In my previous post I discussed some of the ideas that had been put forth for increasing the amount of money that the blog takes in – which is my ultimate goal, as I’ve repeatedly said. I realize that for most of you (all of you?), that’s *not* the ultimate goal. Most of you are interested in what the blog can provide by way of substance and content. So, on that topic….
I have tried to vary my posts since this endeavor started over two years ago now, and looking at the categories in which the posts appear, I think that has worked pretty well. And so far I have not run out of things to say and, to my knowledge, I have not yet repeated a post. Maybe I have and didn’t notice, and you were too kind to point it out! (Sometimes I have had ideas and searched only to see, yup, did that one already….)
I have received a number of good suggestions about possible ways to change the blog to make it more attractive both to current members and to potential users. Here are three that have especially struck my fancy, the first of which I’ve mentioned before as I’ve been mulling it over for … forever.
1. A Discussion Forum.
I have thought about this, planned to do this, almost did it, decided to wait on it, thought about it some more, and on and on. A discussion forum would allow those of you making comments to go back and forth directly with one another without having to go through me. No mediator, per se –you could talk directly to each other on either the topics of my posts or on anything related that you felt like. It would have to involve the CIA (Christianity in Antiquity). And there would be a moderator who would approve all the posts to make sure things didn’t get out of hand and nasty, and that no one was dominating or trying to dominate the conversation. If things got a bit crazy we might have to limit the number or length of comments. But it does seem like a good idea to me. To you too? If so, let me know. I don’t really see a downside, but if you do, let me know.
The deal is, though, that I simply don’t have time to moderate. A couple of you, back in the winter, volunteered, but your personal circumstances may have changed and possibly you can’t do it now. So let me ask: is there someone on the list who might be willing to do it? QUALIFICATIONS: you would need to be reasonable conversant with early Christianity to be able to make sure everyone stays on track and you would need to devote something like 15 minutes a day (? 20? I’m guessing) on, say, five days a week.
If people want this kind of forum, and we decide to go ahead, I would choose a moderator and we would give it a test run for, say, a month, and then re-evaluate. What do you think?
2. What Am I Reading?
A couple of people have suggested that I devote some posts to the research that I’m doing as I’m doing it, i.e., that I talk about some of the things that I’m reading. I think this is an excellent idea.
I take notes on just about every book and article that I read. I have to say, this (writing down notes) is a major pain in the backside. It’s a part of the job I really don’t like. My standard way of doing my research is to spend part of a day reading – whacking my way through a book, reading a few articles, whatever. I try to vary what I do, since I have a dreadfully low threshold of boredom, and need to keep things lively – which means diverse. And I’ve gotten extremely good at being able to know what in a book or an article I really need to master, what I need to read carefully, what I need only to skim, and what I can completely skip over. This was a talent I started to develop already in high school, when I was working on my debate topic for the year, and had mounds of material to get through. These days I attack a book by “sucking its marrow out” (that’s how I describe it to myself): getting the really important stuff out of it and then moving on.
Anyway, I highlight everything I read. And then, the next day (I can never bring myself to do it the same day), I summarize the book (or articles) on a computer file and pull out all the really important quotations, if there are any, that I want to use. Some books I can summarize in a paragraph. Some take many pages. It just depends on how relevant it is for my work (and how good it is!). But then I almost never have to reread a book; I have my notes on it permanently. (Unless I decide I need more detailed notes for some reason).
Anyway, it would be quite easy (I think….) to devote an occasional post to one of the things that I’d been reading, highlighting, and taking notes on recently. I’m thinking, at this point, of maybe having a post a week like this – the most interesting thing that I’ve read that previous week. What do you think? My hunch is that I’ll try it for a month or two, and see if people enjoy it or not.
3. Guest Posts?
One suggestion that I receive a lot is: wouldn’t it be good to have *other* scholars contribute guest posts to the blog, to get some other perspectives and points of view? I think the answer is: ABSOLUTELY YES!! The problem is that it is easier to want than to achieve. I have asked a *number* of fellow scholars, of different persuasions/interests/expertise to contribute one or more posts to the blog. So far, if you’ve been paying attention, I haven’t had a lot of success. Most flat-out say no thank you. Some put me off and never do it. The reason? Well, they’re busy and they have too many other things to do. But I will keep at it. Feel free to suggest names and topics to me (some of the names that regularly get mentioned – I won’t name them here – simply won’t do it, I’m sorry to say).
