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by Sabrina Malloy

...A sabbatical must provide institutional and personal value.

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Professor Rewrites Dissertation as Book

In the spring of 2008, Eisenbrauns Inc. will publish Dr. Karl Kutz's book focused on the exegesis of Job. He completed the book, based on his doctoral dissertation,
during his recent sabbatical.
--Heather Peacock, photo

Multnomah Bible College was short one professor last spring while Karl Kutz, professor of Bible and biblical languages, took a sabbatical to rewrite his doctoral dissertation on the earliest Greek translation of the book of Job.

From January to May of 2007, Dr. Kutz spent most of his time in his office rewriting "The Old Greek Job: An Early Example of Biblical Exegesis." He was revising his dissertation into book format.

Dr. Kutz said rewriting his dissertation to make it more reader-friendly held fewer struggles than writing the first edition. He said he enjoyed his writing as well as the change of pace his sabbatical granted him.

Sabbaticals are given to faculty members who have completed at least seven years in good standing with the school through teaching and the fulfillment of their duties, Wayne Strickland, academic dean and vice president, said.

"We view the sabbatical program as a very important piece of our faculty's education," he said.

According to Dr. Strickland, for a sabbatical application to be accepted by the academic dean's council, it must provide institutional and personal value.

Dr. Strickland said the personal value is that Dr. Kutz will get his book published. The institutional value is that a faculty author's book will be used as a textbook for classes both at the college and potentially elsewhere, he said.

"In general," Dr. Kutz said, "the book presupposes a certain knowledge of Hebrew and Greek. It will be more interesting to people who have an interest in the history of how the Bible was interpreted."

Eisenbrauns Inc., a publishing company in Winona Lake, Ind., is editing Dr. Kutz's book. The book will come out in 2008.

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