PhD Qualifying Exams & Family Update: In the Grip of Grace

Hello, everyone! Zac here.

It's time for a PhD update.
I began my fourth official year of this program in August. But before I get into what I'm doing now, I want to recap what's happened in the past 12 months for me.
I finished my coursework requirements this past December (2016). In January, I became a full-time student in studying for exams - language and qualifying.
I took my Advanced Hebrew as well as my French and Spanish language exams between March 2016 and May 2016. Once I finished my language exams, I started in earnest studying for my qualifying exams.
What are qualifying exams? In short, they are the "chance to see your discipline from a bird's eye view." It's the last examination I'll take in this program prior to becoming a doctor.
I have two fields I'm examing in: Hebrew Bible and New Testament. Each field has three questions I will answer. While I have some idea what books/articles I need to read in order to answer these questions, I won't know the exact questions until I sit down to take them.
Oh, and I can't fail more than 2 of the 6 questions. If I do, I'm done with the program.
Now, no one wants me to fail. My professors want me to succeed (*I* want to succeed), but it's still a daunting process. I'll take those exams in January 2018, so I still have a few months to prepare.
I have a good workflow, a good support network, and achievable benchmarks between now and then.
It's an uphill trek but I am confident {by the grace of God} I'll pass these exams.

Other than that, I continue to hone in on a potential dissertation topic.
For now, though, it's changed into a question I want to answer. The most compelling scholarship (at least for me) is that which tries to answer a question that has implications for our world today.
My question as of September 16, 2017 is:

Why does a colonizing power need both a revisionist history and a divinely authoritative narrative to annihilate and enslave people?

This means I'm interested in the narrative of the book of Joshua. On some level, the book of Joshua is revisionist since the archeological record (at nearly every turn) disagrees with the events of Joshua. And Joshua has perhaps one of the most divinely authoritative narratives in the entire (Masoretic) Hebrew Bible. God is constantly giving the enemies of Israel into their "hands." I'm interested in how the power of a revisionist, authoritative text has influenced more modern iterations of this phenomena, particularly looking at how U.S. history bears similar marks with respect to the colonization and genocide carried out against Native Americans (both revisionist history [the language used - "savages" and the history omitted like Indian boarding schools, military directives that sent drunk soldiers on horseback to slaughter whole villages, etc.] and divinely authoritative [e.g., "Manifest Destiny"]). I believe this work is of the utmost importance because folks are still grappling with the lingering effects of colonialism and a whole new brand of neo-colonilalist violence (e.g., U.S. military conflicts/occupation in the Middle East, the construction of the DAPL pipeline across treatied land belonging to the Lakota Nations).
If the Church is to survive, it must take seriously the ways in which sacred texts have influenced catastrophic violence, both in the past and today.

And now for a family update from Larissa:

Our last post was from August 21st. It has been over TWO MONTHS. Two months of craziness and many days of swimming with our heads just above water - and it is about to get even crazier in a few short weeks. But here we are, hanging on to the grace of God and His strength that sustains us. God's grace is sufficient, and His power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Here are a few glimpses of what we have been up to in the past two months:

First week of school for Zoë

Special visitors

Cousin time

Birthdays for Mommy and Daddy

A visit from Didi 

(who is just about to come back...that is how long it has been!!)

 

Cooks in the kitchen

Picture day without those front teeth!

Many hours of train track building with this one

This charmer has sweet talked his way into too many cake pops. ;)

"Squirrel"

Isaiah started Museum School and LOVES IT!!

"Opossum"

Soccer time! 

Zoë has been nicknamed "The Great Wall of Zoë"

That's my girl!

Her #1 Fan

Isaiah really wants to play too...

Monkeying around

They are adorable.

They drive me crazy.

But oh how I love them!

And we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Baby Sister! (Due around November 27th)

Both Zoë and Isaiah are so sweet and in love with her already. We know her birth will turn our world upside down, but our hearts are ready! The start of the third trimester of pregnancy was rough for me with gallbladder issues, *extreme* fatigue, pelvic and hip pain and dizziness, but now that I am heading into the 9th month I am managing to get more rest and feel a little more human (and less zombie).

This picture is from October 1st (the only picture of me in the last month)

 so just imagine the bump even bigger. ;) 

In the grip of grace and in gratitude of God's goodness,
The Poppens