Well, many of you made many other good suggestions — and they’re all in the hopper. I appreciate the thought that went into them. Many thanks again for responding to my request.
Dr. Ehrman,
I think a list of recommended reading could be cool, separated by topic. As for guest scholars, and posts: A back and forth on the blog between you and Tom Wright debating Apocalyptic (the meaning of “coming of the son of man”; did Jesus’ predictions failed; if the genre/passages are primarily intended literally or metaphorically; etc.) would be awesome! His views are gaining tons of popularity in the evangelical apologetics community, and I think a resource where its countered in a scholarly way, to point people to would be great. Gotta make that happen!
Best,
Ben
My 2 denarius: I like the idea of posts of what you are reading (#2) and your research. The discussion forum (#1) is good too. The guests posts (#3) are of some interest but not on the top of my list.
Good morning.
Short, and sweet, as they say:
#1 and #3, would most certainly be nice; #2, however, would be absolutely WONDERFUL!
I think a discussion forum would be a bad idea. It would likely be dominated by a few motormouths who think they know something. You recently cautioned a commentor to limit his/her questions to one a day. I get enough of that type in the regular comments.
OTOH, an occasional update on your current project(s) would be very welcome as well as guest posts.
I strongly endorse suggestions 1 & 2.
I like the idea of a forum and have been hoping for a while that we’d see one. I would volunteer to be a moderator as well. I’m a moderator on other unrelated forums.
I’ve enjoyed Joe Hoffman’s writings. He has written some quite lengthy highly substantive essays on his own blog, but hasn’t posted much in the past 6-12 months. Most of what he has written in the past year have been bits of poetry or miscellaneous commentary on things unrelated or only very peripherally related to his primary work. I’d like to see more of his primary work.
Topic #1 – I don’t see the necessity for it, since even now, if we choose, we can reply to someone else’s Comment. Maybe, with the change you contemplate, people would feel more comfortable about doing that? I sort of like things the way they are now, because I assume most of us – like me – aren’t very knowledgeable.
Topic #2 – Sounds great!
Topic #3 – I’ve never been anxious for posts by other scholars.
Just a question, for whenever you have time to get to it…how do scholars *know* people in Jesus’s day didn’t make the distinction we do between dreams and waking visions? I’m not denying it, just – quite seriously – wondering how you’ve determined it.
I’ve realized I’d put more faith in a possibly-veridical dream, because dreams themselves are “normal” phenomena, and most of us believe “visions” are *ab*normal. But I’d never let a dream convince me a person who’d died was still alive in the sense Jesus’s followers seem to have believed he was – alive, in the same identity, in this dimensional realm.
Good question. I asked my student Jason Combs, who is writing a dissertation on a topic that involves this question. This is what he replied:
There are more words in Greek than we have in English for “vision” and “dream”. So, just from the standpoint of translation, it is impossible to find direct equivalents. Today we tend to distinguish between visions and dreams in terms of consciousness or control of rational faculties (was the person asleep or awake?), but our understanding of these concepts is heavily influenced by post-enlightenment rationality and post-Freudian psychology — approaches to the mind and to individual identity that did not exist in antiquity. Granted, some ancient authors were more precise with their words than others. For instance, Artemidorus, the second-century dream interpreter, defines the several of the terms. He says that an ENUPNION (often translated as “dream”) is an insignificant dream, a HORAMA (often translated as “vision”) is a significant dream with an obvious meaning, and an ONEIROS (also translated as “dream”) is a significant dream that requires allegorical interpretation — this last one was Artemidorus’s speciality. Most ancient authors, however, did not use these terms in such a technical way, and very few were consistent. Sometimes an author would use terms translated as both “vision” and “dream” when describing the same event. So, the best approach when reading about “visions” or “dreams” in ancient texts is to pay close attention to how the authors themselves demonstrate that such phenomena are significant. Some ancient authors do emphasize that the dreamer/visionary was awake or was in between asleep and awake, others suggest that the same dream/vision occurred multiple times or that another person had the same dream/vision. Some describe an object (apport) being transmitted from the dream-world into the waking world, others verify their experience based on its agreement with a Homeric story or a work of art. When a dream/vision is particularly significant, most authors will use combinations of these characteristics.
