Blue Cord

Today is my blogiversary. This time last year I had just found out about biblioblogging via the announcement of the SBL session on blogging the Bible. Although I wasn’t able to make it to that session, I did go ahead and start a blog.

My first biblioblog was not Blue Cord. It was a Xanga blog called Karamat. Within a few months, however, I decided that Xanga was too limiting, so I got my own server space, installed WordPress, and off I went. So, even though this is not the anniversary of Blue Cord, it is the one year celebration of when I started blogging. And, since the life span of blogs averages around two months, I am somewhat proud of having made it through a year.

I have greatly enjoyed the experience. Having a reason to write about ideas the moment I have them has been stimulating for my research, as has the feedback I have received. I have also enjoyed connecting with other bibliobloggers and have learned a great deal from them. My two personal favorites are Tyler Williams at Codex and Chris Heard at Higgaion. I am also enjoying a relative newcomer, Steve Cook at Biblische Ausbildung, although I will take credit for encouraging him to start biblioblogging. Steve and I were students together at Yale and later briefly colleages at Virginia Theological Seminary.

In the past year, I have blogged from a number of locations. Among them:

• Lithuania
• Latvia
• Estonia
• Russia
• Austria
• Hungary
• United States (Tennessee, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Maine)

Next week I will be adding Ukraine to the list, as we are heading to Kiev for fall break. We had hoped to head to northern Finland for break, but it was too expensive. I was looking forward to blogging from the Arctic Circle.

Thanks to all of my readers for sticking with me. I hope you have learned as much from my blog as I have from your comments. I look forward to another year with you.

The college where I work is the only liberal arts college in Eastern Europe. As such, we have to work hard to explain ourselves to potential students and the ministry of education. Both are used to either professional schools (which is what kolegia means in Lithuanian) that prepare you for a particular job or universities that are research oriented. As a liberal arts college, neither of these are our main goals.

This year, I am the head of a task force on defining what liberal arts means in this context. In my understanding, a liberal arts education focuses on:

• broad knowledge of many fields
• the ability to reason critically
• effective communication skills

This is quite different from preparing for a particular career or research, both of which are more focused. The idea is that someone with a liberal arts education is better prepared to adapt to a multitude of situations. We produce better people, not just better workers.

Within this context, I have been reflecting on how biblical studies relates to liberal arts. What role does it play? Why study it? Obviously, in a Christian liberal arts environment, the answer is because Christianity accepts the Bible as the word of God. But I am more concerned with how the academic study of the Bible fosters the goals of a liberal arts education.

Here are my thoughts so far:

• Biblical studies introduces students to ways of thinking that are very different from their own. As they try to wrap their minds around these ideas presented in the Bible, they expand their minds into new territory.
• Biblical studies produces students with a familiarity of ancient history and cultures.
• Biblical studies sharpens students’ ability to read texts. This skill is not limited to the Bible but is transferable to other texts.
• Biblical studies encourages critical thinking as students with the meaning of the text. Because religious beliefs are often held for emotional as well as logical reasons, having these beliefs challenged by the text can (but doesn’t necessarily) lead students to the critical evaluation of their positions.
• Biblical studies fosters effective communication, as students come to terms with the text and express its meaning to others (e.g., in exegesis papers).

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list. I would love to hear any feedback from those who have taught biblical studies in a liberal arts context for longer than I have. Apart from the Bible as Scripture and our own interest in it, why are we teaching it to students?

Next post in the series: Theological Interpretation 

After an eight week hiatus, it is time to start blogging again.  I have been very busy with the beginning of the school year, but most of my free time has been taken up writing applications for university positions in the US.  This is the final year of my contract in Lithuania so I need to find a teaching and / or research position in America.

But almost all of the applications are finished at this point, so there is nothing to do but wait.  Most of the positions will have interviews next month at the SBL meeting in Washington, DC, so I should hear something within the next two to three weeks.

In the meantime, I have time to blog.  I have kept up with reading other blogs, but now it is time to jump back into the fray.  Let the bloggings commence!

The New York Times is running a four part series on goverment and religion, examing places where the two intersect.  The first two parts of the series have already been published.  The first, called “As Exemptions Grow, Religion Outweighs Regulation,” details how many religious organizations are given special treatment and do not have to follow governmental regulations.  This is true even when the service they are providing is not specifically religious.  The second discusses how employees with religious organizations are denied protections that the same employees in secular institutions have.  It is entitled “Where Faith Abides, Employees Have Fewer Rights.”

These two articles fly in the face of those who claim that religions are under attack in America.  They show that, as has always been the case in the US, the government usually operates in a hands-off fashion when it comes to religious organizations.

Ben Witherington has a wonderful post on the witness of Christ exibited by the Amish in the wake of the tragedy in Pennsylvania.  Their actions are a stong statement of the power of forgiveness.  I encourage you to take a look at his post.