He posted his top ten reasons.
It’s an interesting and helpful discussion.
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Pingback on Mar 20th, 2008 at 8:19 am
[...] good, thoughtful content. My friend Ben, who is one of the most freakishly intelligent men I know, said: I think the whole point of blogging is in some way … personality. Maybe you don’t want to talk [...]
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March 9, 2008 at 11:23 pm
So, which traps do you fall into / or rather, which ones did you feel might be unfairly directed at you?
The only I really thought I fell into was number 3: mistaking yourself for Ben Witherington III. But I do have a defense. This is it:
1) Being smart doesn’t always equal being right.
2) You don’t need to be an expert to have an opinion.
3) Writing or reading a blog is not always about getting expert advice or analysis, but about connecting to issues personally (for both the writer and reader). I know that random people read my blog and they’re welcome to, but I mostly write for myself and my friends, and though I don’t think I’m an idiot, I find that usually the discussion is much more valuable than my initial thoughts, which are usually not incredibly profound.
March 10, 2008 at 10:19 am
I think I might tend to make my blog too personal. I try to take things in my life and make more broad/general points. But maybe it’s too much “me.”
March 10, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Really interesting stuff. I have become a little disenchanted with blogging about things mainly because I feel like I fall into #3 and #4 (doesn’t lead to anything new).
I feel like the problem with blogging as a whole is his #5 reason (but with a little bit of a spin), a “people just pat their influences/friends on the butt” type of reason. That may actually be the problem with most Christian intellectualism and scholarship. No offense is intended, but whenever they post book review/recommendations at the “Between Two Worlds” site it is the same people recommending each other’s books… it always makes me laugh, like it is a club. It seems like a lot of people don’t read viewpoints that challenge them or go contrary to what they think.
March 10, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Danny: I see what you mean, you don’t want to assume that what you are learning is relevant to everybody.
And yet, I think the whole point of blogging is in some way … personality. Maybe you don’t want to talk about yourself all the time, but if people read your blog, it’s because of you (whether they know you or not).