).

So I spent the weekend and all of Monday search and researching what the best option would be, what would have the most useful resources for the least amount of cost. I guess the 30+ years of frugality has really tempered my ability to spend money frivolously. Packages in Logos (unlike Accordance) do actually offer net savings vs buying ad hoc. But I struggled with having a program already worth around $500 that is relatively unused. Not that I don’t use it, but I just don’t feel as if I use it effectively enough or get out of the resources I’ve purchased to justify purchasing any more.

But, this is what I finally decided (which has, of course, again changed) last night about 4am. Instead of ordering the $1000 package which basically povides a whole lot of useless stuff and some okay stuff and then a few things I really think I need going forward (for my dissertation and beyond), I ordered the NKJV reverse interlinear, the TR G/E Interlinear, the Sweete LXX G/E interlinear and as a last minute purchase, an outline book for $15 because the current version of Logos is locked out of the Outline Browser. So instead of the $500 feature upgrade, I spent the $15 and it provides basically the same thing. I could have done the work myself with free outlines online, but they were difficult to source and would be a pain to format. It was just easier to spend the $15 and be done with it.

There is a chance, if I land a teaching job at the primary seminary of choice, that a professional version of Logos will be provided. But, even if it is not I’m still fine with what I have. I considered actually enrolling into one Master’s program simply for the Logos package that is included. But, upon closer inspection, it’s not that much better than the one I have now. I could fix the features for $500. All in, I could replicate the package for about $5000 and their tuition is well over $8000. I was a little surprised (disappointed) to discover their commentary selection is not that robust, even for the high price.

At this point I’ve been able to update my program with a few tweaks that I think will help greatly moving forward. I kept hitting a wall on my Scripture memorization efforts (which has supplanted my Greek studies for the forseeable future) because I was uncomfortable with the MT/LXX readings. When saved I had a KJV, but I couldn’t understand it. It was suggested by a missionary that I get an NIV, which I read from cover to cover, highlighted, underlined for over a year until it basically fell apart. Shortly after, I started researching the CT/TR issues and come out of that wanting the reverse of the NIV – I wanted the MT/TR text in line with the notes about the CT in the footnotes (the NIV switches this). I eventually landed on the NKJV because it does the very thing I desired. So, for years, I read and studied from the NKJV (along with a plurality of translations for comparison and reference), even memorizing several large passages. Fast forward to a few years ago and I even purchased a large print NKJV which is stored at my camp on the lake along with my printed Apostolic Bible Polyglot.

Needless to say, I’ve been hesitant to memorize passages in anything other than the NKJV. So, I purchased it. Between that and getting a comparable ABP equivalent, I set out to learn some new features available to me. One of the biggest features is the Exegetical Guide. This now sits in my left window, next to my commentaries, and it is linked to the main bible so whenever I go to a verse the Exegetical Guide automatically presents the Greek and English of the verse, plus these two renderings are hover linked together (so if I hover my mouse over a greek work it shows the equivalent english word on the right side (highlighting that word). This was supposed to be a feature in Accordance but it turned out to be bait and switch. It only works with the Hebrew and English texts, not the LXX. What is the point of that?

In addition, the guide then parses the verse (or passage), breaking down each word and providing all the definitions, morphology, etc. I remember I used to have to look each word up in Thayer’s Lexicon to do this. Now it’s nearly instantaneous. I also discovered the parallel resource works on commentaries (well sort of). My bibles on the left window are all in parallel, in a particular collection. This allows me to arrow right or left and toggle through each version of the bible. It was a bit buggy, but I finally got it to work. Then I tried it on the commentaries and it worked great at first, then my Pulpit Commentary (which is individual books in series – stupid) broke the collection and no matter what I tried I could not get the Pulpit back in the cycle. It has its own tab now in the right window. Everything else is in one tab on the right window: TSK, Faithlife Study bible (notes), NET Notes (reason I bought the NET), NCHS, Lexham’s Textual Notes and then the Outline Bible. It works rather well (though a little clunky).

