XKV8R

there is always the choice to integrate your tech skills into a field that desperately needs technologists who can think critically... say like archaeology. i know a fool who left a high paying tech job to go earn a phd so that six years later he could earn less than he was making before. but, he got to hang around scholars all day. wait a tic... that's not an advantage ;-)

universities love good students who also know computers. do both.

Roger Pearse

Always make the most of yourself, whatever you do. Achieve as much as you can, seize whatever chances come your way, particularly those that will not be repeated. Grab a chance and never be sorry for a might-have-been.

JoeWallack

JW:
I just want to say one word to you - just one word:

Silicon

gregor

No suggestions on the path, but set a limited number of objective career goals to be reached in 6 months, 12 months and 60 months and stick to them. While I know it sounds like MBA talk, but come up with a business plan for your life.

Vague or unspecified goals or too many goals are equally unhelpful.

Peter Kirby

My current plan will involve more school. I would like to achieve the Bachelor's degree for personal satisfaction, and it's not that terribly difficult to do at this point. Nine classes to complete for the Bachelor's of Arts in Religious Studies. I plan to do this at a part-time pace: two classes per semester for four semesters, with a third class thrown in somewhere in the second year. The slow pace is chosen for two reasons, to ensure success (by not overloading myself), and to allow myself time to work on other things.

I have three goals for three separate projects over the next 12 months.

The first goal is "Early Latin Writings" and it being up & operational. The deadline set for this goal is May 1, 2008. Most of the work has already been done by Chris Weimer.

The second goal is a "Click Trapper" software (to be marketed from the ClickTrapper.com domain). This software will be a web analytics package. I would like to have it completed by August 1, 2008, over three months' time.

The third goal is a "Research Purposes" (researchpurposes.org) website. This website will foster research writing, aid researchers in getting in print, and distribute research writing (both existing and created for the site) to students and other researchers. The "business model" is still undetermined, as this is the furthest-out goal and needs more thought and feedback.

Thanks to everyone who has commented and to all who may still comment.

Peter Kirby

And my future plans no longer include the Confirmation sacrament; read all about it here.

manwithdream

Peter,

If you can get rich off of your software ideas, then you could hire Richard Carrier and other scholars to do the research you want. They would be happy and you would be happy. Why would you want to be another financially struggling scholar hoping to get a job when you can become wealthy and get the same research done without the financial struggle?

Kenneth Greifer

Peter Kirby

I am thinking of changing my major to something more humanistic as a humanities major than Religious Studies.

I have narrowed it down to:

Anthropology

or

Sociology

or

Psychology

All three majors involve studying humanity, but from different angles. I am trying to weigh the pros and cons of each.

All of them will require more coursework, but not that much more.

Religious Studies: 27 units (9 courses)

Anthropology: 39 units (13 courses)

Psychology: 41 units (14 courses)

Sociology: 36 units (12 courses)

What are the differences in subject matter?

Religious Studies: look at the religions of the world, beliefs of people.

Anthropology: look at people from a biological science perspective and also from a cultural study perspective, but perhaps the most scientific of the bunch.

Psychology: look at the heads of individuals, memory, perception, disorders.

Sociology: look at people in terms of problems and issues in society (crime, poverty, etc).

Looking at this list, I feel most strongly attracted at first glance to Anthropology. I wonder what Ph.D. programs a degree of Anthropology may be considered preparation for. I really do like the idea of completing a Ph.D., and not for the employment opportunities opened up by the paper.

Zeichman

Door One. I'd be lying if I said you weren't the reason I am here at Claremont. I'd very much like to see you pursue this field. I can only imagine that you'll be the kind of scholar who will either have multiple Festschrifts or a multi-volume Festschrift. I don't think I'm exaggerating. That said, your own happiness is of the highest importance.

Peter Kirby

I don't want to be defined by theological studies. I'd rather be the kind of person who studies a broad range of subjects, and who occasionally turns their pen to the subject of theology and religious history. This is even though my primary outpouring of writing has been on religion to date! For this reason, I am drawn to the Anthropology degree. The classes look the most interesting of all the majors also.

After all, what primarily religious writer of the 20th century or more recent has given back anything to the rest of the humanities? I can't think of one. Bultmann is a giant in NT studies, for example, but you won't find him mentioned outside of it. On the other hand, his psychologic contemporaries Freud and Jung continuously get mention in theological literature, literary theorists such as Derrida are persistently referenced, and philosophers such as Wittgenstein always get their due everywhere in the humanities. Religion is like the humanities' black hole: tons of information goes in, it grows in mass of literature like nothing else, but nothing comes out to shed light on other subjects.

The good news about Theology as a subject is that its doctoral program has no real prerequisite; I'm pretty sure you could major in Chemistry or Communications and get accepted into a theological school. On the other hand, I'd much rather at this point define my academic identity in a way that does not primarily include religion.

I keep looking at my books (a primarily theological library) and getting disgusted at it. This suggests to me that it is time for a change.

I do sincerely appreciate the compliment and I do plan to remain active in the study of religion, ancient history, and cognate subjects.