NT Gateway Weblog

I have been meaning to comment for some time on the sad news of The End of Torrey Seland's Philo of Alexandria Blog, announced at the end of March. It seemed sad to me because Torrey's blog was one of the earliest of the biblioblogs and he was on the panel with us at the SBL session on blogging in November 2005, when the panel for that session effectively chose itself. But it's good to see that with death comes new birth, and the R B P S Blog (Resource Pages for Biblical Studies Blog) comes onto the scene. I am greatly encouraged by this development because I have continued to think about the future of the New Testament Gateway, and I am encouraged that one of the pioneers of the gateway site (RPBS predates the New Testament Gateway by a good couple of years, and the New Testament Gateway is now over a decade old) is still working on his site and thinking of fresh ways to keep it vibrant.

Labels: Biblioblogs, NT Gateway future, research tools

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Transmission resumed.

Labels: Biblioblogs

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There is a great moment in The Truman Show when the transmission of the reality show is cut because they have lost its star, Truman, who has escaped without their realizing it. While the production people are panicking, and a temporary "technical fault" screen is broadcast, the director Christof reassures them that the ratings for the show have never been so high. I was reminded of this scene over the last twenty-four hours as it became clear that Jim West's blog was no more. Never before have so many people written about his blog and rallied in support, offering sympathy for his becoming victim of hackers, and encouraging him to go on. I'd like to add my support too, and encourage him to resume blogging lest the hackers in question feel that they have won. And if the archive has gone, well that's a bummer, but it's not the end of the world. Perhaps I might remind Jim that at the end of his Biblical Theology Blog in January 2006, he himself deleted his entire archive before beginning to blog again under a new name. So how about a new incarnation? I'd encourage Jim just to think of this one as a reboot, a chance for a little reflection and a fresh start. And as for the rest of us: it's a useful reminder to back up our blogs!

Labels: Biblioblogs

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for January 2008 is Christian Brady, and not before time. It's an enjoyable interview and I am sure Chris will not be one of those mentioned by Doug Chaplin, where the interview is the final act of a previously happy blogging career.

Labels: Biblioblogs

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Chris Brady has uploaded a seven minute podcast of everyone introducing themselves at the bibliobloggers lunch at the SBL last week, Is this mic on? Introducing the bibliobloggers lunch. I am not quite sure why I thought introducing my name and blog was so hilariously funny.

Labels: Biblioblogs, SBL San Diego

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At the SBL Forum Board Meeting at this year's SBL, we had some discussion of the role that can be played by bloggers like us. The SBL Forum has a good history of engaging with the blogs, and encouraging articles on blogging (e.g. James Davila, Assimilated to the Blogosphere: Blogging Ancient Judaism and Tyler Williams, Welcome to the Biblical Studies Carnival). I noted at our meeting that in the past I have developed blog posts for publication, including in the SBL Forum (though rather annoyingly, my review of The Nativity Story has been lost in their reorganisation! More anon on that front). I suggested that there may be other bibliobloggers who might like to do the same thing in the future. So this post is in the nature of a call to all bibliobloggers: if you have any interesting ideas for articles for the SBL Forum, please be encouraged to participate. There is a good, developing relationship here between the blogs and the Forum, and it would be good to see the relationship going on from strength to strength.

Labels: Biblioblogs, SBL Forum, SBL San Diego

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Torrey Seland has launched a new blog on 1 Peter:

Research Notes on 1 Peter

Welcome to this new blog on 1 Peter. I have for some time been very interested in the First letter of Peter, and as I have not discovered any blogs dealing primarily with 1 Peter, I hereby launch my little contribution. It will focus on 1 Peter research, e.g., recent literature on 1 Peter published, exegetical problems discussed, etc etc, but you will probably also find several other postings related to New Testament studies in general, ranging from computer technology issues to issues related to teaching the New Testament in a theological seminary setting.

Labels: 1 Peter, Biblioblogs

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April DeConick links to a new blog called Pauline Theology -- Fuller Texas, authored by David Capes. It includes a peak at an article Jesus Tradition in Paul which Capes has written for the forthcoming Encyclopaedia of the Historical Jesus edited by Craig Evans, which I (and many others) have contributed to too. It's a promising looking blog, and I am encouraged to see someone else blogging while they teach -- it's something we can all learn from. I am hoping to do a bit of the same this semester with the return of my series of Teaching notes.

Labels: Apostle Paul, Biblioblogs

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One of the strengths of the blogging community, all the more so when it is backed up by e-listers, is that it can hold public bodies to account; it can test misleading claims. The Jesus Project was recently announced as a kind of successor to the Jesus Seminar, but with the intention to be "the first methodologically agnostic approach to the question of Jesus’ historical existence". The project's website had an impressive roster of fellows including names like John Dominic Crossan, Richard Bauckham, Philip Esler, Adela Yarbro Collins, Kathleen Corley and Marcus Borg. Alongside these there were some independent scholars like Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. It has been interesting to watch as it has become clear that several of the listed fellows in fact have no association with the project at all. I asked Richard Bauckham, for example, and he confirmed that he had nothing to do with the project and could not imagine how he was added. I would like to add that I also asked Justin Meggitt about his involvement and he confirmed that he had been asked to be a fellow.