More importantly, I now have a full working set of texts:

• LXX/TR Interlinear (Greek Bible)
• LXX/CT Non Interlinear (for comparison)
• NKJV Reverse Interlinear (for reading, study, memorization – replaces KJV)
• Orthodox, KJV, NET, LEB (for comparison)
• Basic Commentary Set (may grow in the future, but hesitant, they are expensive)
• Growing Theological Library (these are primarily books imported into Logos)

With this collection, I am able to effectively complete textual analysis between the TR/CT and the LXX/MAS as well as compare modern English translations. I have no blatant paraphrases (like the Message or Living Bible) nor do I have a copy of the NWT which I used to need when the JWs would come to the house. They do not come anymore. Commentaries are the big hole at this point, but they are so expensive and very slanted. Pulpit is pretty good, and surprisingly the Faithlife Study Bible Notes are excellent (many by Dr. Heiser). The same can be said for the NET notes. There are a handful of texts I would like to get, like Lange’s, Everett’s, Cambridge Greek, Cambridge Commentary, though they are slanted a bit – for the price, I’m hesitant. Then there are the really expensive ones: ICC ($1800), Anchor ($1600), OTL/NTL ($1000), NIC ($1500), UBS Handbooks ($500), NIGTC ($500), ACCS ($400), Princeton Commentary ($350), Study Notes ($300), Tyndale ($300). Plus I would like to get my hands on the Dead Sea Scrolls Interlinear as well.

All in it would cost about $9500 with the academic discount! I can’t ethically swing that. It is, at least in my mind, repugnant and self-aggrandizing, and maybe even a little disgusting to spend that kind of money on books (and not even physical books). My plan is to review all of these one by one and reject all who are too liberal, too practical (pastoral rather than academic or exegetical). I am looking for robust, detailed, exhaustive, verse by verse (not skipping verses here and there), oriented toward the original languages, and preferably handling the LXX over the Hebrew or both equally. The list of the big ones I do not really have any experience with. They were not available on the Word Bible Software. But the first ones mentioned (Lange, etc) were available (for free) and so I’m quite used to them. The other impending issue is my academic discount with logos is about to run its course. They state I will be able to apply again, but when I first applied I was accepted at Liberty. While I still have a student ID there, I’ve never actually enrolled and instead enrolled at FTS. I’m not certain FTS will qualify as an approved program. Not sure what their criteria are. I have an acceptance email from them, but it is nothing like Liberty’s correspondence. If the discount goes away, I doubt if I will be getting any more commentaries (or anything), as I will not be able to stomach the price.

The features are really no reason to upgrade. There do not appear to be any new feature in version 9 that I need and additional features like the Theology Guide and Outline Browser (which I really don’t like anyway) are not important enough to spend thousands of dollars. I moved away from The Word Bible Software because I had reached the limitations of the program and needed more advanced capabilities. This is available in Logos. The Exegetical Guide alone is worth the time saved. The expansive and dynamic commentary feature is incredible. The formatting of the Church Fathers is so much better than what I previously had. I thought I had about $500 into the program, but I think it’s only about $200. As a matter of fact, I’ve spent a total of $265 on the Logos package I currently have. That’s not bad.

At any rate, I need to stop stalling and procrastinating. Tomorrow I plan (if the weather holds) to head out to my camp and check on everything, just hang out, plan, strategize for the coming spring. There is a lot of work to do there, which is why I’m hoping I will be able to finish my dissertation and turn it in by June 1st. That will leave wide open (other than the defense and the journal articles) my schedule for getting as much work done as possible on the property before next winter. I would like, if I am by providence favored, to get the dock completely re-figured, get the new decks built, the new shelter finished, the wood stove installed and ready for winter testing, and a shower system set up that is workable. If I can make it through the summer with those things completed, I can then move forward and begin winter testing. If I’m able to make it through the winter, I can at any time move to a 5 day / week schedule living at the lake with weekends (workdays) at the house in town. If I can make it 3-5 days / week through winter comfortably at the lake, then I will really have to consider putting my house in town up for sale. But, we will see. There is still a great deal of work to do. As for my ThD: carpe diem !