I was born in East Texas, where I grew up in a large and happy family. Religion was a fundamental aspect of life; I was steeped in it from birth.
My formal education related to these topics includes the following:
M.A. in Classics, August 2009. University of Texas at Austin, 3.96.
B.A. in Classics, May 2007. University of Texas at Austin, 4.00. Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.
Student of Classics. University of Texas at Austin, 08/2000 – 05/2002, 4.00.
Student of Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and History. University of Texas at Tyler, 4.00.
B.S. in History, May 1996. University of Texas at Tyler, 4.00. Presidential Scholarship.
Classics is the study of ancient Greek and Roman/Latin language, literature, history, religion, philosophy, culture, etc. I have since then gone on for other degrees, but as they are technical and scientific, rather than historical, I will not post them here.
Because of the environment in which I grew up, I wanted to be a Christian minister, and I somehow managed to retain that goal throughout my first college bachelor's degree. However, I continued to read and take classes for fun, and while spending all of my spare time devoted to studying the bible, Christianity, and comparative religions as a non-degree-seeking student at U.T. Tyler in 1998-2000, my studies compelled me to reject the religion with which I had grown up, revealing it to be a fallacious, harmful, & divisive force in the world, despite its alluring promises.
Although I reached my most basic conclusions while still living in East Texas, my studies of ancient history, literature, Greek,and Latin at U.T. Austin confirmed, deepened, and broadened my knowledge. I had the privilege of learning about Egyptian religion from Dr. William Nethercut, Greek religion in various courses, and Roman religion and history under the guidance of Dr. Timothy Moore. The classics department awarded me the William J. Battle Scholarship in classical Greek as an undergraduate. I was also fortunate to study koine Greek and Christian origins with Dr. L. Michael White, Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics and Christian Origins, and director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins. Dr. White's most well-known books are Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite (2010) and From Jesus to Christianity: How Four Generations of Visionaries & Storytellers Created the New Testament and Christian Faith (2006), and he served as consultant and co-writer for, and was featured in, the PBS/Frontline documentary From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians (1998). I had an opportunity, as well, to spend the summer of 2007 with Dr. White's Ostia Synagogue Area Excavations, the "Ostia Synagogue Masonry Analysis Project," or OSMAP, an archaeological field project designed to reevaluate the area around the ancient synagogue of Ostia Antica, the port city of ancient Rome. I also served as Teaching Assistant for several classes relevant to the topics on this web site: Intro. to the New Testament, Mythology, and Intro. to Ancient Greece.
I have studied biblical texts at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and in the original languages.
I have also spent over a decade teaching in Texas high schools, public and private, and was a recognized, honored, active, and outstanding teacher:
Presenter at the Texas Classical Association Convention, Oct. 2009, "Pious Fraud: Religion and Livy's Numa."
Comal Education Foundation Recognized Teacher 2012 (while teaching Latin 1-4AP & Bible Literacy at Comal ISD in Texas)
National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teachers 2006 (while teaching Latin in Plano ISD in Texas)
Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers 2006 (while teaching Latin in Plano ISD)
Coach of the Greater Dallas Area Lower Division Certamen Championship Team 2006, at the Area C Junior Classical League Convention. (JCL promotes the study of Latin, Greek, mythology, and ancient literature, history, and culture).
Took students and parents on tours of Italy and Greece in 2005 and 2012.
I have experience teaching the following subjects professionally:
World Geography.
World History.
Bible Literacy (from an academic, non-sectarian, non-devotional perspective).
Latin 1, 2, 3, and 4AP Vergil's Aeneid.
English.
One of the most unfortunate observations I have made is that the work of Ph.D. professors is not read enough outside of the university setting. And sometimes while scholars are focused on obscure details that the public does not care about, genuinely important information continues to remain a mystery to everyday people apart form academia. Scholars know so much, but the information is not making its way sufficiently into the consciousness of the general population. However challenging it is, I would like to change that, and such is one aim of this web site.
I am also an amateur musician and writer, and I have a diverse array of other interests, including science (especially evolutionary biology, anthropology, and neuroscience), literature, art, history, science fiction, movies, environmental issues, sustainability, humanism, transhumanism, comparative mythology, technology, medical science - pathology - pharmacology - patient care, running, hiking, frisbee, and more.