The phrase "tracing the footnotes," or something very much like it, was first introduced to me by Ted Smith. Ted is the director of the Theology and Practice program at Vanderbilt University. But before that he was one of the best professors I had during my time at the Candler School of Theology. (Ted received his doctorate from Emory not too long before I met him but his punk rock mentality precludes him from allowing any of his students to call him "Dr. Smith.) Tracing the footnotes means actually paying attention to all those books and articles that are cited within a piece of academic writing, and then actually committing some time and energy toward exploring those other materials yourself.
So, for example, if you were tracing the footnotes in a book written by R.C. Sproul, you'd likely be sticking your nose in the works of Martin Luther, W.G.T. Shedd, or James Montgomery Boice. And if you were tracing the footnotes of Jacques Derrida, this masochistic exercise would plunge you into a world occupied by Emmanuel Levinas, Martin Heidegger, and no doubt a goodly number of continental literary scholars whose names I couldn't even begin to tell you. Wherever a particular author's footnotes take you, her or his footnotes are a means by which s/he may publicly identify whose works s/he values most highly and counts as significant influences.
Where I Start Getting to the Point
Within the blogosphere, I have identified a phenomenon which parallels that of tracing footnotes. I call it "perusing the links." When a link is placed in the sidebar of a blog, it serves as a means by which the author of the blog may publicly identify the blogs that s/he enjoys reading and recommend them to the author's own readers. As someone who keeps a blog, I find that there are often brief periods where I spend more time authoring comments on other people's blogs than I do updating my own little corner of cyberspace. Now is such a period. So, if for some reason my readers are presently eager to read my most recent reflections, they will need to peruse my links to find them.
In the last week, I have been commenting on other people's blogs more often than usual. I have joined discussions about the best holiday movies, the use of creepy clowns in evangelism, and the relative "Christian-ness" of the U.S., both yesterday and today. I've made some especially substantial contributions on this last matter. My comments on "What's Wrong with the World?" have been the type of serious minded fair I have only rarely penned here in The Kingdom.
At the end of the day, this blog entry is really supposed to be a signpost with arrows pointing multiple directions. (The Jesus pictures are strictly for entertainment.) Go check out some other quality blogs!
...except for Mark's Blog because Mr. Schwartzkopf hasn't updated the damn thing in nine months.
2 comments:
I do the same. And I like your analogy. Tracing the links is more fun, though, than tracing the footnotes. I don't miss footnotes at all.
Speaking of posting comments, I replied to yours on my page if you're interested.
Happy Holidays!
Quality, not quantity. It's hard to beat the ginger series of blogs. I have a new one brewing in my head though. We'll see if it percolates all the way to the actual blog.
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