Marginally related point possibly of interest to the room: A historian named A. Roger Ekirch has argued, mainly in the context of British history, that human sleep patterns have undergone a significant shift with the spread of artificial lighting, and links this to cultural shifts involving how we perceive sleep, night, dreams, and perhaps “visions,” as well.
Thanks for the quick reply! I wish your student well with his dissertation.
I think moderating posts in a forum, especially approving each post one-by-one would quickly become a full-time job. It might work out here better than on other forums since members have to pay to be here. Forums I’ve visited in the past (all free) do not approve posts in advance but intervene when one member flags a post as problematic. That might work OK here and be less work. Internet fundamentalists and Christian or atheist apologists do not bode well for this being an easy job, certainly not one I would like to volunteer for! But it is a great idea, even if I do say so myself.
If not a “report abuse” option for those who get out of hand, creating a form where people can report an out of hand user rather than a out of hand post might make the moderating part manageable, rather than having all posts read by a moderator before being approved.
1. Discussion forum: Good idea. Many be a feature that causes some who are on the fence to join the blog.
2. What you’re reading/projects you’re working on: Really good idea. Will expose readers to other cutting-edge research.
3. Guest posts: You can also frame your request in terms of focusing on the benefits of posting—such as giving them an opportunity to discuss a topic or issue they recently wrote on in book, which may be an incentive to contribute (and by doing so, indirectly promote their book!), since you have thousands members as well as thousands of people on Facebook who see a preview of your post.
All good ideas, and please do not forget the “gift a membership” functionality.
Funny thee Greek format of
Number down word
Is similar to gospel of Thomas
And they supposedly found or has been around before
As found wise
They found Plato ( Greek ) writing with the gospel of peter etc lol
1. I like the idea of discussion among members, but it must be kept to a theme, be academic in nature, and respectful. I have seen such open blogs and they often deteriorate to the level of name calling, obscenity, or postings of long scriptural passages to prove one point or another. It must be moderated with rules for postings. I have the time and somewhat of a background to help but my current WiFi connection is terrible….2. I like the idea of you giving book reviews. such would be helpful to many of us since we often can’t financially afford to buy books sight-unseen. A preview would be very appreciated….and, 3. I have always benefited from the guest posts you have had in the past and the videos of presentation. I know a scholar who is doing work on the Gospel of John and other writings of John who would be very happy to post articles on specific biblical issues…he has some very interesting ideas and interpretations, all based on textual materials or the writings of other early Christian authors….His name is James David Audlin. I could provide contact information and his previous books can be found listed on amazon and through his publisher.
Thanks for the suggestion!
I like the idea of hearing about the things you’ve been reading. I’m often looking for good books or articles to read. I’d also be interested in learning who some of your favorite scholarly authors are on the NT and early Christianity.
I would like to see others guest post who were fundamentalist that turned agnostic/atheist/or at least very skeptical. What were defining moments and issues for them. This would be similar perhaps to the series Pete Enns has recently done on his blog.
I’d have to think if I know others like that!!
Dear Prof. Ehrman,
first and foremost thank you so much for sharing your passion with us! I really appreciate this and I can only imagine how busy your schedule must be also without this blog. So, thank you! For the same reason I feel a bit hesitant to suggest anything which could lead to any additional workload… But if I may throw in my two cents (hopefully it’s not an inappropriate idiom on this blog 😉 here it goes:
Would it be possible to add a place where people drop questions to you? Similar questions from different members could be pooled together and you would need to answer only once so to speak. I’m asking because members ask you questions sometimes which are not directly related to the topic dealt with in the post while others feel at odds with this habit. For instance, I’ve been wondering if Acts 18:12-17 is a later interpolation (Crispus vs. Sosthenes; discontinous narrative?) wanted to ask you but wasn’t sure where. I was tempted to go back to one of your older posts dedicated to Acts but… well, I guess I made my point. In any event: THANK YOU!
Greetings from Zurich
I’ll look into it!
