This issue sees a new editor, Bro. D. Burke, who takes on the oversight of “Theology and Apologetics”. The “Section Editor” approach to journals has many advantages and has been well implemented in the UK Testimony magazine which we have copied. The rule of thumb is that authors send articles to the relevant section editor who liaises with the author before sending the article to the publishing editor who collates the journal. In addition, the section editor writes for his or her section and keeps on eye on what is topical in that field. Engaging with church theology and defending the Biblical unitarian and Abrahamic faith is an important brief. Readers familiar with the online world of Christadelphians will know that Bro. Burke has a lot of experience in this field, which he is now able to progress by taking a full-time theology degree.
The EJournal started with two editors and now has five; it takes time to build up an editorial pool. The larger number of editors affords a greater measure of peer review for the articles that are included and more variety in the writing. The aim is to add to the number of section editors in the future and there are obvious areas for new editors, including “Archaeology”, “Old Testament Studies” and “New Testament Studies”. Biblical Studies and Theology are highly specialized so that, for example, scholars become known as specialists in, say, “Paul” or “Apocalyptic”; Second Temple Judaism is also an important specialism. It is hoped that the EJournal will expand its number of sections in some of these areas.
While nothing is set in stone, the EJournal doesn’t presently cover exhortation, devotional writing, sentimental pieces, or prophecy and current affairs. Obviously this material is well covered in other magazines and it could be argued that exhortation and devotional writing is the most important type of Christian writing. Nevertheless, for want of an emphasis, the EJournal has a focus on exposition, analysis and factual writing but this is under review.
Were it not for the Internet, the EJournal would not exist. It takes money to launch a print magazine, and there is no justification for more than one or two print magazines serving the community in a given country. Areas of the world have their own well-established ecclesial magazines. Fortunately, with print-on-demand websites such as www.lulu.com an annual of the four quarterly issues fulfils the need for printed copies for the EJournal. Such is the medium of the Internet that the PDF quarterly issues are bound to go the way of all PDFs; print copies will last a bit longer, but it is as well to recognize that the vast majority of writing is ephemeral and for the moment (albeit less so than speaking).
Readers will have discerned that the ethos of the EJournal is conservative rather than liberal; it tends to be critical of scholarship rather than adoptive of consensus views. This is a tendency and not a rule as there have been plenty of articles that have cited scholars in support of a point of view. Still, a conservative standpoint, and one supportive of the inspiration and integrity of the text does characterize the EJournal. This is not just a Biblical belief but one grounded in a philosophical understanding of language and in an epistemology. (This is a view that will be developed in later issues.) A cautious questioning of scholarship is sound practise for a lay community, rather than an uncritical promotion of what has been read in this or that scholar’s latest popular book. Such uncritical promotion has been the undoing of small independent community magazines in the past and continues as a danger in the present.
What is a Bible Student?