In a recent post I talked about one of the biggest fears of any PhD student--encountering a book already in print that argues exactly what you are working on; in other words, getting beat to the punch.
For the past two weeks I have been writing a piece for my supervisors in which I explain why I am changing my research topic from imperial cult and 1 Peter to Jesus as the Eschatological Davidic Shepherd in 1 Peter. After I sent the email with the attached document, I went to the library to return a book. While I was handing in the book, my office mate, who accompanied me to the library and is familiar with my research, found a book with a title he thought would interest me: Jesus as the Eschatological Davidic Shepherd!
Trembling, I turned to the table of contents and the scripture index to see if anything had been done on 1 Peter... To my delight, he had not applied his research to 1 Peter. What does that mean for me? Is this good or bad?
Actually, it is a sign that my research is moving in a positive direction. For now, I am safe!
No comments:
Post a Comment