Reflecting on 14 Years of Theoblogging

I started theoblogging in the Spring of 2005, I first realized what blogging was by visiting Tim Challies blog. Challies, embedded in his blog, had forums that anyone could create; in the process of creating a forum there was a place where you could put a link to your blog. That piqued my interest, and so I started my first blog with Blogger; a Blogspot blog. My first blog was called The Stumbling Block. After experimenting with that for awhile, I found another host called Blogsome, which was a Wordpress powered platform. I used them for awhile, and then went back to Blogger. During the first four years of my blogging career I probably had at least ten various urls and blogs; to the frustration of any of the readers I had acquired at that point.

Back then the world of the blogosphere was like a strange new and exciting world filled with anticipation. You never knew who you might run across, and what network of bloggers you might come into contact with. There was a sense of anonymity to blogging back then that allowed you to operate with a bit of freedom that would later change. Blogging back in those days had quite a bit of banter and debate or jousting that characterized much of it, and I found that not only enjoyable but also educational. Almost all of my blogging flowed out of my context as a recent seminary graduate (circa 2003); so my blog posts often were transcriptions of papers I’d written or studies I’d engaged in while in seminary.

From the get go I was on the lookout for Calvinist bloggers. I was looking for some debate in that area. To Phil Johnson’s chagrin, I’m sure, I stumbled upon his blog Pyromaniac which later became a team blog called Pyromaniacs. Phil is the executive director of John MacArthur’s radio ministry, Grace To You; he is also the editor of all of JMac’s many publications. It was here I started cutting my teeth on debate with real life five point Calvinists. Armed with my seminary training in the area of historical theology, I would inform them of the origins of their interpretive tradition; and let them know just how much Aristotle was actually shaping their theology, rather than Scripture. They didn’t like that. But this only represents one foray into the blogosphere.

I also frequented Halden Doerge’s blog Inhabitatio Dei. Halden attended the same Bible College and Seminary that I did (although behind me), and so there was that sort of incidental connection. Other than that, his blog was one of the most popular theoblogs out there at the time (or it became that). As a result of frequenting his blog, I also got hooked up with the blogs of Travis McMaken and David Congdon; at that time both early MDiv students at Princeton Theological Seminary.

But also during this time I was loosely associated with a group of Fundamentalist bibliobloggers who were part of so called Free Grace theology propounded by Zane Hodges. We had some overlapping interests in our disdain for MacArthur’s Lordship Salvation. And so I hung out in those environs too. Not to mention, at the time, there were various networks of bloggers I would move in and out of as I found them. They used to have what was called a Bible Carnival where a certain blogger would host a variety of blog posts, by way of links, organized in various categories, which would allow for a blogspotting and spotlighting of what people were working on out in the theoblogosphere.

Eventually, as I’ve noted elsewhere, I ended up sticking with my blog The Evangelical Calvinist (which I just closed). This was my longest lasting blog, which I authored since 2009; so ten years. It seemed like it was finally time to move on from this blog for a variety of reasons (some of which I’ve noted in my last blog post there). But ultimately it just seems to me, at this time, that blogging in general has pretty much died. None of the dynamics I’ve been detailing above are present anymore in the blogosphere. The sense of anticipation, of moving in and out of various blogging networks, the sense of anonymity and freedom; all of that is gone. Sure, yes, there are still blogs out there, mine included (until yesterday), but there is little to no engagement. People no longer comment, in the main, and as a result what used to generate liveliness in the blogosphere is mostly gone.

The hardest part for me is that blogging created a sphere for connecting with others. Unfortunately what seemingly has happened for me is that all of those linkages, in the blogosphere itself, have dried up; for a variety of reasons. Many of the networks I was involved with have repudiated me for my theological positioning, or because I’m too terse and I’d say “old-school” bloggy in my mood. This has taken a toll on me. I actually formed some friendships with people, whether because I was a reader and commenter on their blogs, or vice versa. But time and theological development seemingly crept in and created fissures between myself and them; as a result, they have moved on me from me, and me from them (and not on the best terms, sad to say). But most of my connections, in the blogosphere, have dried up, because most of the networks of bloggers I would move in and among quit blogging; most of them years ago now. I’ve held on as a die-hard, because blogging has been such a blessing to me.

You see, like many of us in the theosphere, I read and study a lot; and I need somewhere to process and off-load all of that. Given my life circumstances I don’t have that sort of community in real life, so blogging helped meet that lack and provided an outlet for me to engage with others around similar interests we all shared. I haven’t wanted to let that go because I don’t really have anything to replace it with. Many people have somehow let Facebook and Twitter fill that gap, but I find such venues for such discussions to be too superficial and not all that beneficial at all. But I think these are the two platforms that many have fled to for the sort of virtual theological community I am referring to. Again, I don’t get how those work the same way as blogs. Blogs have more space, have greater capacity to be focused on specific theological loci, and allow for greater interaction (more in depth) in the comment section; than does either Twitter or Facebook.

So I have now migrated over here to Medium. It seems like a good place to transition to; like an in-between between blogs and Facebook/Twitter. It isn’t necessarily a personal blog, but it allows for the same sort of online expression and outlet. Medium also seems to also have a community of its own, but we’ll see how that works. Anyway, I am sad about the state of blogging, and feel like that whole period of time is behind us now; for the most part. But I, personally, will always need a place to outlet and unload the variety of things I am reading. Maybe Medium will serve as a good replacement and conduit for this OG theoblogger ;) .