The End is Nigh....

Time flies, and one month has quickly gone by and my time at Tyndale House in Cambridge is about to come to an end soon. Work has been progressing well, and I must say I am rather pleased with the progress thus far. I managed to tidied up the Introductory chapter of the book I am working on, and made significant revision on 3 other chapters. What's left for me is to tidy up the manuscript and then perhaps look for a publisher to publish my work.

This visit to Cambridge is also a very memorable one, and I will blog in the next post why this is so. Friends who have been following me on my Facebook would probably able to guess the reason for this.

This is my final weekend here - and I am going to chill out and have a little break before heading home.

Work Begins....

I arrived Tyndale House on Tuesday late morning after a long flight from Kuala Lumpur via Singapore. Strangely, for this trip, I find it rather difficult to get things moving for the past week. I guess this is partly due to the reason that I had been very exhausted at the end of the semester. It was also towards the end of the semester that I was given the added responsibility of faculty in charge of the library. Much time was taken up to look into various issues related to the library and to consider how to make the library a more conducive place for all to work, study, research, and perhaps,to play! (yes, one can still have fun in the library!). So it was no wonder that I spent the last couple of days in Cambridge recuperating.

Since my last trip to Tyndale end of last year, nothing much has been done to my research. So for the last few days, I was ploughing through my notes, trying to figure out where I left off the last time I touched on my book project. It was not until yesterday that I think I finally gained my footing. So I am hoping that for the weeks to come, it would be another fruitful time for me at Tyndale! In the meantime, I have the books sitting on my the shelve above my desk that I need to browse through!

Upcoming Visit to Tyndale House

The last few weeks have been very hectic for me - additional administrative duties have been loaded onto my lap, and much time has been taken up to look into these new responsibilities. And much time has been diverted from my research and writing project.

But having said that, I am now looking forward to a month's concentrated research and writing period at Tyndale House, Cambridge. I will be hiding in Tyndale's excellent library, working on my manuscript. So I will be eating, working, and sleeping in the library, almost literally - after all, my accommodation is just directly above the library!

So bon voyage to myself!

Snoopy writing A Book on Theology

One of our students heard that I am currently working on a book project on Paul's Use of Images in Corinthians and decided to send me the above comic strip by Charlie Brown to cheer me on. Many thanks!

5 Weeks: What Have I Achieved at Tyndale House?

My time at Tyndale House, Cambridge, has almost come to an end. I will be flying home tomorrow night. Time flies, and 5 weeks just seem like a few days for me. I have been clocking in almost 10-12 hours of work in the library daily from Mondays to Saturdays, not to mention that I continue to work most of the evenings when I got home [I hope this can assure my colleague that my trip to Cambridge is really work. He keeps on teasing me and insisting that I am having a nice vacation in Cambridge with plenty of 'kiau kah' (literally means 'shaking legs' or 'crossing legs') sessions. Well, to be honest, I don't even have time to 'kiau kah' although I truly wish I could!]

So what have I achieved in these 5 weeks?

First, I have completed a draft of a 8000-word essay that will be published in a compendium of essays on Paul and Identity Formation to be published by T&T Clark next year.

Secondly, I have also made some progress in my writing for my book on Paul's Use of Images in the Corinthian Correspondence. I've made some changes to the introductory chapter and further clarified the methodology. I also did some additional writing on some of the chapters, tidied up some of the arguments, and also updated my reading on issues related to these chapters.

Although my progress falls short of my initial target, I must say I am still pleased with the achievements thus far. It would have been nice if I have a 4-5-month sabbatical soon, then I would be able to complete the first draft of the book. But I have to accept the reality of teaching in Malaysia that sabbatical is a privilege and not a right, so I am not sure where such privilege will be accorded. Nevertheless, I am thankful I have the 5-week period to work on the book - that itself I am grateful.

I will miss Tyndale House and its excellent resources.

Work Progresses at Tyndale

Time flies - it has been more than 2 weeks since I arrived at Cambridge. Work on my book has been progressing rather well - but at a rather slow pace - this is partly due to the fact that there is quite a fair bit of catching up for me to do in my reading. There has been a large number of significant monographs being published in Pauline studies in the last year or so. Scholarship is progressing at a rather fast pace, and this can be seen in the high number of PhD theses that are being published by major academic publishers. From the photo above, these are shelves containing books on the Corinthian correspondence - how can one finish reading these in 5 weeks?

I have 2 more weeks to go before heading for home - and I wish time could slow down a bit for me.

First Week at Tyndale

It's coming to the end of the week, and I am taking a moment to pause and reflect on my work throughout the first week of my time at Tyndale House, Cambridge. After having put in more than 10 hours daily (working from 9am till 9pm daily!), I must say it has been rather mixed.

Early on this week, I made some really good progress in terms of my reading. However, in the mid week, things seemed to hit a snag as I was not able to put my finger on the stuff I was looking for. Perhaps I had been asking the wrong question. It was not until this morning that I finally see the light when I decided to make a slight change on the thrust of my argument in the chapter that I am currently working on for my book, Paul's Use of Images in the Corinthian Correspondence.

I hope to be able to complete the first draft of my chapter by the end of next week. It's an ambitious aim. But considering the fact that I do not have the luxury of time, I have to make the best out of everything.

But it's not all hard work and no play. This weekend, I am heading to London to meet up with my relatives for a dim tum lunch at Chinatown and to drop by the British Library where I will be visiting the Sir John Ritblat Gallery to have a peek at the Codex Sinaiticus once again. Looking at the real thing is surely better than having to look at the online version!

Work Progresses at Tyndale

I was hoping to go full swing yesterday, but I guess the engine needed some time to warm up (especially in the unusually cold November in England!). So I did not manage to get much work done yesterday. But nonetheless, this morning has been rather productive - been reading a number of books on the temple imagery in both the OT and NT. So, this is how my desk currently looks like in Tyndale House.

I am a bit more persuaded that Paul's use of the temple imagery in the Corinthian correspondence is not simply sporadic, but constitutes a deliberate attempt in creating Christian identity in Corinth. I will blog more about this when my mind is clearer on this subject matter.

I've just managed to locate an online 2008 PhD thesis done by Timothy Wardle at Duke University on "Continuity and Discontinuity: The Temple and Early Christian Identity". It would be good to interact with Wardle and see how he argues for the use of the temple imagery in the creation of Christian identity.

So it's back to work now!