Key blogs that have been reporting on this developing story are Christopher Heard's Higgaion, James McGrath's Exploring Our Matrix and Thoughts on Antiquity (team blog, but I think this post is Chris Zeichman). Jim West has been posting developments as they happen on his blog. Doug Chaplin comments on Metacatholic. Two of the listed fellows themselves blog about it, April DeConick on Forbidden Gospels Blog and James Tabor back in January. Sorry if I have missed any.

Clearly the bloggers' and e-listers' efforts have made an impact because today all the materials on The Jesus Project website have been taken down, including the list of fellows, and leaving only the front page with an "update in progress" sign. Let us hope that when it returns there will be some explanation of the recent debacle. In the mean time, one of the encouraging things to come out of this is the extent to which the biblioblogging community is able successfully to test claims made in public by people working in our area and on this occasion to find them wanting. In this respect, it is a continuation of one of the fundamental benefits of academic scholarship -- it keeps people honest.

Labels: Biblioblogs, Jesus Project

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I was away when this was published, but I always like to mention the Biblical Studies Blog Carnivals, not least because the authors put so much hard work into doing them. This month Stephen Cook has done a great job over at Biblische Ausbildung:

Biblical Studies Carnival XIX

Thanks, Stephen; and thanks, Tyler, for organising these.

I should also mention that the Biblioblogger of the month for July 2007 is Claude Mariottini.

Labels: Biblical Studies Carnivals, Biblioblogs, Blogger of the month

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That's a nice phrase from the interview with Rick Brannan, this month's Biblioblog Blogger of the Month, used to describe what is now on offer to biblioblog consumers. The image is apt here in the US. One of my most striking memories of my first few weeks in America was a visit to a place called "Golden Corral" which offers a remarkable all-you-can-eat buffet for less than $10 a head including steak, Mexican, Italian, NC style "barbecue" and so on. And this place was populated by some seriously obese people.

Of course you should read it all, but I was particularly interested in this section that follows on from the use of the above image:

It will be interesting to see how the marketplace of blog-readers (are there really people who just read blogs and don’t blog at all?) responds to the increasing supply. Say’s Law (supply creates its own demand) has long been held untenable. Because I write something doesn’t mean that someone will read it. “If you build it, he will come” only works in the movies.

I think the supply of blogs that are actually aggregated and read will shrink as blog-readers reach their consumption limit. They’ll focus back on the blogs regularly posted with articles that provoke thought, and some of the excess blogs will either stagnate in-place or go away — which is why I think good group blogs have the best chance in the longer run.

And I think that’s a good direction, overall.

I know that I had to admit this finally when I dropped my old comprehensive blogroll, because it was tough to keep up to date, and replaced it with the dynamic Google blogroll, which is much easier to manage. What I have noticed, though, since going over to Google, is how few blogs every jump out of limbo status. I used to drop blogs manually into limbo if they had not posted for a month. Now, with Google, there's no need to do that -- if the blog doesn't post, it doesn't appear on the blogroll. Yet, it is very rare for one of those limbo blogs to get reignited. In other words, I think sustained provision is not becoming that much greater. Rather, every time a strong new blog becomes established, a couple more quietly bow out.

Labels: Biblioblogs, biblioblogs.com, Blogger of the month

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Over on Biblioblogs.com, Bruce Fisk (PhD Duke) of Westmont College and author of the Crossings blog is interviewed:

Blogger of the Month for May 2007: Bruce Fisk
Interviewed by Jim West

It's full of good material, including this great paragraph about the joys of blogging, as good a summary as I've seen:

Since blogging is something of a hybrid between the classroom lecture, the academic conference, the journal article and the soapbox, it calls for more mental discipline and care than casual conversation but it makes less demands than peer-reviewed publications. That’s a pretty good recipe for creative, productive, innovative thought, it seems to me. Then there’s the wonder of the hotlink, the immediacy of feedback, and the accessibility of archives.

Labels: Biblioblogs, biblioblogs.com, Bruce Fisk

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Thanks to all those who have voted for the NT Gateway weblog on the Best Blogs about Biblical Studies over at Unspun by Amazon. I understand that the list was created by Airton Jose da Silva from Observatorio Biblico. I am flattered that the blog is currently coming out on top. Thanks for the encouragement.

Update (Sunday, 00:54): Airton José da Silva has a Roundup on this story on Observatório Bíblico.

Labels: Biblioblogs, Unspun

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It's great to see my friend Greg Carey entering the blogosphere:

NT Geeks

Greg Carey is Associate Professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary, where he has taught since 1999. He is the co-chair, with me, of the Synoptics Section at the SBL Annual Meeting. His first major post is on Sinners and is well worth a read.

Labels: Biblioblogs, Greg Carey

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