It’s not just content which is all ready rich if not unequaled but accessibility that drives contributions. One of your readers suggested a format that was more “mobile friendly” and I think it is a solid suggestion… I’m taking a page from Yahoo’s flickr site which has undergone a massive change to become more mobile friendly. The result has been a sudden if not explosive increase in viewer numbers. Also, given your books popularity, is there an insert that also mentions not only this site but your compassionate dedication to helping others in need? (My books are all kindle or ibook editions so I might no be receiving inserts or dedication pages). I’ve also noticed that Barnes and Nobles offers a “loan” program at a sharp discount for the one book I can’t afford yet The Bible. Is it possible that your own site could set up a library kind of opportunity where books could be rented for short periods of time and the proceeds go also to your charity? Just brainstorming and wishing you well.
As far as content, I like as well your mixed media blogs. Do you know which types of blogs gain more attention than others?
We’ve just started a statistical analysis. But I can tell easily which facebook posts, from the blog, get the most attention.
Suggestion for Guest Posts – how about Richard Friedman (Univ. of Georgia) for insight on the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible?
good idea.
I like the discussion forum, and think it is a great idea. Would like to put my name in as a prospective moderator. My qualifications are the reading of about 15 of your books, and I have read the Bible, but certainly am not an expert in it. Certainly if there is a grad student who is studying early Christianity, then he/she would be a better choice. I do have the time for it. Thanks so much.
Prof Ehrman
1. I don’t really have an opinion on discussion forums.
2. Excellent idea. But also how about reading lists? There must be classic texts in the field which you take for granted but which will be unknown to a layman. I’ve already discovered Joel Marcus and Raymond Brown though your posts. What about bibliographies?
3. If you can’t get other scholars to guest what about some of your better students? It might be interesting to get their prospective especially your serious graduate students.
I have read all of your blogs and I, likewise, do not think you have ever repeated one. With regard to the three points:
1. I think a discussion forum is worth a try. However, some other similar blogs have such forums and I have to say that I have not found them that useful as they are usually filled with people ranting and raving rather than discussing. Hence, I almost always skip these blog discussions.
2. I like the idea of your using one blog a week to review a book or paper that you have recently read, especially if the book is a Barnes and Noble type bestseller and, hence, is not too esoteric.
3. Peter Enns in his “Rethinking Biblical Christianity” blog has recently had about a dozen scholars discuss their “aha” moment regarding Biblical inerrancy. I think the one scholar you had contribute to this blog did a super job. I do think it would be helpful to have some scholars review why they remain Christian despite the problems with the historical reliability of the Bible.
All good ideas. 🙂
I think it would be a privilege to “participate” in your research projects!
I think all of these are interesting ideas. In particular, I’d love a discussion group: too often conversations on these topics on the Internet seem to end with people declaiming “The Bible is the inerrant word of God!” on the one hand and, “The Gospels were written hundreds of years after Jesus supposedly died and completely made him up based on Mithros and Osiris” on the other. Hopefully we could avoid that, here, and get some interesting discussion going.
(I’m not volunteering to moderate it, though… that may turn out to be the rub.)
P.S. What those dozen or so contributors to the blog of Peter Enns do quite well is to explain how they awakened to the idea that the Bible is not completely historically reliable. What they explain less well is how they remained Christian in spite of this awakening. That is what interests me. I think it’s a very difficult problem.
The forum is probably the best addition that I can think of to Christianity in Antiquity. I would be available for 20 minutes or more a day to moderate if you find yourself in need. I’m certainly not a biblical scholar, but I was a Christian for 39 years before de-converting and becoming agnostic much like you; although not for the same reasons. My belief was built on inerrancy teachings which crumbled under scrutiny. That was enough for me.
I attended a Christian college and have been a student of the Bible since my youth. I have a Masters in Social Services, which is of course unrelated but demonstrates my ability to write competently. Aside from that I’m just immeasurably interested in the religion that dominated my existence for so long, and would consider it an honor to be involved in the project in any capacity. In any event, I appreciate your consideration.
Dr Ehrman:
I have some experience with moderating ‘blogs, and if I might be so presumptuous as to offer some advice:
If you decide to open a moderated discussion forum, you need to decide –and make *very* clear to the moderator– what, exactly, will be the role that s/he will play.
