Retired Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology at the University of Edinburgh, Larry Hurtado, offers a very helpful--if not necessary--reminder about the relationship of blogs and reputable scholarship. The simple truth is, blogs cannot make scholars out of us. And, I'm afraid far too many of us depend upon blogs in our RSS feeds rather than more in-depth studies from mainstream scholarship.
Dr. Hurtado addresses the issue in a winsome but nonetheless explicit manner:
Scholarly work intended to have an impact on the field isn’t done in blogging. The amount of data, its complexity, the analysis and argumentation involved, and the engagement with the work of other scholars that forms an essential feature of scholarly work all require more space than a few hundred words of a blog-posting, or a few paragraphs of blog-comment. So, it’s rather unrealistic (not to say bizarre) for some commenters to assume otherwise.
Hurtado's full piece is worth your time: Scholarly Work and the "Blogosphere"
Isn't it amazing that long before blog posts, one-liner theology in social media, and best-selling books, Christians received spiritual information the old fashioned way ... the Holy Spirit led them into all truth! The Christian community should really try that again (after we stop quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit)... it would set us free from the mumbo-jumbo we are getting via other avenues.
Posted by: Max | 2014.08.01 at 11:18 AM