Saturday, April 18, 2015

Housekeeping note

11
In our constant pursuit of excellence in the fulfilment of the mission of our blog it would be really helpful to have posts from all our blog members once in a while. Here are some suggestions if you are not feeling inspired (which would seem to apply to quite a few of us):
  • here is something interesting I thought/observed/noticed/made up/found on Wikipedia
  • here is an article/book/video that I wrote/read/found on the internet
  • here is a book review I wrote 
  • here is something I heard about and wanted some help in thinking through
  • here is a summary and a couple of critical comments on a recent journal article
  • here is a photo and discussion of one of my favourite books, something interesting in my personal library
  • here is a different blog discussing something interesting/wrong/stupid/correct on textual criticism
  • here is a footnote on some point of textual criticism
  • here is a bibliography I used for a lecture the other day - helpful to everyone and you may get some suggestions
  • here is a picture of my cat, Bible, lecture notes, favourite manuscript
  • here is another reason to prefer the longer/shorter reading at Mark 1.1
  • here is a video of my lecture to three hundred students
  • here is how I learnt to do that cross-out thingy with letters
  • here is a Taylor Swift song that is relevant to textual criticism
  • here is a picture of Australia beating England at cricket (perhaps better to save that for a more unusual event, like four text critics playing croquet or something)
  • here is a definition of “evangelical” for use by evangelical textual critics
  • here is a definition of “textual” for use by evangelical textual critics
  • here is a definition of “criticism” for use by evangelical textual critics
  • here is a definition of the word “is”
  • here is something of genuine comedic value which is more likely to make you laugh than cry
  • here is something you can only do with a computer that is of interest to textual criticism
  • here is something you can only do without a computer that is of interest to textual criticism
  • here is something about the Old Testament
  • etc.
Space them out - not all at once (you can schedule posts into the future, kind of spooky I know)

Just a note that there are around one hundred posts for this blog that are still in the “draft” state. You may well have some treasures hidden away in there. I have done a little bit of checking some of the ones under my name and either up-dating them for posting or deleting them. In a month or two I will probably do a more ruthless cull. Be warned. I can’t stand untidiness in any form.

11 comments

  1. Peter Head said, "I can't stand untidiness in any form."

    There are dissertations begging to be written on this subject.

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  2. Along similar lines of promoting blog activity, I think one of those widgets listing new responses would be helpful, somewhere visible near the top. Currently, unless a post is new (so that is is on the first page) and you happen to notice an increase in the number of comments, you really don't have any easy way of seeing (and being drawn into) any conversations that may or may not be happening. And even if you do find what was a good discussion, unless it's new, it doesn't really feel worth your time to add your two cents, as it will just be buried in the old posts and likely no one will interact with it. I think a "new responses" window would fix all that.

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  3. When do we begin the "here is a picture of my cat" contest?

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  4. Ask and ye shall receive, Ryan. I might add a few pro tips for the bloggers: 1. Use a picture with your post if you can. Even (especially?) if it's a picture of your cat. 2. Tag your posts whenever possible. 3. Avoid abbreviations in your titles (NT, TC, etc) for the benefit of Google.

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    Replies
    1. That is awesome! Thanks Peter. I am totally going to go back and comment on that post about the philemon conjecture now.

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  5. Yes, there is currently a desperate need for more argument for the short reading in Mark 1:1.

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  6. The New Testament in Bob Dylan songs:
    http://www.faith-theology.com/2015/04/the-new-testament-in-bob-dylan-song.html?m=1

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    Replies
    1. A more interesting project would be to mine the Bob Dylan lyrics for NT quotations or allusions and then determine whether any variant readings are involved. This could become the first volume in The NT in the Modern Popular Singers series.

      And why can't I insert a photo of my cat in my comments?

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    2. I suspect there is a cat detector van in the vicinity: https://youtu.be/nmyHup4TpkU

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    3. I reckon there probably would be a market for that series Maurice, with OUP.

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    4. My thoughts were with Cambridge U. Press....plus a favorable review in Tyndale Bulletin...

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