The simple, but sad, fact is that, the Internet being what it is, open discussion groups on the web are almost never as useful –or as much fun– as they may sound like they’ll be up front. And certainly not without a lot of work on behalf of the moderator.
To state an obvious point, the two ends of the spectrum are a ”lightly” moderated forum –i.e. the moderator simply accepts all but the most egregiously offensive of postings– to a “heavily” moderated forum –in which the moderator applies a much heavier hand, weeding out any posting that doesn’t meaningfully contribute to the discussion.
The disadvantage of the former case is that there will almost certainly, even under the best of circumstances, be a lot of “noise” on the forum.; and in the latter –aside from being a lot more work– the “quality” of the discussions can be much better, but at the risk of offending posters who might get bumped.
As I say, there is a full spectrum of choices here; but as a practical matter turning off a “failed experiment” can often be harder than it might sound.
Thanks. Very useful.
What can you tell me about James Tabor is Professor of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte of Christian origins and ancient Judaism. He seems to follow a lot of your perspectives.
He’s a very smart and learned fellow. He and I disagree on a lot of the things that he’s written about, but that’s true about most scholars! If we all agreed, there would only need to be one of us!! (He’s on the blog, by the way.)
Rshaheen, I am indeed a happy subscriber to this blog though I seldom comment as I prefer to let some of the non-professionals have the forum, which I read and find most instructive and interesting. For my views and more on “me,” which you ask about here, I would recommend my Blog (over 700 posts, some article length) and its various links. Address is easy if you can remember my name! http://jamestabor.com.
I probably would not read a forum, unless I found that there were some members who added some valuable and interesting contributions. However I like the ideas 2 and 3 a lot and think they would add some very interesting variety to the blog.
I gotta think that a forum for a site like this is a gold box of asps. Looks like a good idea but once you get a hand in it-well, you see the metaphor here. There’s a level of decorum when it’s just the comments to you and your response. Moderated or not, I’m afraid it would degenerate into a Bart Ehrman sanctioned flame fest and dilettante scholarship ego cast.
Yes, you may be right. And we may find out!
Is it pointless to ask for single spaces between sentences? http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html
Since I complained about it before, I wanted to say the new way that the member content is dealt with (where you can just click through and don’t need to go to a separate post) is a huge improvement and I’m much happier as a reader of the site as a result. Thanks!
I’m not so interested in a discussion forum, simply because I have limited time to read blog content. If I’m reading a post by you, Dr. Ehrman, I know I’m getting something interesting every time. With discussion forums some of the comments will be great, I’m sure, but it would require sifting through many others.
What you’re reading would be very helpful, along with perhaps a permanent page of recommended books under different categories. I found out about your work and your blog via a recommendation by Dr. Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago, for instance.
This wasn’t one of your three suggestions, but I think it would be great to have a small bit on the home page that says, “This blog has raised $100,000 for charity since January 2010” or whatever, and update that number every so often. I was curious about how much money you’d raised but I had to rummage around the site for some time before I found a number.
Thank you for everything you do.
Great idea.
SUGGESTION:
What are the chances we can bookmark inside the blog to keep track of what questions we ask (and your replies) with ease; some kind of accessible tracker we can click which reminds us of what we looked at, read, discontinued for later, etc. would be . . . uh-hem, heavenly!
My guess is that it’s too complicated for our programming options, but I’ll look into it.
forum, forum!
I moderate a little and preach a lot on a Facebook page, Theism vs. Atheism {No bans} which is not a perfect site but one that likes to be inclusive and encourage debate, no matter how silly the idea is.
I can see that would turn off some in this community, but that need not be a concern as they can simply cruise on past the forum. But a forum can be great. And addictive. I had to ban one of the regulars just so he could get some sleep.
But I do know that a lot of people would be interested, especially if there was some interaction with the media darling, Bart Ehrman. One of the fellow moderators was impressed that I live nearby and asked if I knew you personally.
I enjoy moderating, but am a little lenient as far as people expressing their opinions of each other’s beliefs. I could, however, up my standard for this forum if that is what is desired. I do research everything I can before randomly stating my beliefs or commenting on anyone’s surprising conclusions based on their own research.
Also, it would be nice to see what you are researching as well.
oh and I believe it could be a good fundraiser, if only as a stage area for mythicists. I have spent a lot of time going back and forth on these issues.