For someone who derides dilettantes and frequently dismisses their opinions, it is hard to understand why Jim West so frequently makes use of them when it comes to his pet political issues. Jim posts on gun control (yet again) and quotes some idiotic pundit who argues that the Fort Hood massacre is a result of lax gun control laws. Setting aside how offensive it is that some blowhard is attempting to appropriate an act of domestic terror to further his liberal political agenda contra-Constitution, he doesn’t even make sense. First of all, he describes the weapon used as a “cop killer gun” which is just absolutely stupid. Are there armor piercing rounds for this gun? Yes. Can civilians buy them? No. Did Hasan use them? No. There is nothing about the pistol that makes it any more likely to be the end of a cop than any other handgun. In fact the gun used, an FN pistol chambered in 5.7mmx28mm, is remarkable only in that the cartridge it fires essentially mimics rifle ballistics instead of typical pistol ballistics. This sounds scary on the surface, but in order to achieve this the bullet actually has to be quite small. This means that the 5.7×28 cartridge basically uses a bullet that is slightly larger than the tried and true .22LR that is popular with children. There is nothing spectacular about this handgun, but because Jim and the people he quotes do not understand firearms they propagate ridiculous myths.

Lets turn now to the idea that gun control is the reason for this shooting. That would basically mean that someone might properly be in the armed forces, but could not be trusted to own a weapon at home. This is just moronic. The real failure here was with the military screening process not with gun control. It is ridiculous to think that the military could clear a person to enter a theater of war, but some domestic law should deny them the right to own a gun. The truth is no amount of screening or gun laws can contain the depravity that resides in the hearts of humans. Laws simply are not effective at stopping gun violence. The UK which has some of the strictest anti-gun laws there are is forced to have police patrol the streets with submachine guns just to contain the gun violence.

The last thing I would like to address is the authors claims that handguns “can be bought as easily as cigarettes.” This tells me an important thing about this writer: He has never attempted to purchase a handgun, nor is he intimately familiar with the process. Laws concerning handguns and rifles are quite different. Even at gun shows background checks are often required! (I’ve personally experienced this!) The truth may be that handguns can in fact be bought as easily as cigarettes by circumventing the laws, and this is exactly the whole problem with gun control. It simply doesn’t work. In the case of Hasan, there would be no reason to screen him from owning a gun if the military okayed, but even if this wasn’t the case there is no reason to believe someone who would kill or wounds dozens of people ( also illegal) would for some reason have qualms about buying a gun off the streets. The gun control we do have is not effective, so why would we think more gun control would help.

I very much understand the appeal of pacifism, and I do respect those Christians who view it as a theological necessity. So please, Jim, make those theological arguments and don’t rely on silly dilettantes to further your views.

*edit* Thanks to Jim for his excellent editing skills. I am just thankful to have given Joel a break from Jim’s red pen.

One of my favorite bibliobloggers is Rick Brannon, because he can be guaranteed to deliver one of two things: an interesting post in some way involving Koine or adorable pictures of his kid. Rick actually was the first biblioblogger I ever followed and led to the discovery of Chris Brady, Jim West, and the rest of the biblioblogging community. I was actually scouring the internet in search of Greek texts of Chrysostom’s works, and hoping I could score a free digital copy of Migne (oh how naive I was! ) when I happened upon ricoblog. Anyway, to the subject at hand. Senor Brannon has just posted a full translation of the Didache with lots of good footnotes which he has created. You can find the document here. Rick downplays the usefulness of his text in light of the myriad of others, but frankly I think it would be very useful if a student wanted to practice his Greek by translating the Didache. He would have yet another text to compare to, or if he lacks the funds to purchase others it allows him to at least translate in dialogue with someone else.

So, I was scrolling through the online version of the SBL Program book thinking about which sessions I’d like to go to, when I discovered a shocking entry concerning our dear Dr. West. It seems he will be giving a presentation on a very unique topic: Queer Hermeneutics in Light of Archeological Discovery. Good luck with that, Dr. West!

Roland Boer was kind enough to take the time to respond to my thoughts on his initial post about the critique of idolatry in Isaiah.  I do want to respond to his new post, but I really don’t have time today.  So for the moment let me just say that Roland’s response is basically the reason why I like the blogosphere and engage with other people in this virtual space.  This is an instance where a well-known and established author and scholar has taken the time to engage in discussion with a second year doctoral student. And it’s not like I’m Boer’s student or anything.  We don’t even live on the same continent.  Additionally, his response is measured and considerate, which it certainly needn’t have been (being a scholar and being impolite are, unfortunately, not mutually exclusive).  I still don’t really know how blogging fits in with my broader academic life, but at least one of the reasons that I like it so much is that I get to engage in discussions with exceptional minds.  So, thanks for the response Dr. Boer, I’ll give it a think.

