45 Years of Full-time Teaching…A Time for New Directions

On this last day of our Spring semester, after 45 years of full-time teaching at Notre Dame (7 years), William & Mary (5 years), and UNC Charlotte (33 years!) I am stepping down to devote myself more fully to research, writing, leading educational tours, and various film and archaeological projects–which I will be pursuing now full-time. The term “retirement,” as it is popularly used, would be a misnomer here. I have four new books in the wings–either planned or in preparation, along with The Lost Mary, my magnum opus, coming out in 2023 in English.

I love my students and now can look back on their children’s children in some recent classes. I estimate that I have taught about 10,000 students during these four and a half decades. I have been flooded this week with messages on social media–numbering in the thousands. Five students who were in my New Testament class the morning of 9/11 have written saying they remember that fateful day so well. I was a freshman in a New Testament class in 1963 when John F. Kennedy was shot! A generation comes and a generation goes.

I have also taken about 750 students on Study Abroad trips–mostly in Israel but also Egypt and Jordan, and approximately 428 others on educational tours–including our former Chancellor and a VIP group, once to Israel and another trip to Jordan. I know that so many who have traveled with me consider the experience–whether touring or doing archaeological work–as a highlight of their lives. Twelve of my graduate students went on for Ph.D.s and have carried on the “Chicago” heritage I passed on from Jonathan Z. Smith, Robert M. Grant, and Norman Perrin–all now sadly departed.

The photo below was taken in the 1990s as I began teaching at Charlotte, with the subsequent photos at the bottom of this post representing my ongoing and future endeavors–field work, filming, and writing.

I have recently uploaded on my Youtube Channel (@taborvideos) over 80 videos of lectures I have done over the years, recent interviews, and film clips, with much more to come. I am also in the process of posting lecture notes, original primary source materials, and hundreds of course handouts that I have produced over the years on this blog under a new heading: “The Jewish Roman World of Jesus: Primary Sources.” Best way to keep up with me is this blog, as well as the various social media links below. Please Follow, Like, Subscribe, as you wish. You can subscribe to this blog in the right sidebar–and also sign up for my monthly newsletter that now goes to over 5000 readers each month.

So, as Bob Dylan once said: