In September 2003, my wife and I moved to Manchester to pursue a Master of Arts in Religion, Culture and Gender (now called the MA in Religion and Political Life). Our goal was to assess my potential for doing doctoral work with Professor Graham Ward. I received an Overseas Research Scholarship from the British government in June 2004, and began doctoral research with Graham in September of that same year.

Three and a half years later, I have just submitted my doctoral dissertation, Protestant Metaphysics after Karl Barth and Martin Heidegger (a brief summary can be found by clicking here).

It's a strange feeling to say the least. My research has come so far, and I feel I have grown tremendously in these years. Two chapters from the dissertation have already been accepted for publication and I have been able to participate in a number of conferences as well.  I did not expect this, but despite my usual melancholy disposition towards life, I am finding a sense of satisfaction setting in.

Now the question is whether this dissertation will pass or not. It will be examined by one internal examiner from the Religions and Theology Subject Area at the University of Manchester and one external examiner from another university. In this case, the internal examiner will be Dr. David Law, and the external will be Professor John Milbank from the University of Nottingham. I am concerned about their comments and will be interested to see how the defense goes in a few months. I am hopeful my work will be well received, but as with any project there is always more that could be done to make the arguments a little stronger and more pervasive.

As they say in England, fingers crossed.