kata ta biblia

a blog exploring Christian origins, biblical studies, social/cultural history, method, education and the journey through academia

June biblioblogger updates… and women bibliobloggers?

[Update (6/7/07): My apologies for using the term "women bibliobloggers": explanation here]

The Biblical Studies Carnival 18 is up as of last night over at Deinde, written by Danny Zacharias. The “carnival” is an attempt to gather together all and highlight the best blogging posts and conversations regarding biblical studies. You can read an explanation with instructions by Tyler Williams, the coordinator of the carnival, and even see an article written by him about it in the Society of Biblical Literature Forum. Danny has done a wonderful job (although, there appear to be some strange line break formatting going on in part of the post). I told him in an email that I do not envy that job! I especially appreciated his coverage of the “One Act Play” on “Who Not to Cite,” a kerfuffle started by Jim West (responding to Mike Bird) who lambasted anything written by InterVarsity Press.

The first of the month also brings forth the Featured Blogger of the Month at biblioblogs.com. For June, that blogger is Rick Brannan, a Logos Bible Software employee and three way blogger of Ricoblog and PastoralEpistles.com, while also contributing to Logos Bible Software blog. Like Mark Goodacre, I was particularly interested in Rick’s thoughts on the “current state of blogging” (related to biblical studies, in particular). And I was also quite impressed to see that he has built his own kayak!

Taking a look at the featured bibliobloggers of blogging past, I was struck by the fact that there is only one woman (correct me if I’m missing any): Lesa Bellevie, whose blog (The Magdalene Review) is now apparently defunct. This does reflect the reality that the overwhelming majority of bibliobloggers are men (even greater than the percentage of scholars in biblical studies). Nevertheless, I have noticed that there are some great bloggers in our midst, who happen to be women and who deserve featured mention. April DeConick’s blog is particularly strong. In fact, looking at my “trends” on Google Reader, I have shared more of her posts in the past 30 days than any other blogger. Closely related to April’s work is Judy Redman’s blog. And another fairly recent addition is Angela Roskop Erisman. These last two are less frequent bloggers than April, but strong nonetheless. I see also that April links to Betty Adam’s blog, with which I am not familiar (but I’m now going to subscribe). Am I missing any women bibliobloggers? I’m probably going to kick myself for not mentioning somebody.

Also, I am worried that as a white male (even if I am lower on the academic totem pole than all the women I’ve mentioned), this might sound paternalistic. That’s perhaps the most sensitive issue with being a male feminist. I just think that we are still a long way off from being liberated from stereotypes and assumptions regarding gender roles, even in academia, and the topic should be discussed from time to time.

Update (Same Day): Jim West has just informed me that the dearth of female bibliobloggers has been discussed in the past. So I have taken a look to see. In the lead up to the Philly SBL conference (Nov 2005), Ed Cook raised the question about what should be discussed among bibliobloggers and this was one of the topics mentioned. Jim West [broken link] and Joe Cathey [broken link] responded. Mark Goodacre mentions two now defunct female bibliobloggers [Helenann Hartley and Jenee Woodard] and, while hoping not to fall into “gender-stereotyping,” asks “Is there something about the combination between the male-dominated academy and the nerdy, geeky male electronic world, that makes the computer academy particularly prone to this?”

Loren Rosen suggests, “Blogs feed our male egos like no other internet forum, and there’s certainly no point pretending (lying) otherwise, even if we also have positive motives for being involved in this network of shared learning.” Further, he says:

I’m suggesting that women share their interests with others in less self-aggrandizing ways. The “anonymous female” who responded to Mark Goodacre confirms this, when she says: “I think the main reason [I don’t blog] is that I am just not comfortable with the idea of telling random strangers what I think about things.” We men, by contrast, are very comfortable doing this.

