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Indeed...i'm not a PhD, but i am a student at Yale Divinity, getting my masters. My focus has been on Paul's letters, mostly the analysis of Romans and 2 Corinthians. In the end, i don't think i'll get my PhD in that field...the way to contribute is to learn a whole lot of Greek and to pick apart one bit of text. I'm much more interested in the conjuction of Biblical studies and idenity theory and history. I like watching to see how our understanding of society and personhood shapes the composition and transmission of scripture, how it moves from culture to culture and through time. I'll probably end up in Biblical theology or something like that as a result.
I'm more than willing to start a new thread if this is deemed a side conversation...but for the time being, i'll reply here. and certainly, if you have questions, ask away. i can't promise answers on everything, but i will reply to the best of my knowledge. My Hebrew bible isn't quite as good as my NT, but i know my way around both.
The RSV is really quite a fine translation, marked in difference from it's newer cousin the NRSV by gendered language and some textual issues brought to light by the dead sea scrolls. I always commend the NRSV, especially the Harper Collins or Oxford Annotated study versions, but you have in your hands a careful and thoughtful translation...
And yes, my sig line is a slightly adapted version of 8:24a (letters after a verse indicate a division, which is just as arbitrary as the verse number to begin with. Paul's manuscript doesn't have numbers, so i feel free to chop his sentences pretty much as i like). The verb tense (sozo) there suggests "being saved" as opposed to completed action. And that's my only major disagreement with the RSV/NRSV. It's not a huge error, but combined with traditional Protestant theology, i think it really does change the meaning of the text. Their reading is justified...they didn't invent it whole cloth. But i think a reading of Paul generally would support the "being saved" more. What is translated there as "For in" is the word gar in Greek. it's a catchall (an affirmative conjunction), and can mean by, and, or for... the phrase is: gar sozo elipis (we are being saved for/by hope). If you had to cut Paul down to three words...i think these might be it.
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For God so loved creation, that God sent God's only Son that whosoever believed should not perish, but have everlasting life.
-John 3:16
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