One in a million

1000000-visitorsAt some point today, someone reading this will be the one millionth page view on this blog! Mostly since June 2013, I have written 544 posts, comprising around 650,000 words, and had 10,277 comments.

My first response to this is gratitude—gratitude to God for his faithfulness as I have responded to his call to write, but also gratitude to the many people who have read this blog, commented regularly, and supported me through prayer, giving and recommending the blog to others. One of the best and most unexpected gifts has been learning from the many people who have offered fascinating and intelligent reflection in comments, including those with whom I would agree and those with whom I would want respectfully to disagree. I am immensely grateful for the time and trouble you have taken to contribute to the discussion.

As I mentioned in my reflections on writing my 300th blog post early last year, I have learned a tremendous amount by blogging, not least because it has made me discipline my thoughts on a whole range of issues in a way that would not have happened otherwise. But I also hope and pray that the blog will have made a significant contribution to the theological thinking and practice of the wider church, as well as have created a space for respectful debate between people with different views. I post below a piece I wrote for Andrew Davison and the Church Times on the impact of blogging on theological discourse.


Looking ahead, I plan to continue blogging at the current rate for the foreseeable future, that is, two, three or four times a week. I will soon launch a new page outlining ways you can offer support, through prayer, comment and recommendation, and hope to change the way that readers can offer financial support.

I would also like to host a Festival of Theology early next year, inviting contributions from my most regular commentators and enabling online discussion partners to meet face to face. Watch this space for details!

I have several ideas for new subthemes in blog posts, and plan to include more book reviews in the coming year. But if you have any thoughts about what you would like to see discussed here, please comment below.


The two effects of the internet on theological discourse relate (as in other areas of academic study) to distribution and debate. Research has been transformed by the possibility of accessing resources electronically rather than physically—the barriers to research relate much less to physical access and location, so the task of research can be more flexible and focussed. But research has also been transformed by the possibility of debate on blogs and social media, so that new proposals can enjoy response, critique and engagement much more rapidly. Both of these are having a significant effect on theology and on the Church.

Both of these have been heightened by the impact of blogs and social media. (It is not possible to separate the two—technically, social media use is described as ‘micro-blogging’). In the early days of blogging, my impression is that it was greeted with much excitement and enthusiasm, not least because of the simple possibility of direct contact with other scholars whom otherwise you could only meet and exchange ideas with at the occasional conference. Blogs functioned as a mid-point between published work (in depth, monologue, no interaction) and conference encounter (briefer, dialogue, highly interactive) with a medium that could offer the detail of writing, but with the possibility of controlled interaction. Blogging was seen as highly collaborative, so fellow bloggers were partners in exploration, not rivals for blog traffic. A small number became a focus of interest; looking at his archive, I see that Mark Goodacre (at Duke University) posted around 450 times in one year—more than once a day!

Blogging has now become both more accessible (it is very easy for anyone to write their own blog) but also more competitive. Most blogs are well presented; what matters now is whether you get any traffic. And blogging has become a major vehicle for institutions and interest groups to disseminate their ideas. But for me, blogging has had some specific and remarkable benefits.

First, at a personal level, the discipline of putting my ideas into writing has been invaluable, though it has taken some time to learn. Ideas that were just hunches—whether academic or ministerial—can now be worked out, and be subject to reflection and feedback from others. It has made my thinking and speaking more robust and more fruitful in ways I hadn’t anticipated.

Secondly, different blogs do different things. Some simply post quotations, thoughts and links, which take little time and are mainly designed to drive up traffic. They function as useful information services, but often not much more. At the other end, some bloggers post occasional, long pieces, the equivalent of short academic articles. These are useful, as slightly lighter versions of articles from people you know and respect.

But my blog does something distinct: I produce fairly regular articles of medium length that aim to make a contribution to current debate, ideas or practice in theology and ministry. It is unusual because it is time consuming; I started the blog in a sabbatical from my teaching job, but could only invest time in it when I left a full-time academic role. But it does mean I am able to make a distinctive contribution, straddling the boundaries of academic discussion and ministry practice. For example, John Barclay’s new volume on Paul will surely have an impact (over the long term) on the Church’s reading of Paul. But in my blog I can take a key idea from the book and apply it to a current question of debate in the Church, and perhaps a quarter of the clergy of the Church of England will read it. Good theology needs connecting with the practice of ministry, and blogging is a key way this can happen.

Thirdly, an unexpected side-effect of the first two has been the creation of both a community and a space for dialogue. Zygmunt Bauman is not alone in his scepticism about social media.

Social media don’t teach us to dialogue because it is so easy to avoid controversy… But most people use social media not to unite, not to open their horizons wider, but on the contrary, to cut themselves a comfort zone where the only sounds they hear are the echoes of their own voice, where the only things they see are the reflections of their own face.

