Dr. Heiser stresses the need to look at the credentials of the authors that have written articles and blogs on the Internet to determine the probability of reliability for truth representation [1]. He’s right. This is not academic elitism. The further a teacher of Scripture, whether through a blog or a newsletter or website article, has seriously studied in an accredited study program and received degrees or credentials, the surer their teachings are supported as reliable resources. Some armchair theologists will argue that self-study can prepare them equally. Others will even argue that study is unnecessary since the Holy Spirit speaks through them. In fact, it is a good bet that many of today's highly educated Theologists once made such assumptions. Most Theologists feel a calling, an empowerment, the moving of the Holy Spirit toward their embrace of Scripture long before education begins. But, once theology students enter Seminary, and must conform to the rigors of a 90 credit hour Divinity degree or credentials, they quickly realize how naïve that assumption exhibits.
It is important that any online resource that is used to conduct research be properly vetted for truth and reliability. It is not only author credentials that help establish this; proper citation also lends credibility. Scholarly works that have no citation are probably not reliable, since all Scholars rely upon citations of other Scholars to supplement their own journeys. No scholar has all the information within himself; the field of religion, as most other fields of study, depends upon the network of learning in modern-day. If there are no referenced citations in the online writings, they should be disregarded.
Another important verifier of scholarship can be identified through Google Scholar found at http://scholar.google.com/. Their scholarship resources “stands on the shoulders of giants” and lists resources, books, and writings gathered through their search engine that is deemed to be credible. These resources can be sorted by articles, dates, relevance, patents, citations, and case laws. Their logarithm certainly requires citations to be listed in the location of these resources. Further, most of the entries in this search engine list how many times and location of citations from other works. This gives scholars a good idea of how important a particular reference is within the discipline it supports.
Google Books, http://books.google.com/ is also an excellent resource that publishes many book scans that include full or some text online. Scholars can keep important reference books in their own library (public or private). Contents, selected pages, other editions, recommended books based on selection, common terms and phrases, popular passages, reviews and bibliographic information is listed for scholar’s inquires. Google Books also has export citation linkage to BiBTeX, EndNote, and RefMan computer citation indexes.
Most scholarly journals have links online, especially, those published by organizations in specific fields of scholarship. Lists of books (Bibliographies) can often be searched with specific terms that allows the scholar researcher to hone the important books and writings within the field of study.
All major universities usually ban wiki citations because of the way they are written. Wikis are a collaborative effort where anyone can edit. The philosophy is that when edits of truthful writing with proper citation are made, the information will stand strong within the wiki, while false information and poor citations will be eliminated by the collaborative effort of others. For this reason, Wikipedia is banned almost always from higher education; in fact, recently, it seems even high school teachers are also banning Wikipedia from use. However, Professional Theologists should be trained well enough to be able to use Wikipedia as a path resource. Though theologists should use caution and never rely upon Wikipedia for citation and reference purposes, the articles within Wikipedia often create a path that can lead the scholar forward into research. Sometimes it is helpful to Professional Theologists to just figure out where to start and travel at their beginning research efforts.
Finally, blogs are created by individuals. If they use their real names and credentials and proper citations, then they have some degree of credibility. At that point, their credibility is as much as their reputation in the community is assured. So, important scholars will hold more credibility in their blog writings than those without reputation. More ideal citations should be sought, but some use of blog writings might be acceptable under the right conditions. Professional Theologists are wise to use online resources thoughtfully to enhance their modern-day writings to the places that are relevant to modern-day students in the marketplace.
Bibliography
Heiser, Michael S. BI101 Lecture Introducing Biblical Interpretation: Contexts and Resources: LOGOS Bible Software.
Links
About the Author
Kathy L. McFarland is President and Founder of Becker Bible Ministries, Inc. and the Becker Professional Theology Academy. She is also a Becker Bible Studies Teacher and author of Guided Bible Studies for Hungry Christians. She has received her Bachelor of Science degree in Religious Studies from Liberty University, is on track for the Master of Divinity (Professional Ministries Track) degree from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary & Graduate School in 2016 and will be seeking a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Theology and Apologetics beginning in the fall of 2016. She is the originator of the newest theological movement to encourage Christian leaders to minister within the modern-day marketplace as Professional Theologists. She is also the Curriculum Developer for Becker Professional Theology Academy and a teaching faculty member. Kathy's favorite studies to teach include the connections between Old Testament exegesis, Christian Apologetics, and Bible typology and mysteries.
©2014-2015 Kathy L. McFarland. All Rights Reserved.