Well here’s a nice little development.  It turns out I’m going to be going to SBL after all.  I’d resigned myself some time ago to missing the annual meeting in New Orleans, but due to a happy turn of events, and some help from a number of different parties (a thousand thanks to all of them), I get to head on down to the Big Easy for a few days come November.  The one bummer is that I don’t get to do the full lecture and translation time for Intermediate Hebrew for that Tuesday (I TA for the class), but that’s a concession I can live with.  And I imagine the IH students will be happy to have the day off as well.

Now I have to set about the task of deciding which sessions I want to attend.  Too bad I’m way too late for the biblioblogger’s dinner, but I guess I’ll just have to find some other way to meet some of my online acquaintances in person.  In any case, if you’re gonna be at SBL I hope to see you there.  And if you see an average sized guy (read here, a kinda short guy) with glasses, a very likable disposition, and a name-tag that says “Colin Toffelmire,” please stop me and say hi.

The hoped audience for this post is all of those out there in biblioblogdom whom are still unsure, or outright negative, towards the new affiliation between the SBL and Biblobloggers.

Last week I asked: with this year’s section “SBL National Film Premiere! Finding God in the City of Angels: Scriptural Communities and Dynamics in Los Angeles” (p 57 in your program guide) could any other section in the history of the SBL really not be appropriate? That’s a rhetorical question: the answer is no.

However, amongst the many other good arguments for such an affiliation, Daniel and Tonya, indirectly make the best statement for such an affiliation with their extensive list of bloggers presenting at SBL. I offer here a truncated version of their much fuller offering. Do be sure to check theirs out as well.

The amount of presenters, respondents, and panelists who count themselves amongst the biblioblogging community is very impressive. The breadth and depth of scholarship they are involved in is stunning. The number of professors and grad students involved is authoritative.

This is not a group of nobodies in the basement about whom no one in the field has heard of typing fringe theory articles about which no expert in the field agrees with.

These are active members in the SBL and the larger biblical studies community who also see the medium of the internet as a valuable way to disseminate their ideas in a more popular fashion.

Is there any University that is this well represented at SBL? Is there any entity such as “bibliobloggers” that has this many active participants at this year’s SBL? Looking over the list again the question in my mind is not: should there be an affiliation between the SBL and bibliobloggers? To ask that question is, at this point, irrelevant as the affiliation has been set up. In addition, an excellent chair and steering committee has been appointed.We should deal with the situation that is, not complain about the situation that isn’t.

The question going forward: how can so many active members of the SBL, who also have an active web presence,  make some sort of positive contribution to the field? Of course, there are many more important questions. Feel free to leave them in the comments as I am interested in what some of you have to say on the matter.

Bibliobloggers reading, responding, or sitting as panelists at this year’s SBL:

Saturday the 21st

African Biblical Hermeneutics – Celucien L. Joseph
Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity – Jeffery Garcia
Institute for Biblical Research – Peter Enns
Bible and Cultural Studies – Roland Boer
Bible and Visual Art – Chris Heard
Biblical Hebrew Poetry – Ros Clarke
Careers Outside the Classroom – Chris Spinks
Christianity in Egypt: Scripture, Tradition, and Reception – Christian Askeland
Contextual Biblical Interpretation – Joseph Kelly
Disability Studies and Healthcare in the Bible and Near East – Bryan Bibb
Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism - Jim Davila
Redescribing Early Christianity – James Crossley
Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making – Sean Winter
Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics – Steve Runge
Computer Assisted Research – Mike Heiser
Intertextuality in the New Testament Consultation – James McGrath
Levites and Priests in History and Tradition – Stephen Cook
Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism (Celebrating Pagel’s Gnostic Gospels) – April DeConick

Sunday the 22nd

Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature – David Melvin
Johannine Literature – Ken Brown
Josephus – David Miller
Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew – Steve Runge
Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible – Daniel McClellan
Academic Teaching and Biblical Studies – Karyn Traphagen; Tim Bulkeley; G. Brooke Lester
Exile (Forced Migrations) in Biblical Literature – Stephen Cook
Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism – April DeConick
Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making – Ben Blackwell

Monday the 23rd

Aramaic Studies – Chip Hardy
Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah – Chris Brady
Construction of Christian Identities – J. Brian Tucker
Greco-Roman Religions – Phillip Harland
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies- Phillip Marshall
Nag Hammadi and Gnostcism - Deidre Good
National Association of Professors of Hebrew – John Hobbins
Pauline Epistles – Jason Staples
Sacrifice, Cult, and Atonement – Andrew McGowan
Synoptic Gospels – AKM Adam
Things I Wish I Knew about Doing a PhD – Kevin Scull
Best Practices in Teaching Workshop – Karyn Traphagen
Book of Psalms -Art Boulet
Teaching Biblical Literature in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context - Bryan Bibb
Assyriology and the Bible – Alan Lenzi
Christian Theological Research Fellowship – AKM Adam
Computer Assisted Research – Robert Cargill; Mark Goodacre
Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism – David Larsen
New Testament Textual Criticism – Tommy Wasserman
Pseudepigrapha – Jim Davila