By setting a particular tone, by avoiding simple polarisations or easy criticism, and by carefully managing some of the boundaries of interaction, I think I have managed to create a space where people of genuinely different viewpoints do engage in constructive debate and learn from one another—often from people they would never have otherwise encountered.

Blogging takes time. But it has been a worthwhile investment, as a platform for research, a space for debate, and a means of ministry.


Follow me on Twitter @psephizo


Much of my work is done on a freelance basis. If you have valued this post, would you consider donating £1.20 a month to support the production of this blog?


DON'T MISS OUT!
Signup to get email updates of new posts
We promise not to spam you. Unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

If you enjoyed this, do share it on social media (Facebook or Twitter) using the buttons on the left. Follow me on Twitter @psephizo. Like my page on Facebook.


Much of my work is done on a freelance basis. If you have valued this post, you can make a single or repeat donation through PayPal:

For other ways to support this ministry, visit my Support page.


Comments policy: Do engage with the subject. Please don't turn this into a private discussion board. Do challenge others in the debate; please don't attack them personally. I no longer allow anonymous comments; if there are very good reasons, you may publish under a pseudonym; otherwise please include your full name, both first and surnames.

14 thoughts on “One in a million”

  1. Thank you, Ian, for all your carefully crafted blogs. I enjoy them immensely and find that you frequently cause me to pause and challenge my own thinking on a range of matters. Reflection is always good, especially when it is done from a Scripturall foundation. Yet it is also good to read others’ perspectives as well and I have often found it useful to read your comments on those from a rather different background.
    What amazes me is that I get your blog forwarded from an old friend in Australia and yet I live in eastern England. It’s a funny old world.
    Be blessed.

    Reply
      • Bob Duerden – there’s a name from my past. This blog always impresses me with its civilised conversations and a freedom from those who would shout at you. The OT reading from Sunday last told of Elijah’s observance of God’s huge power while sitting in a cave in Horeb. (1 Kings 19:9-18). None of any of this, however, contained any word from God at all, despite Elijah’s obvious frustration of WHERE IS GOD WHEN YOU NEED HIM, and the only sense came from the ‘still small voice of calm’ that followed it. It was, for me, a metaphor for lockdown and how to cope with it, so thank you, Ian, for helping us all to do the same thing.

        Reply
        • Just noticed that this is all ancient history, and I’ve commented on a blog post from 4 years ago which has suddenly appeared on the front page….

          Reply
  2. Rememeber that when you register for twitter, Facebook, google and the rest , YOU are the product that these companies want to sell on to their advertisers. By all means encourage their use and get people to register but be aware of the cost (usually related to privacy) and that some would say you are entering a faustian pact with them when you use their products .

    Reply
  3. Congratulations on a highly deserved milestone! This is a superb blog, which I have greatly appreciated and recommended to several others. Long may it continue!

    On the character of blogging more generally, I think that blogging differs from other forms of social media in providing for a more aerated, responsive, and less socially intense form of discourse. The more intensely social and fast-moving the virtual space of our conversations become, the harder it is to maintain the necessary space and time for reflection and deliberation.

    Reply
    • “Congratulations on a highly deserved milestone! This is a superb blog, which I have greatly appreciated and recommended to several others. Long may it continue!”

      Amen to that! 🙂

      Reply
  4. As you say Ian there is a great range of blog content. For me it is the consistent and regular blogs – with varied stimulus that is so helpful.Two blogs coming out of Nottingham remain at the top of my list! Thank you. As a rather late in life ordinand with a 35 year old Biblical all Studies degree I have found your contemporary theology so useful as a trigger -and a great pointer to other thinkers & writers. I also value the immediacy….. though I don’t choose to respond much. I’m currently writing on Biblical Literacy in media culture and have some Ian Paul blog quotes ready for use. Much appreciated.

    Reply
  5. I add my congratulations, and a comment. “Research has been transformed by the possibility of accessing resources electronically”. Yes. And I think it would be very easy to underestimate the considerable impact that this change could have over time. Even though I am not in an academic environment, I was recently able to write a theological book (Men and Women in Christ: Fresh Light from the Biblical Texts). For me, this would have been close to impossible only a few years ago . Apart from buying and borrowing a small number of books, my research was done entirely at my desk. Looking back, I feel astonished to realise that I did not visit a library even once. When I wanted to know more about a topic, or to see an ancient manuscript for myself, in most instances all I had to do was open a browser and start an online search. Used judiciously, the internet democratizes knowledge.

    Reply
  6. Congratulations on this milestone, and Thank You for such a precious resource that I recommend to truth seeking people on a weekly basis. I am grateful for the resource as a whole as well as the specific help you have given me in understanding difficult topics. (There seems to be no shortage of difficult topics! Maybe that is a blog question in itself?)

    Reply

Leave a comment