Analytical exegetical writing that leads to exposition has declined in the last twenty-five years in the community, both in terms of quality and quantity. There was also greater critical engagement with scholarship in previous generations. Instead, there has been a corresponding increase in devotional writing, introductory writing, sentiment, and practical ethics. The EJournal addresses this imbalance. It has no ‘publishing committee’; there is no need for such a body. It has no ecclesial sponsor or ‘establishment’ status. It is not openly promoted and it relies on word of mouth for additional subscribers. It consists of a group of co-operating editors who like writing and write a lot.
This year we have introduced regular quarterly ‘columnists’ who have a brief to write about a thousand words in a subject area. Another columnist, J. Davies, will begin a column in January called “Analysis” for what will be the sixth year of this project. The thinking behind having columnists is the need for balance and variety. The balance that the EJournal seeks is one between pure scripture-interprets-scripture exegesis and writing that engages scholarship. It is easy to become unbalanced, especially when there are few editors with their own interests. Hence, the long term goal is to have a team of seven editors and several columnists of different ages. If some readers find one type of article of relatively little value (say an academic article), it is hoped that there is other material which is of value.
If devotional writing feeds the emotions, analytical writing feeds the understanding. The best analytical writing that has been produced in the community is ‘lost’ in the past in its magazines. In the UK this generally appeared in The Testimony and The (New) Bible Student. Certain authors have consistently produced insightful writing that ought to be preserved in the more permanent and accessible form of a book of collected essays, either as a multi-author volume or as a single author volume. For example, a selection of essays by E. Whittaker was rightly collected as a book, and this saved them from being lost in the back issues of The Testimony. We could reel off a list of half-a-dozen names whose essays ought to be collected as books for easy access, but we hope that this project might develop over the next few years. Most writing in magazines is ephemeral and for the moment (it can and should pass without being collected into books), but some of the past analytical writing needs to be preserved in books.
This issue sees the completion of another year. All things end as the world turns and the kingdom is not established, but God-willing the EJournal will publish next year. We have produced another “Annual” of the year’s issues (2011) which is now available from www.lulu.com/willowpublications (314 pp., Price £8.99+p&p).
What is a Bible Student?