This year I've written quite of number of reference letters for former students of mine who are applying to Ph.D. programs. I am always happy to do so. Where you study for your doctorate -- and especially with whom you study -- are two of the most important questions you will ever ask in your entire life.
As you ask and answer those questions, I would invite you to consider the metaphor the apostle Paul uses for himself in 1 Cor. 3:10. Here he calls himself a sophos architektōn. This expression has been variously rendered as:
- skilled master builder
- expert builder
- skilled and experienced builder
- an architect who knows his job
The person under whom you will study should be this kind of a person. The idea is twofold:
Like an engineer, Paul designed how the early church would expand. He in essence drew up the "blueprint" for the establishment of Christianity in the first century. But Paul not only had a pen, he had a hammer. Not only was he a thinker; he was a doer. He himself was engaged in evangelism and church planting.
And your doctoral supervisor?
Make sure that he or she has the same qualities. First, how active has their pen been? You say, "Well, they've hardly published anything." Then you probably don't want to study under them. You see, once you have completed your own doctorate, you will quickly realize that the least important thing you will ever write is your doctoral dissertation. The function of a dissertation is simply that of a springboard or launching pad for a lifetime of research and writing. So one of the best ways to get to know a potential doctoral supervisor is to read their writings. Are these scholars models of careful scholarship? Have they rusted out and stopped publishing altogether? Are they effective in the way they express themselves through their publications? Please, I beg you, don't ignore the pen.
But then there's the hammer. A good scholar is not only an academician. He or she is a practitioner. They are excellent classrooms teachers. They love their students and their students love them. If they are believers, they themselves are engaged in the work of the Great Commission. They are doing and not merely dabbling in their craft.
Many years ago one of my seminary professors charged me to decide on one thing to do with my life and stay with it. It was good advice and I have tried to follow it. My own doctoral program was a complete joy and delight from beginning to end. My professor was there for me, carefully wielding both the pen and the hammer. It was perhaps the happiest experience of my scholarly journey.
I hope your experience will be the same.