Tuesday the 24th

Bible Translation – John Anderson
Book of Acts – Kenneth Schenck
Construction of Christian Identities – Pat McCullough
Function of Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal Writings in Early Judaism and Early Christianity – Stephen Carlson
Ideological Criticism - James Crossley “NT Wrong and the Bibliobloggers”
Intertextuality in the New Testament Consultation – Nijay Gupta
Matthew – Ben Witherington
Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible – Michael Langlois; Mike Heiser

Famed Biblioblogger Jim West has taken the extremely controversial step of copyrighting the phrase “total depravity” (and variants on this phrase) in an apparent bid to protect what has become the central focus of his blog. Confronted with the prospect of  copycats after a recent posting by Doug Chaplain, West made the move to be the exclusive legal user of the phrase when it became apparent that he was in danger of losing his position as the #1 Biblioblogger on the Internet to the mild mannered and friendly Joel Watts of TheChurchofJesusChrist.

Reached for comment Mr. Watts declared, “Jim definitely should be afraid, but I doubt any legal maneuver can prevent me from rising to the top.” Anonymous insiders who claim to know Jim West well say he has admitted as much to them and credits his ability to cling to the top on Watts’ inability to find a suitable spell checker. Some bloggers have privately rallied to Jim West’s cause. One such blogger, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “We can’t have the #1 blogger in the world be from West Virginia, that’s just embarrassing!”

Dr. West was at first reluctant to speak to reporters on the issue, but later released this cryptic comment, “Dilettante news totally depraved biblioblogging numero uno socialism Zwingli.” Unable to make sense of this we contacted NT Wrong, currently residing in a secret bunker under the Arctic Ocean, who told us that it simply meant, “West rules, the rest drool.” Wrong then went on to give his full support to West nominating him to be Treasurer of the Minimalist Society of Southwestern Greenland. West has reportedly turned down the honor as he claims he is too busy in his new role as Arch Liaison of the Society of Biblical Literature to the Blogging Community.

Jim West is no stranger to controversy having organized the agreement between the SBL and the blogging community which tragically resulted in one biblioblogger taking up residence in an asylum. He also assumed the role of president at the organization responsible for assigning ranks to bibliobloggers sparking allegations of favoritism and behind the scenes dealing.

Legal documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act outline Dr. West’s argument for copyrighting the term. Mr. West argues that even though he did not coin the phrase “totally depraved,” he asserts his right to copyright its use in relation to biblioblogging on the basis that it has become in a sense his brand. One experienced judge when asked his thoughts on the case responded, “What is biblioblogging?” Only time will tell if Jim West’s request will be granted, but it is undeniable that Jim West has left on indelible mark on the biblioblogging community.

The rankings are up for the September round of the Biblioblog Top 50 and this blog hit #22 on the list! This number is fitting, as there are 22 chapters in the book of Revelation and 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. My place in the list is clearly ordained by God. Hitting a real stride this past month, I posted more in a single month than I ever have–36 posts (still only a fraction of what some other folks do). I also beat my total views for the month by about a thousand over my next best month (July, which included my carnival).

On either side of me in the rankings, perhaps appropriately for the past month, are female bibliobloggers: Suzanne at #21 and Rachel (for whom I advocated in the past month ) at #23.

My new blogging friend and fellow Celt, Daniel McClellan, is apparently cheating as he has skyrocketed into the top ten after two months of blogging.

Also, Daniel and Tonya have the new carnival up. I was so distracted by the beginning of the quarter that I forgot to send posts in this month. Sorry! Be on the look out at the blog of my colleague and partner in crime, Kevin Scull, as he hosts the carnival next month!

So here’s the new WordPress page. I won’t bore you with the reasons for the move from blogger, but suffice to say I’m happy so far. Also I’ve added a page for online Hebrew resources. Feel free to check it out, and of course to suggest additional content.

So, as commenters are rightly calling bizarre, “Jim’s Minions” at the Biblioblog Top 50 posts this:

This is the final post for The Biblioblog Top 50. Several days ago, in an attempt to dissociate our blog from humorless bibliobloggers such as Christopher Heard and Alan Lenzi, we ‘officialized’ Jim West as CEO of the Biblioblog Top 50. Despite this implicit plea for removal from the priggish posts of the self-appointed guardians of anal retentiveness, our plea was ignored. One can infer only one thing: being a part of their idea of “Bibliobloggers” is not voluntary and if one wishes to be removed, one has to delete one’s blog.

