sbl, carg, and tbtsptwilt

That stands for "Society of Biblical Literature" (referring to the upcoming annual meeting in Philadelphia), "Computer Assisted Research Group" (referring to the upcoming session on biblioblogging), and "Too Busy To See Philadelphia The Way I'd Like To" (referring to the upcoming busyness of the upcoming weekend).

Mark Goodacre has several good posts with lots of good links related to the first two: Pre SBL Buzz - SBL CARG Biblioblog Session - Resources for SBL CARG Biblioblog Session - SBL CARG Biblioblog Session: Relevant Posts. This provides essential reading for anyone attending the CARG session and wanting to get up to speed on the issues and questions. I particularly like Mark's list of questions on what to discuss with the panel at the session, especially the last few:

How many more biblioblogs? I think there's always room for more blogs, and there are always more readers entering the world of the internet and the blogosphere. I do think, however, that an increase in blogging among academics, especially well-established scholars, would inevitably result in increased specialization and a blogging hierarchy, which would then result in a more well-defined readership among the various blogs. Even now, when I want to access the latest high-quality info and opinion on biblical studies matters, there are only a few blogs I'll go to. I read other blogs because they provide stimulating ideas, or clever commentary, or interesting "personality," or whatever. For my own blogging, all this means I can envision a time when this blog remains as it is, a sort of "Christian academic lite" blog with lots of links to academic- and faith-oriented material, but then I also start or collaborate on a more rigorously academic blog, presenting more in-depth reviews and commentary and research ideas. The former would likely continue to be read by persons with more of a "personal connection" to me, while the latter would be a more substantive contribution to the academic community.

What about team blogging? Following on the previous point, as the inevitable specialization occurs and academic blogging becomes "more academic," this sort of collaboration could increase substantially. The possibilities for this are tremendous, collaborating on a particular aspect of historical Jesus research, for example.

Can, and should, blogging become a teaching tool alongside classwork, coursework, and supplemental website work? Yes, it certainly can, as Jim Davila's Qumranica.com or Michael Homan's blogging has demonstrated. Whether it should or not depends on a host of factors, including available technology, particular course content and objectives, teacher and student interest and ability, and more. Intermural course blogging is one intriguing possibility worth exploring. For example, I can envision teaching my undergraduate course on Jesus and the Gospels in the same term as another blogging academic teaching a similar course, so we set up a blog which allows our students to interact with course ideas alongside students and faculty from both schools.

I noticed that Mark kindly mentioned my post on jesus and biblioblogging, history and theology in his reading list for the biblioblogging discussion in Philadelphia. I'm not sure if that post is worthy of such a recommendation, but I do still like my suggestion there for what we can do in the CARG at SBL while TBTSPTWILT: "Perhaps a good question to discuss at the Biblioblogging session at SBL is exactly the question of Mark's title: 'What would Jesus blog?' We could sift through the evidence from all extant sources looking for any oblique blogophile references in the Jesus tradition, vote on their authenticity, produce a reconstruction of 'Jesus the (Cynic?) Blogger,' and publish our findings for the public." :-)

Bibliobloggers of the world, unite! And see a little of Philadelphia if you can...