While standing in line at Bo's this week, a guy asked me, "I've seen you here a lot. I'm curious: What kind of work do you do?" I replied, "Well, I think I'm sort of a jack of all trades and master of none. I dabble in many things, including teaching and farming."
Now, we've all heard the saying "Jack of all trades and master of none." But do you know the full quote? It goes on to say, in essence, that this is often better than being "a master of one." I couldn't agree more. Let me explain what I mean with this state-of-the-art graphic:
This is what's called a "T-Person." A T-Person is known for two things:
1. Disciplinary expertise.
2. The ability to work outside one's core discipline.
In other words:
Depth.
AND breadth.
Depth of high-level expertise in one's discipline.
And breadth of experience, knowledge, and skills.
I think this describes me to a T. (Pardon the pun.) Basically I've always been a T-Person. I recall graduating from Basel with my doctorate in New Testament. I had written my dissertation on Paul. Immediately some people attempted to peg me as a Pauline scholar. I refused the identification. Of course, there are men and women with doctorates in, say, New Testament textual criticism or New Testament canon who spend their entire careers in this one area of research alone. I couldn't do that. I've wanted to engage my curiosity about nearly everything that had to do with New Testament studies. Have I published on Paul? To be sure. But I've also longed to be knowledgeable about other areas as well. Thankfully, I've had a career that's allowed me to explore the things I'm curious about, be it the synoptic problem or the authorship of Hebrews or New Testament ecclesiology or linguistics or textual criticism or Christian missions.
If you're a fledging Ph.D. student in New Testament studies, my advice to you would be: Definitely become an expert in your particular field. But don't be afraid to go out and learn about topics that aren't "in your lane" so to speak. I pray that you'll find that your career is one in which you have the freedom to explore the things you're curious about. Please don't limit yourself to just one if you can possibly avoid it.