A Special Moment: This morning, I was finally able to submit my Ph.D. work in a revised and repackaged form for publication to Wipf & Stock. I am so, so relieved. I think that I am more relieved than excited at this point. It is a major mountain off of my plate. I have found with writing that the end of the process is excruciatingly painful…at least for me. I get so impatient, so excited, and so stressed at the final boxes that have to be checked. But it is finished. After almost three years of doctoral work and another two years since graduating, it is complete. The title is: The Possibility and Role of Supererogation in Evangelical Ethics.
Also, it is more than ironic that this morning happened to be the day that I was able to submit it all. Today would have been my dad’s 66th birthday. Oh how I miss him. He was always one of my biggest encouragers and always celebrated the pursuit of an education. He never tried to make me like him although I am like him in so many ways. He encouraged me. He inspired me. He was so proud that I was working on my doctorate. I remember talking with him every Monday morning via Facetime while studying at New College in Edinburgh. When he tragically died, those talks obviously stopped. Even New College was not the same without these Monday talks. I also knew that he would never see me complete the Ph.D. But I also know this about my dad: one of the great Christian virtues that marked his life was perseverance. This may not sound “sexy” from a moral standpoint, but oh what a virtue in the eyes of God. I hope that submitting this book on what would have been his birthday is a tribute to the perseverance he modeled for us all in both life and ministry.
BJ Condrey, Ph.D. 