The 17th Anniversary of My Blog
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor
of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Today I celebrate seventeen years of blogging. When I began blogging, I had no idea that I would be writing posts for more than a decade. Blogs focused on the study of the Bible are called biblioblogs.
Biblioblogs are blogs dedicated to the study of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. Some of these blogs also deal with theology, church history, archaeology, and other issues related to biblical studies.
To write an educational blog takes time and requires a certain amount of research. A few posts published on blogs dedicated to biblical studies do not deal with biblical studies. Rather, some of these posts deal with political concerns, social issues, personal matters, and other tabloid-like news.
People who are interested in politics, social issues, and tabloid-like news can find these everywhere on the Internet. Good biblical studies and in-depth discussions of biblical issues are hard to come by and these are the things that people who have an interest in the Bible are looking for.
Most readers do not realize that there is a financial cost to maintaining a blog. Although the cost is small, most bloggers subsidize their own blogs. Some bloggers put adds on their blogs to generate income while others ask for donations to pay for the expenses of maintaining the blogs.
I have chosen to subsidize my blog. I have thought about monetizing my blog, but I rejected the idea of adding ads to my blog. After all, as a biblioblogger, I am not there for the money, but for the desire to share knowledge and disseminate a deeper appreciation for the Old Testament.
People
Seventeen years ago, my son J. R. encouraged me to begin blogging and share my love and knowledge of the Old Testament with other people. I have expressed my gratitude to J. R. in a post titled “To a Wonderful Son.”
When I began blogging, I knew nothing about the art of blogging. My son was the administrator of my blog and he helped me post my articles. He also provided me with ideas for blog posts. Little by little I learned the intricacies of blogging and I began doing the work that my son did for the first few months of the existence of this blog.
My blog has survived these seventeen years because of the work of my editor, my wife Donna. Donna graduated with a Masters Degree from Golden Gate Baptist Seminary and has used her theological training to edit my posts. For the past fifty-four years, Donna has edited everything I have written. “What a rare find is a capable wife!” (Proverbs 31:10 TNK)
My blog has survived because of the faithful support of readers like you. Many people visit my blog regularly. A few readers send me emails expressing their appreciation for what I write. Recently, a reader from Australia wrote on her email, “I have recently had the very great fortune of finding your website on the internet and I am really enjoying the studies I have found. Today I have read the study on Job and I am looking forward to reading the ones on Isaiah and Hosea. There are many more to study and read and I am looking forward to many hours of enjoyable and profitable Bible reading.”
Thank you, everyone of you, for your support.
Numbers
I believe that numbers show what my blog has accomplished these seventeen years.
As of today, I have published 2805 posts.
Many people subscribe to receive my blog by email, others receive my blog through my Facebook page, others through Twitter, LinkedIn, or Tumblr. As of today, I have a total of 3438 followers. Almost one thousand people visit my blog everyday.
My blog is read by people in 234 countries and territories. Most visitors come from the USA followed by the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, Nigeria, and the Philippines. It has been a great honor to know that the Vatican has visited my blog a few dozen times.
As of August 1, 2022, 252,673 people have visited the Archive section of my blog. In the Archive section, I list all the posts I have written on the 39 books of the Old Testament. I also list 55 collections of studies on different topics. The list will grow in the coming months.
As of August 1, 2022, 17 posts listed below have been read more than 20,000 times. The big winner is a post titled “The Seven Prophetesses of the Old Testament.” This post has been read 83,528 times.
Posts
The seventeen posts listed below have been read more than 20,000 each. How many of them have you read?
The Seven Prophetesses of the Old Testament
How Long Did Saul Reign in Israel?
How Much Did Hosea Pay for His Wife?
The Beautiful People of the Bible
The Covenant between God and Abraham
The Marriage of the Prophet Hosea
The Winners
To celebrate the 17th anniversary of my blog, I am giving eight copies of my book Divine Violence and the Character of God to people who subscribe to receive my blog by email. People who subscribed to my blog and sent me an email notifying me that they are subscribers are eligible for the drawing. These are the first four winners of a free copy of Divine Violence and the Character of God:
Tina Addair
KPC
Emmese J. Miller
Rev. Daniel Nyasha Madzokere
There were a few people who subscribed to my blog but did not send an email for the drawing. If you are a new subscriber or a previous subscriber who wants to enter to win a free copy of my book, you must send me an email. Read the instructions here.
Thank You
Thank you for your support. Many of you have written over the years to express your appreciation for my posts on the Old Testament. As I mentioned above, I do not ask for money and I do not place ads on my blog to generate income. I subsidize my blog.
However, there are two important ways by which you can support my blog.
First, become a better student of the Old Testament. The goal of my blog is to help people develop an appreciation for the Old Testament as an integral part of the Bible.
Second, I am sure you may not like every post I write, but if you read a post and you like it, share the post on your Facebook page or on your Twitter account. Sharing a post you like is the best reward I can receive from you.
I will talk to you again on my next post.
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
NOTE: Did you like this post? Do you think other people would like to read this post? Be sure to share this post on Facebook and share a link on Twitter or Tumblr so that others may enjoy reading it too!
I would love to hear from you! Let me know what you thought of this post by leaving a comment below. Be sure to like my page on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, follow me on Tumblr, Facebook, and subscribe to my blog to receive each post by email.
If you are looking for other series of studies on the Old Testament, visit the Archive section and you will find many studies that deal with a variety of topics.
