Blogging

Keep in mind that while the genre of “weblog” is still evolving, there are some elements that are beginning to emerge as fairly common. Most weblog posts are relatively short, perhaps no more than 250 words, and many times not much more than a couple of sentences.

Almost all weblog entries have at least one link embedded in them to some other thing on the web — a newspaper article, another post in a different weblog, an image, a petition, a video, etc.

Most blogs are updated pretty regularly, many every day, although am not asking you to do that for this course. More and more blogs are read through RSS using newsreaders, so the title and short form of your post (if you are using an excerpt) is important. Choose something concise and evocative.

Blogging is a conversation of some kind with someone(s) — even if the someone is only an invented audience — so many weblogs will pose questions, invite action of some sort, they will do something that allows the reader to do something.

Most weblogs connect with the author(s) passion in some way. Do not be afraid to take a stand on something, express joy or lament, point people to events happening off the web, and so on.

Ideas for blogging on required readings

Here what I am interested in are your reflections on the readings for the week. These do not have to be lengthy or formal, but they should make clear that you’ve read the assigned texts, and your reflections should not be simply “verbal bouquets” or critiques without substance. Try picking out a sentence that you really resonated with, and exploring its further implications. Or choose an idea that you disagree with, and point out why. Make sure that you create a hyperlink in your blog post to the book itself (you can do this most easily via google.books, the author’s webpage, or if all else fails, one of the online bookstores.

Ideas for blogging on “glimpses of grace”

What’s going on in the news today? How might you “pray” with something that you’ve encountered there?

Find an interesting website or weblog that pertains in some way to the work of this course, and explain why. Write an entry that takes an idea or website or something else that a colleague pointed to in their blog, and develop it further, link it to other relevant websites, etc.

Ponder the lectionary texts for a specific day. How would you make them “come alive” in the context of popular culture? How might God be trying to “say something” in the context of pop culture that connects with the lectionary texts?

Take a piece of pop culture that has no explicitly religious elements to it, and make an argument as to why it is in fact deeply theological.

Trace a theological question or theme that is beginning to emerge in the television or film series that you’re watching. How would identify that theme? Can you link to the specific episodes that contain the theme?