Jim West Justifies Biblioblogging as an SBL Affiliate Group
In this case, it’s the first thing that has really made sense to me. I largely ignored the previous discussion on this topic, falling under the “who cares?” group to which Dr. West refers. I remain less than totally enthusiastic, but I do see the value in identifying scholarly participation on the web. I normally do so by looking up the affiliations of bloggers and generally ignoring those who blog anonymously. But perhaps the SBL affiliation will provide a guide for those who are uncertain as to what information to trust.
I do have to wonder just who the “tech savvy fundamentalists” are who have hijacked Biblical scholarship. There are certainly many unreliable sources of information regarding Biblical studies on the internet, but I’m not certain I would be willing to regard “fundamentalist” as an adequate general description.
In addition, being an academic blogger and also an SBL member is not necessarily a guarantee of accuracy, though I’ll concede that it does improve one’s odds. One needs to check multiple sources and also look for references before believing what one reads on blogs–or anywhere else, though various affiliations and editorial practices can certainly help.
In any case, I welcome the Biblioblogger badge where I see it.
