If Jim West is a "Biblioblogger" . . . Who Isn't?
Tim gives voice to a version of this question that I’ve seen a few others say and probably several others have thought without actually saying it. This point gets to one of the big pieces in the dearth-of-female-bibliobloggers puzzle. This is about identity formation and setting boundary markers (can you help us out, Brian?). When it comes to biblioblogging, who is in and who is out? What is our “ruler” for considering a blog to be appropriately focused upon academic biblical studies?
Tim points to my previous post where I am reaching out to the Emerging Women community (see the great comments coming in over there). He highlights something I have said, italicizing it in this way: “I’m not certain that any would qualify as focused upon “academic biblical studies” (I haven’t searched through all of them), but they are definitely a collection of blogs of interest to our field.” Thank you , Tim, for giving me the opportunity to clarify the statement. In response, I would emphasize the words “I’m not certain” and “I haven’t searched through all of them.” Please read on . . .
I had been thinking about the very question that Tim so eloquently states in his post (one of the best posts on this topic thus far). Given the freedom of blogging, I cannot imagine setting a solid boundary line. I think for any blog to be considered a biblioblog, though, a few questions should be pondered:
- How many posts are on biblical studies in a given time period? Say, a month.
- What is the ratio of biblical studies posts to other sorts of posts?
- How tangentially related are those “other sorts of posts” to biblical studies?
- What qualifies as a post about “biblical studies”? We are not including every person on the internet that sometimes says interesting things about the Bible. No, we need some academic interaction.
- What, then, do we consider “academic interaction”?
It’s a bit of a balancing act. The thing with Jim’s blog is that, yes, it’s eclectic. But buried in those posts about the evils of one news bit or another are some posts that do indeed “interact” with academic issues of biblical studies. Maybe Jim’s “interaction” is more ranting than measured dialogue, but apparently that’s acceptable for biblioblogging (since Jim’s blog is accepted as a biblioblog). The key, I think, is that Jim refers to scholars and scholarship and people doing stupid things with archaeology. He addresses issues that are of interest to the academic world.
What I was uncertain about in the quote highlighted by Tim was whether we could all be on the same page about what defines an appropriate focus on academic biblical studies.
I think that if we can find women who are interacting (or ranting or whatever) with academic issues of biblical studies at least a few times a month and those posts are not totally overshadowed by the rest of their other interests (any more than Jim’s academically-related posts are), then we have found new bibliobloggers! So, I am suggesting we place Jim’s blog on the “margins,” in a sense, defining him as a good boundary marker. We are saying, “Okay, we’ll let Jim be Jim, but that’s probably as academically diluted as we want to go.” I mean no offense to Jim when I say these things. He is certainly confident and comfortable with his own approach to blogging and academics!
So, let the hunt go on for new female bibliobloggers! I will suggest two places to begin looking. I have already mentioned the Emerging Women community. I will also highlight the RevGalBlogPals ring of blogs (see the “Our Blogs” section on the right sidebar).
Getting Help with the Biblioblog Gender Gap Issue
Hoping to get some outside-the-box consideration, I have enlisted the assistance of Emerging Women for our conversation regarding the number of female bibliobloggers. If you are not familiar with the Emerging Women community, you might be pleasantly surprised at large collection of quality blogs by intelligent women on matters spiritual, biblical, theological, political, cultural, ethical and more. I’m not certain that any would qualify as focused upon “academic biblical studies” (I haven’t searched through all of them), but they are definitely a collection of blogs of interest to our field.
I will try to post links as I see the responses coming through. Thanks for posting the request, Julie!
Steph Should Blog
Mark Goodacre raises a good point, and Jim seconds, that biblioblogging’s most ubiquitously commenting non-blogger should get a blog already! In a custom search through biblioblogs for “steph,” one receives 166 different results, nearly all of which point to the same person. In terms of polemics, she sure would give even Jim a run for his money, and then perhaps making her a contender to take on Jim for the top biblioblogging spot. (People who “speak their mind” with passion tend to get more traffic.) Whether or not you agree with her, she sure would add a little bit more fireworks among biblioblogs.
Another Round on the Dearth of Female Bibliobloggers?
April DeConick raises the perennial isssue of the dearth of female bloggers in biblical studies. 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 summarized an even older discussion on the lack of female bibliobloggers sparked around the time of the Philly SBL meeting (Nov 2005). Looks like we’ve got a good two-year cycle or so.