Lest he be misrepresented, it is clear that Loren wants to highlight both “sharing” and “aggrandizing” motives for males who blog, but that it is just difficult to admit the latter. Finally, here Jim Davila rounds up the various blogging about the biblioblog meeting in Philly, much of which includes thoughts about the dearth of female biblioblogging. I don’t have time to read through all of it right now, but I did notice that Mark Goodacre thinks that we should at least draw attention to it. The last talk that I see (correct me if I’m wrong) was about a year and a half ago. I don’t think it’s wrong to raise the question within such a space of time, particularly in the fast-paced blogging world (of which I wasn’t even a part in 2005).

One thing that I notice is that I see plenty of women bloggers out there (take the contributors to Emerging Women, for instance, or many of those to the Beatitudes Society blog), just not so much in biblical studies. So, is it a lack of interest amidst female biblical studies scholars/informed-laypersons? Or a lack of welcome amidst those already in the biblioblogging world? Or something else? Or all of the above?

Also, as I type this, April comments of Rebecca Lesses’ blog–another that I’ll be adding to my subscriptions.

Update (6/3/07): See Judy Redman’s thoughtful response on her blog. Jim West also mentions the issue on his blog. Michael Westmoreland-White piggybacks on this issue a
nd reflects on women theology bloggers, which seems to be in better shape (numbers wise) than women bibliobloggers. Michael also encourages his readers, if they be female bibliobloggers or know of some, to “tell either Pat or Jim (the latter can get you more traffic)”. Hmmm…. well, I guess it’s true, Jim being the hub of biblioblogdom that he is! But, as the old Jesus saying goes, the higher trafficked blogs shall be last and the lesser frequented blogs shall be first, right? ;)

Post to Facebook Post to Twitter Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Google Buzz Post to LinkedIn Post to StumbleUpon

17 Comments by Patrick George McCullough  /  June 2, 2007  /  Posted in: biblical studies carnival, biblioblogs, women's roles
« Previous post
Next post »
  • Jim

    Howdy,
    First, we discussed the dearth of female bloggers at the SBL in Philadelphia. And before. And after.

    Second, Brandon and I have to be made aware of female bibliobloggers. We do know of April. And Judy. The others you name are new to me.

    Third, we haven’t interviewed everyone yet.

    ;-)

  • Patrick George McCullough

    Thanks, Jim. I hope no offense was taken. I was just throwing it out there. On the earlier discussions, I’ll update the original post…

  • April DeConick

    Hi Patrick,

    I’d add Rebecca Lesses to the list. She is the only other woman biblioblogger I know about (other than the ones you mentioned).

    One of the reasons that I started my blog this year was to help correct the absence of the female voice in the blogworld.

    Thanks for your post, but I am saddened that there are even fewer of us than I thought. Does anyone know of other women with biblioblogs?

  • Angela Roskop Erisman

    I’m thrilled to know I’m not the ONLY female biblioblogger! Thanks, Patrick, for the awareness-check! Hopefully the percentage of estrogen in the biblioblogosphere (did I REALLY just type that word?) will rise.

  • Patrick George McCullough

    I hope so too, Angela! Perhaps we should recruit :) What may also be required is some thought about what it takes to stick it out. How can we assure that the women’s voices that we do have don’t just get tired of the overly male populated, yes, biblioblogosphere and leave us?

  • Judy Redman

    Slightly belatedly, given my own blog, thanks for raising this, Patrick. Note that Jennee Woodard may simply be too busy maintaining TextWeek to find time to blog as well. What she does is huge!

  • Rebecca

    Thanks for citing me! I don’t if I’m exactly a biblioblogger, because I don’t often blog on the Bible itself – but I am interested in the intersection between politics and religion (hence the name of my blog).

    Also – in the blogging world at large I think that there are lots of women blogging. It’s not that women have smaller egos than men, it’s that perhaps they are blogging on different topics. There are quite a few female bloggers on Jewish subjects (from a personal perspective). I do find a dearth of female political bloggers, however.

  • Patrick George McCullough

    Thanks for the clarification and the thoughtful response, Rebecca. I was thinking the same thing about egos, but it’s harder for a man to say it :) I thought of this line from the (1994) movie version of Little Women [I don't think the same line is in the book], where Jo says:

    “I find it poor logic to say that women should vote because they are good. Men do not vote because they are good; they vote because they are male, and women should vote, not because we are angels and men are animals, but because we are human beings and citizens of this country.”

