Which chapter of his full dissertation did Samuele Bacchiocchi publish for the purposes of obtaining his PhD? I.e. the Tesina, published in 1975.
He claims that one chapter was published. He claims that three chapters were published.
He claims that the published chapter was chapter 5. He claims that the published chapter was chapter 7. He claims that the published chapter was in fact three chapters – the first three chapters.
He claims that the Tesina was 117 pages long. He claims that the Tesina was 150 pages long, and was required to be at least 120 pages.
Is he getting derailed? Is he now making mistakes?
Another discussion is taking place on the web – at Belief.net. His e-mails are being posted in various places, and assuming he is indeed the author of these e-mails, and they are not being fabricated, he’s becoming erratic in his statements about what happened.
Samuele Bacchiocchi is no longer [Belief.net – dead link]
A few quotes to demonstrate:
Here he refers (in 1997) to his unpublished doctoral dissertation … but tells us elsewhere that it was published in 1977.
Bacchiocchi, S. Anti-Judaism and the Origin of Sunday. (Fifth chapter of the Italian dissertation). Rome: The Pontifical Gregorian University Press, 1975.
_____. “Un esame dei testi Biblici e patristici allo scopo d’accertare il tempo e le cause del sorgere della domenica come giorno del Signore.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 1974. [333 of the 1997 printing of From Sabbath to Sunday, under Secondary Sources; XCG blog]
The facts are that the Pontifical Gregorian Press printed both my TESINA (small dissertation for the LICENTIA) and my doctoral DISSERTATION. The TESINA consists of 117 pages and there are no comments regarding any content problem. [Bacchiocchi, e-mail , July 2004]
The TESINA that was published for my LICENTIA was not a chapter but the first three chapters of my dissertation for a total of 150 pages. [XCG blog]
In order to receive the diploma of the DOCTORATUS, a student is required to publish a significant portion of the dissertation (at least 120 pages) and deposit 50 copies at the Academic Office. The TESINA must be published with the official IMPRIMATUR to be acceptable by the Academic Office. I submitted for publication 150 pages of my dissertation, mostly taken from chapter 7 of my dissertation. The manuscript was published in 1975 under the title ANTI-JUDAISM AND THE ORIGIN OF SUNDAY. [Hobbes’ blog]
These crucial passages are analyzed in my Italian dissertation, Un Esame dei testi biblici e patristici dei primi quattro secoli allo scopo d’accertare it tempo e le cause del sorgere della domenica come Giorno del Signore, Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 1974, pp. 99-120; cf. also the fifth chapter of the dissertation, published under the title, Anti-Judaism and the Origin of Sunday, 1975, pp. 90-93. [p125 of the 1999 online edition of From Sabbath to Sunday, endnote no. 73; XCG blog]
Things are happening.
The Gregorian Controversy series is listed in full here. Click here to go to the next post in the series. And here for the previous post.
Comments imported from the old blog:
Posted by Jared Olar on October 28, 2006, 11:31 pm
Hi Stephen. Thanks for bringing these things to my attention. One little correction, though: the Beliefnet discussion is not ongoing, but took place in May and June this year.
In any case, Dr. Bacchiocchi is contradicting not only the Gregorian, but himself. He needs to ge this story straight. Perhaps he would like to clarify just which chapter(s) was submitted and published as a tesina.
Posted by stephen on October 28, 2006, 11:41 pm
Thanks … I didn’t pay much attention to the dates. Bacchiocchi’s e-mail and the responses to the issue were more interesting :-)
He needs to clarify:
– which chapter was published
– how many pages
– why he refers, in 1997, to his unpublished dissertation
– why Gregorian only published one chapter. Gregorian says that is their minimum requirement, and the full thing was not published due to serious problems with it
And I think that’s just on this sub-topic of this issue.
Posted by Jared Olar on October 29, 2006, 2:20 am
Regarding the Gregorian’s minimum requirement for a doctorate: In late April and early May this year, when I was preparing my “Gregorian Controversy” XCG post, I spoke over the phone to a priest at the USCCB about this matter, and although the priest (I forget his name at the moment) had not seen the letter from the Gregorian, he did explain that with the Pontifical Universities in Rome, the bare minimum requirement for being awarded a doctorate is to have at least one chapter of your dissertation published by the university press. He gave me to understand that it was a “skin of your teeth” way to get a doctorate, and not the sort of thing that would earn a Papal Gold Medal.
Posted by stephen on October 29, 2006, 10:08 am
I think that this publication of an incomplete thesis for the purposes of completing the PhD will be easy to verify for people out there looking into it. Bacchiocchi has already admitted to this. It doesn’t look like he has much going for him at this stage.
Posted by Alexander on October 31, 2006, 1:25 am
This issue of Bacchiocchi’s CV credibility is valuable for the Adventist academic and professional community.
Appreciate the clear and careful discussion.
Posted by stephen on October 31, 2006, 10:31 pm
Bacchiocchi has been seen as one of Adventism’s leading scholars, as well as a very public and charismatic figure.
What effects this may have, who knows?
Some more questions and images at Bacchiocchi – images of his diploma and medal
