Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

I suppose it all depends on what you want. If you want funding then your
best chances of getting a funded PhD are to a) have a first class degree in
Hebrew and b) to be willing to do whatever (no matter how boring or
ludicrous) the primary investigator proposed. This is usually some boring
slight variation of his own previous work which he obviously finds immensely
interesting and of great value to the research community.

Now if you want to be able to do something which allows you to lead the
research in your own direction your best hope is to be a) willing to do the
PhD with no funding b) be willing to pay the tuition fees yourself and most
importantly c) find a Doctor/Professor who is open minded enough to let you
research in your own direction. These kind of programs are usually part-time
programs so that you can work secularly while doing your PhD. I suppose what
you should be ready to accept is that statistics show that these kind of PhD
students rarely complete and most prospective supervisors are likely to
treat you as if you are yet another one of those PhD candidates who is
destined to never complete.

Now, it would be great if you could find somebody who matches well to your
interests and has the funding to boot. I happen to be one of those extremely
lucky individuals (i.e. I have the funding, and I can do pretty much what I
want, and my professor finds it all very interesting, and I don't have to
put up with that negative treatment where everyone thinks you're destined to
fail and treats you accordingly). I wish you the best and hope you manage to
find your match. Locating the right supervisor is beyond a shadow of a doubt
the most important factor in doing your PhD. So much of what could have been
good and innovative research just goes down the drain because the student
wasn't able to find the right matching supervisor for the job.

I'm sorry I can't point you straight to your match but keep searching long
and hard. The future of your PhD probably depends on this factor more than
anything else. (i.e. even more than the value of your proposal or of your
ability to do good and objective research). You've probably heard all this
before but I can assure you that it is true.

James Christian

On 28 July 2010 20:32, Joseph Justiss <jljustiss AT msn.com> wrote:

>
> Do the list members have any recommendations of PhD programs in Hebrew
> Bible/Semitic philology which have a system in place to allow the student to
> explore modern linguistics and be well-trained in both fields?
>
> Joseph Justiss
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