So many theories have been posited and it’s difficult for any of them to avoid gender stereotypes. Is it that men like the geeky, techy blogging thing more than women? Well, my wife is getting started in the breastfeeding/mothering blogging world and there are tons of female bloggers who are activists for whatever type of mothering meets their passions. So, do we say that women prefer more “emotional” or “personal” sorts of bloggings than their more “intellectual” or “rational” male counterparts? Blech. How’s that for the cream of stereotypes? The percentage of women in biblical scholarship generally debunks the emotional women versus rational men theory. Pointing the finger at men, we all know that blogging is an attractive platform for narcissists. Are more men bibliobloggers because it feeds their male egos? But there are lots of women bloggers out there, just very few blogging on academic biblical studies.
It’s difficult to make heads or tails of this issue by focusing on stereotypes, male or female.
I have one more idea kicking around this time and I’m not certain if someone has mentioned it before–they probably have. This is less related to gender preferences and more so related to social realities. What about the perceived risk involved with biblioblogging? While job descriptions o’ plenty are saying “women and minorities are encouraged to apply,” is there not still an uphill struggle women have to fight to gain the same level of respect as their male colleagues? There is still plenty of doubt in the academy about whether blogging biblical studies is a valid medium for scholarly conversation–and then there are plenty who don’t even know what a blog is and how’s it’s different from a myspace account.
If female scholars are fighting harder for respect than male scholars already, and there is a risk of possibly even losing respect by blogging (or at least that may be the perception), then that may be a contributing factor as well. Just to throw one more idea out there into the ring.
Poll: Most Intelligent Biblioblogger?
So, WordPress has this new feature where you can insert a poll into your blog posts. So, to make use of this new tool and to have a little fun, let me ask: Who within the biblioblogging world is the most intelligent? I do not qualify because, well, I’m creating this poll. And, clearly, that is not an intelligent thing to do.
Cast your vote! And feel free to leave your reasoning in the comments.
[polldaddy poll=1001464]
Reception for Bibliobloggers (or whatever you call us) in Boston?
Jim West, the man of the perpetually transforming blog presentation, informs the public that we may indeed have a chance to be an official reception at SBL. Such an event would be great, considering the unwieldy nature of our massive biblioblogger lunch in San Diego. I think it would make for a better event, too, because it would be a set time and place advertised in print for all SBL members to see.
Is it too early to be excited about Boston? I did grow up in Massachusetts after all. It’s my home! By the way, this Friday is the last day to register for the meeting at the “early bird” rate. March 1st is the due date for paper proposals.
Doing Biblical Scholarship Online (with Google Books)
My blogging efforts have helped immensely as I have been seeking out my research interests as a student of New Testament and Christian origins. Before beginning the blogging journey, I had little idea what might be available for the student and scholar online. So, I have created a separate resource page for those interested in discovering what might be out there for scholars of biblical studies, Christian origins and Second Temple Judaism. I include helpful links to get introduced into the biblioblogging world (that is, blogs generally about academic biblical studies), though I don’t attempt any list of biblioblogs myself. I point to a few places where one might find some primary texts and full articles (there are too many articles available to list and more are coming available through university library searches).
My biggest resource on the page is my own attempt to list full-view books from Google Books available for scholars in our fields. I was inspired by Mischa Hooker’s list, and have included some of her findings, but I have mostly been tracking things down on my own as I think of authors to search for. It is primarily an interesting project for me. I am taking a class on the history of NT scholarship and it helps to see images of books published so long ago in the field. It makes the history come alive a little bit more. But I also thought others might find the links interesting, so I’m putting it out there for everyone. Let me know what you think. The bibliographic format is a little awkward with different volumes and editions available separately. I hope you can overlook that and perhaps I’ll come up with a better idea as time goes on. Feel free to leave comments on the page itself (or this post) with suggestions and I’ll look them up in due course.
Update (same day): It came to my attention that, in addition to Hooker’s list, Danny Zacharias and Bob Buller (SBL Editorial Director) maintain an incredible list as well. Their list also blows mine out of the water, but I’m enjoying the search, so I’ll keep plugging away.
As my list grows, I think I will try to add entries that include not only the big names of scholarship, but also representations of interesting interpretative debates from history, particularly social issues. I’ve already found a few on slavery, including from a pro-slavery perspective.
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Elsewhere . . .- Blog titles beginning with "A" to "Z" on your reader Mark Goodacre
- Of making many books there is no end Chris Brady
- Free Online: The Liddell-Scott Jones Lexicon S and C
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? II agathos
- Steven J. Friesen and the Identity of Satan’s Throne in Pergamum alan
- Does Higher Criticism Attempt to “Destroy the Bible”? agathos
- Bloomsbury buys Continuum Mark Goodacre
- Imperial America Peter J. Leithart
- C.F.D. Moule on the Birth of the New Testament d. miller
- Responding to Kostenberger (with comparisons to Marshall) Jeremiah
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