So we will not post again until Alan Lenzi resumes biblioblogging. See you around the biblioblogosphere.

But, if you go read Alan’s post, you will see that he seems to be taking the website a little too seriously (which is ironic). The post on Biblioblog Top 50 is a blatant parody of Alan’s post. In that context, it appears to be a good joke (albeit at Alan’s expense).

If this is something more than a joke, however, I would be disappointed. I see the Biblioblog Top 50 as a fun activity that we can participate in each month. I think it breeds a little community, even it is the cyber version of community, to have something like the rankings to chat about around the turn of each month. I also appreciate the site’s attempt to list all blogs related to biblical studies.

Alan’s posts of late seem to be viewing the Biblioblog Top 50 site as something of a corporation or an established organization. Rather, it is an independent blog doing a service for other bloggers. They have the right to link to whomever they’d like. How ridiculous would it be for me to stop blogging simply because John Anderson links to my page and I didn’t like some of his posts? (Thanks for the link, John. I love your posts )

At any rate, if the Biblioblog Top 50 is not simply joking, then we should try to figure out how to carry on its legacy. Maybe that would be the juice that Biblioblogs.com needs to get an extra kick . . .

Update: Yes, it was simply a parody. It is not the end.

Clarification: Jim G. and John A. have wisely stated in the comments that they think it better to stay out of the kerfuffles, like this one. I do think theirs is a good move. I would like to clarify, particularly for Alan’s sake, that I mean no ill will towards him with this post. I tried to go over to his blog and say that, but he’s disabled his comments. But he does say that the affiliation of bibliobloggers with SBL is both “taking things too seriously” and “over the top.” If you’re going to close your blog down for personal reasons, that’s fine. But to shut down all activity on your blog because a site is linking to you does seem to me to be “taking things too seriously” and “over the top.” Just sayin’ . . .

“Blog posts are written, not defecated.” That’s the best line in this list of instructions for “good blogs.” I think many bibliobloggers struggle with #1, while we probably excel at number two. I would add to the list: being willing to admit that your own blog may not meet all the criteria for a good blog! Plank-in-your-own-eye sort of thing. Personally, I think I could get better with most of the items on the list (Jim agrees), but trying to post more often and more consistently might help (I would place this under #8).

What do you think are the best “good blogs” among bibliobloggers? I’m not talking about the most academic, the most informative, or the most brilliant, but the ones that line up with as many of the points on this list as possible. Of the cuff here, and based simply on my own personal preferences, I would say Doug Chaplin, James McGrath, Nick Norelli, John Anderson, and a few others. I think there are many who would probably line up really well with the list if they posted more often.

HT: Chris Brady and Jim West.

I know, I know, you’re tired of the topic and we “bibliobloggers” have moved on to fight other fights. But in keeping with the spirit of my previous “listening to women” post, I would like to point out some additional reflection happening outside the fold of biblioblogdom. A couple weeks ago, around the same time I asked the Emerging Women for assistance, I also asked the RevGalBlogPals for some help thinking this through. I believe RevGalPals has been around since about when I discovered what a website was and had my own cheesy teenager personal webpage. They were first a vibrant “webring” for websites maintained by women “of the cloth” (and otherwise theologically educated, I think). When blogs hit the scene, they made the transition to a vibrant ring of blogs authored by women and those who support them in religious life. [If I've gotten any of that description wrong, somebody correct me!] Here are the requirements for joining the ring of blogs:

1. Women clergy, women church professionals, and women religious, or those discerning a call to Christian ministry.
2. Women or men blogging pals of (1).
3. All committed to building a supportive online community for women clergy, women church professionals, and women in religious life.
4. You must be an active blogger for the previous three months in order to join and to maintain membership.

Well, they keep things on a schedule over there and couldn’t get to the topic until today, but the comments have started coming in already. Some of the same themes as before are coming up, but again, these are the voices of women who have some sort of training or interest in theology/biblical studies, but have chosen not to participate in the same sort of discourse as the biblioblogging world (for the most part).

So, if you’re interested in reading more, please take a look at the RevGalBlogPal blog post where the discussion is happening. A big thank you to Songbird who was willing to take up the topic with her RevGalBlogPals. Also, you may be interested to stop by the previous post at Emerging Women, which has continued to gather some helpful comments.

I will leave you with this woman’s comment (leaving you to agree or disagree with her assessment):

I think it’s the academic discipline itself. As a woman who did my doctoral work in biblical studies back in the 80’s, it seemed like a field that both narrowly construed the issues it dealt with and relied strongly on the good-old-boy network. Over the years since, though as I’ve moved into a parish, I’ve largely left that academic discipline (at least as it’s done in traditional academia), it doesn’t seem like much has changed on that front. So, few women in biblical academia, few bibliobloggers.

Carry on.