Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <bsr15 AT cantsl.it.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Peter Kirk wrote:-

>I don't see why possession of a PhD entitles someone to
>protection from discussion on this list. Maybe if they were really a
>well known scholar, published in a recognised (not more or less
>self-published) book, they would deserve some extra respect.

Perhaps you don't understand what's involved in getting a Ph.D.,
although I suspect from past postings you do. Let me outline the
process which applies here.

Phase 0: You have to be accepted. To be considered you have to
have an Honours degree with either first class or second class
division one honours, or a Masters with either Merit or Distinction
in the field in which you want to study. For international
comparisions the Honours degree is four years, Masters typically
five, with Suma or Magna cum Laude.

Phase 1: The thesis proposal. You must review current literature
in the field and write a detailed proposal on what research you
intend to carry out. You must show that you understand the
literature, you know where gaps lie and convince the higher powers
what you propose is indeed worthwhile. Here the thesis proposal
goes through four reviews, your supervisors, the department's,
faculty's and finally the University's research committees
before you are fully accepted as a Ph.D. candidate.

Phase 2: You carry out your proposed research under the guidence
of a minimum of two supervisors who have a shared research interest
in your field of study.

Phase 3: You write up the results of your research and present them
in a thesis.

Here it takes an average of 3.5 years of full time study and research
to complete these three phases, but its not over yet.

Phase 4: Examinations and revision. The thesis is examined by three
people: one of the supervisory team, at least one international
examiner with recognised standing in the field, and one external
to the University also of recognised standing but who may be from the
same country. A further restriction is that none of the external
examiners may be research associates of any of the supervisory
team. After examining the written thesis there is an oral examination
by the three examiners. This is no walk in the park. This is original
research and often there are serious questions to be put to the
candidate. Finally, the candidate must make any revisions to the
thesis the examiners require.

Completion rates on Ph.D.s for full time students is only around
56%.

I know that the structure of the Ph.D. degree does differ between
countries, in particular, American Ph.D.s have a substantial
coursework component. But, whatever the local structure, gaining a
Ph.D. is a major achievement. So while having a Ph.D. does not
entitle one to protection, it ought to command some respect.
I believe that was Bryan's reason for his post.

Harold wrote:-

>There are many scholars who do not accept the documentary hypothesis.

I can't quote where I read this, but I did read some years ago that
when students first encounter the documentary hypothesis that the
split between those that accept it and those that don't is around
85/15. Thus its not unreasonable to find ``many'' scholars who
do not accept the documentary hypothesis and for them to be
outside the consensus view. A consensus view is simply a
majority opinion.

Bill Rea, ICT Services, University of Canterbury \_
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