Alison Lo on death and the call to joy in Ecclesiastes; why did I do a PhD on the book of Job?!; and advice for writing concisely
Welcome to my newsletter, ‘Bible, Mission, and More’, where I share what’s on my mind as I teach, research, and write on the Bible and mission, children-at-risk in the Bible and contemporary society, Psalms and Wisdom Literature, and a range of other topics. I teach at All Nations Christian College in the UK, though views are my own.
Each Tuesday I’ll share something I’ve read, something I’ve written or recorded, something on learning and teaching, and a quote to reflect on.
Something read – Alison Lo on death and the call to joy in Ecclesiastes
Dr Alison Lo has played a very important role is my formation as a biblical scholar. Along with Prof. Gordon McConville, she acted as a second supervisor for my doctoral studies. Like me, she did her PhD on Job (also supervised by Gordon), although on a very different topic. Her thesis on Job 28 as rhetoric: an analysis of Job 28 in the context of Job 22-31 is available from the University of Gloucestershire’s research repository and was published by Brill in 2003 under the same title.
Even a quick glance through her work demonstrates the diligence and care with which she approaches her work. I was reminded of this again as I re-read her excellent 2009 Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society article on Ecclesiastes (or Qohelet to give it its Hebrew name). In ‘Death in Qohelet’ Lo explores the theme of death as bracketing the book and linking the whole work together.
One of the really valuable insights in the article is the (perhaps surprising) observation that before each of the exhortations to joy in the book (2:24; 3:12-13; 3:22; 5:17-19; 8:15; 9:7-10; and 11:9-10), the writer reflects on death. Contrary to common views on this admittedly enigmatic book, the fact that life and death should be seen in the light of each other leads the reader towards hope rather than despair. Reflecting on the final poem of 12:1-7, Lo states, ‘the sense of urgency is reinforced by its double message–1) the end of human life and 2) the end of the world (everything) that will inevitably arrive. Qohelet reminds people to live life to the full before the end of one’s life and the last day of the world come.’
I incorporate some of these ideas in a forthcoming chapter on a missional reading of Ecclesiastes, which I’ll share about another time.
You can also see 30 short YouTube videos by Lo on a range of topics recorded while teaching at Bethel Seminary. Alison Lo playlist
Something written – Why did I do a PhD on Job?!
Every now and then I will share something about my PhD work on a missional reading of Job. Sometimes I’ll highlight an idea or two from the thesis itself, but other times I’ll give you an idea of the journey I went on from beginning it in 2006 to finally submitting it in 2014.
So why did I embark on a PhD on the book of Job?
The truth is, I didn’t. I began my research wanting to look at orphans in the Old Testament. I had just finished my MA in Biblical Studies and had deliberately written that dissertation on the orphan, widow, and alien in Deuteronomy as preparation for the doctoral work.
In the first year of a PhD in the UK you spend a lot of time early on looking at the literature on your topic and trying to arrive at a good question and methodology. To that end I was writing papers on the mentions of ‘yatom’ (the Hebrew term for orphan/fatherless) in the Pentateuch, Historical books (that was easy; it doesn’t appear in those), Prophets, and then Psalms and Wisdom Literature. This was when I properly paid attention to the book of Job. I’d not really considered it much before but it had a number of uses of yatom, and certainly more than any other OT book with the exception of Deuteronomy and Psalms.
My supervisor and I felt there was a lot of scope for a focused project on Job and so I began to work more intentionally on that enigmatic and complex book. But how did I move from looking at orphans in Job to a missional reading of Job? It’s a great story, but for another time.
Learning and teaching – writing concisely
In a previous post I shared some thoughts on what to do if you have gone well over your word count. One suggestion was to write more concisely, which is worth unpacking further. Katherine Firth (author of the Research Insiders blog and co-author of the very helpful How to Fix Your Academic Writing Trouble) gives some great suggestions in her post 10 tips for more concise writing.
As she says, ‘Writing concisely is a great skill–useful for 200-word conference abstracts, 7000-word articles, elegant emails and effective cover letters.’ Firth tends to write for PhD students and researchers but there is much that is useful for undergrad and MA students as well. Here are her ten tips:
Start sentences with the subject.
Use the active verb.
Get rid of adverbs and reduce your adjectives.
Use the shortest form of the word.
Use the shortest form of a phrase.
Keep your sentences to 25-30 words.
Keep your paragraphs to 250-300 words.
Don’t refer back.
Only explain one idea at a time.
Avoid extraneous ideas.
By way of qualifier, she concludes, ‘As always, these rules are guidelines, not edicts. Knowing them enables you to easily write clearly and effectively most of the time. And when you really do need to break these rules, you do so intentionally.’
It’s always interesting to reflect on lists like this. For example, I know I can be guilty of writing things like, ‘the ways in which’ when I could just write, ‘how’ (see Firth’s fifth suggestion along with its examples).
Writing concisely is a form of writing well. Remember, if you can free up 10% of your word count because you are writing more concisely, that’s 10% more scope to add depth and coverage to your assignment. It may also help you to present a clearer and more focused argument. Plus, depending on your institution’s marking criteria, you may also gain marks for higher quality writing style.
Do read the blog post in full to see Firth’s explanations and helpful examples.
Quote – Annalie E. Steenkampf-Nel on transformative joy
‘Happiness is thinking of myself; joy is thinking of others. Joy as an aspect of spiritual ‘transformation is at the heart of societal transformation’ (Provan 2011:11). Joy moves us to service, because God incarnated in the sensorial becomes service’
(Steenkamp-Nel, A.E., 2019, ‘Transformative joy in Qohelet: A thread that faintly glistens’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 75(3), a5126. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v75i3.5126)
Thanks for joining the journey and see you next week,
Tim