    Now, that’s about whether a woman should be allowed to vote, and clearly, women are allowed to blog about any subject, but perhaps some similar comment could be made about biblioblogging.

    There could be a subtle sexism assuming women are gentle doves, while men are beastly creatures, intent on domination (exaggerations, of course). With this assumption, perhaps we end up saying behind our words: “You see, men are more cut out for this sort of thing and women can’t handle it.” This is just a thought to consider, not an accusation to any particular person.

  • Michael Westmoreland-White

    There is also a noticeable imbalance of female theological bloggers, though plenty of women pastors who blog. (See the blog-ring RevGalPals for a LOOONG list.)

    Email discussion
    groups have often had more female members, although they have died out since the coming of blogs. Perhaps the more dialogical nature of such lists fits “women’s ways of knowing” more than the monological blogs. Or maybe women biblical scholars and theologians are just too busy writing BOOKS!

  • Thom Stark

    I read Donna Claycomb’s Words from Washington quite frequently.

  • Michael Westmoreland-White

    Pat, I was thinking of Jim’s role in hosting the bibliblogs site and doing the monthly biblio-blog interviews. That service has increased traffic for many.

    It DOESN’T make Jim brilliant, etc. and after seeing him give yet ANOTHER rant trying to “defend” cessationism, the view that all the “dramatic” spiritual gifts ended with the canonization of the New Testament, I am beginning to think that graduate studies were wasted on him.

    When is the last time any of us have seen Jim actually make a careful exegetical argument? For a guy who rants about dillentantes constantly, he doesn’t show any of the exegetical skills of the scholars he admires–at least, not on his blog, he doesn’t.

  • Patrick George McCullough

    Thanks, Thom. Looks like Donna’s blog is a good one, though probably not a “biblioblog” (i.e. generally focusing on academic biblical studies), right?

    And Michael… No offense taken, I was just teasing. On Jim’s temper versus exegesis… :) I think I’ll stay away from that one.

  • Thom Stark

    Yeah, hers is less “biblio” than “theo” or pastoral, but well worth the read at any rate.

  • Jemila Monroe

    Clearly, as a female, I don’t have a problem expressing my thoughts in a public sphere. My experience personally as well as with Emerging Women is that in general, women are more interested in concepts, experiences and relationships than in academic minutiae, and this contributes in part to the dearth of bibioblogs by women. At the same time, when I have posted on predominantly male blogs, I have felt an atmosphere of an “old boys club,” where frequently my comments and arguments, however cogent, have been largely ignored, possibly because I spoke more in concepts than jargon and references, and partly because I just don’t have that long dangly thing that some men think qualifies as a microphone in addition to its other functions.

  • Patrick George McCullough

    Thanks, Jemila. I was hoping to get a comment from you. You’ve got a way with words, as always :)

    The “old boys club” is primarily what I was thinking when bringing up the “welcoming” issue: Do women feel welcome in the predominantly male biblioblogging atmosphere? It seems that for you, though, it is both an “interest” and a “welcoming” issue: in addition to not feeling welcome, you are not particularly interested in blogging on academic biblical studies.

    To be honest, I have not always felt welcome either. There are some blogs on which I comment and have never been acknowledged. For me, I have interpreted the cold shoulder as more of a status issue (regardless of gender).

  • Chris Weimer

    Here were my own comments from a couple of years ago:

    http://neonostalgia.com/weblog/?p=37

    and responding to Mark Goodacre:
    http://neonostalgia.com/weblog/?p=38

  • http://patmccullough.com/2009/09/01/another-round-on-the-dearth-of-female-bibliobloggers/ Another Round on the Dearth of Female Bibliobloggers? « kata ta biblia

    [...] Deirdre Good follows up. Some time ago (June 2007 – while I was still blogging at Blogger), I raised the issue and got some discussion going. On that old post (now transferred to my new web location), I also [...]