>Airton José da Silva in his blog Observatório Bíblico introduces the theme of Chapter 2, Part I of J. G. Crossley’s book, Jesus in an Age of Terror: New Testament Projects for a New American Century. London: Equinox Publishing, 2009, 256 p. – ISBN 9781845534295 (Hardback) 9781845534301 (Paperback):

Part One will look at the ways in which New Testament and Christian origins scholarship has historically been influenced by its political and social settings over the past hundred years or so. Moving on to the present, the following chapter will then apply [Edward] Herman and [Noam] Chomsky’s propaganda model of manufacturing consent in the mass media to the recent explosion of biblical scholars writing on the internet, in particularly `biblio-bloggers’. It is clear that political views in `biblio-blogging’ conform strikingly to the emphases that come through in Herman and Chomsky’s analysis of the mass media and intellectuals, particularly with the standard lines on the `war on terror’ and views on the contemporary Middle East [the emphasis belongs to Airton].

I thank Airton for allowing me to copy his post here.

There are two interesting factors in Crossley’s words:

First, bibliobloggers have made an impact on biblical studies and that impact is being reflected in the way biblical scholars are taking into consideration what bibliobloggers have produced.

Second, that there is a “political view” that influences what bibliobloggers write.

Those who write on biblical themes may have a theological or ideological presupposition that guides their scholarship, but to my knowledge (and here I may be wrong), I do not think that a political view motivates bibliobloggers to post their works on the Internet or that politics influence what bibliobloggers post on their blogs.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Bibliobloggers, New Testament, Politics