We frequently hear about the perils of social media. I want to point out one benefit. Regularly blogging and tweeting thoughts about Scripture helps one overcome the fear of publicly taking a stand.
As I begin to think about a potential blog post or compose a new tweet, I frequently feel a bit of fear. It’s very much like the fear I feel as I labor over a paper for a seminar. What will they think? Can I really make a good argument for this position? Can I support this from Scripture? Am I being too critical? Have I eliminated all those pesky typos? It’s a good fear, but it can be paralyzing. The secondary literature is endless. There is always someone out there who has read the Bible more, who knows the languages better, and has been active in your field longer. At some point, you have to stop the research and put pen (or keyboard) to paper (or pixels). At some point, the nuancing must come to an end, and your position must be stated.
The only way to overcome this fear is to speak up and try to humbly learn from critiques. Social media offers us the opportunity to rehearse the process of overcoming anxiety and speaking up.
Perhaps in a couple hundred more tweets and fifty or so more blog posts I’ll get up the nerve to post my paper from last semester’s Septuagint seminar. 🙂
Brian W. Davidson 
4 responses to “A Benefit of Blogging and Tweeting”
don’t be scared.
Thanks, Jim.
Posting papers on a blog like this is a godsend to many of us who want to better understand the research but don’t have easy access to these kinds of materials, either because we lack the budget to buy all the books we’d like or because we don’t have access to theological libraries. Thank you.
I’ll keep that in mind, Mike. Thanks for the feedback.