As you may know, last year I enrolled in a PhD program through the University of Leicester. My research is focusing on the theology of John Witherspoon in the Scottish half of his career. It has been great fun so far.
My church has always been generous in granting me time for study and writing, no more so than in setting out to write a doctoral dissertation. The Board of Elders has granted me three summer sabbaticals, the first of which starts today.
For the next twelve weeks, I’ll be spending as much time as I can with my family and in the 18th century. It is such a gift to have these months for study, writing, and refreshment. No sermon prep, no elder meetings, no to-do list other than a dissertation that needs to be written in the next three years.
I will be hunkered down in my study most of the summer, pretending that I’m not really at church. Without Sunday responsibilities, our family will be able to take a number of short weekend trips, in addition to our usual vacation with the in-laws. Next week I’ll be on the east coast doing archival work. Here and there I’ll be preaching for a few friends. But for the most part it’s: read, write, relax, repeat.
And what about the internet? Well, I will be trying to avoid her as much as possible. It does the soul much good. And our relationship can be rocky anyway! Look for less tweeting, less blogging, and less interaction with whatever the crisis du jour may be. The plan is to keep Monday Morning Humor going, write a new post for Tuesday, have my friend and pastoral colleague, Jason Helopoulus, do another day, and then see what happens the rest of the week. That’s a lot less blogging than usual, but I doubt anyone will suffer too badly for it. Don’t look for fastidious email replies either.
Lord willing, I’ll be back to my regular schedule in the first half of August. Grace and peace.
