I have decided to post political posts, albeit, theopolitical posts at another blog I recently started for this very purpose: Deus Ex Machina. I will bookmark that for you in my sidebar here, under my “pages” option. I want this blog to have to do with what I have intended for it since its inception: i.e. the normal sort of orthodox theological considerations surrounding doctrine of God, Christology, so on and so forth. This is not to say that I don’t think theopolitics is implicated by, and indeed right smack in the middle of a discussion on theology proper, but it is to say that I am aware of my readership and I think most would prefer to read the sort of theological posts I am referring to. That said: there will be some posts that I write that have cross-reference to the point, that I will end up cross-posting those sorts of posts on this, my primary blog, and Deus Ex Machina as my secondary blog. Anyway, be well.

My intention is to finally give up FB and Twitter, except for streaming my blog posts through. As a result, expect many more posts here; and expect them to be extra bloggy like this one. I started as a blogger in 2005, and I have always been a blogger at heart. It’s the best medium, I think, for communicating deeper theological things; at least as far as social media goes. So, stay tuned.

If you were wondering what happened, if you were ‘friends’ with me on FB, or followed me on Twitter; I deactivated both accounts. Much of my networking on those platforms orients around contact with theological academics and that whole world. What I have found, in the main, is that contact with that world, and aspiration to be accepted in that world (at some level) has been tarnishing to my soul and Christian spirituality. There are many people in that realm who see themselves as gatekeepers to God, and it is sickening to me. God shows no partiality, but academics do; no matter what they say to the contrary. It is an industry of pure self-promotion, and on social media one where one’s chops take center-stage; mostly by letting the world know how you have risen through the ranks through publishing feats, and career leaps. I have found myself aspiring to these things too, in a world of self-promotion; and it has done serious damage to my walk with Jesus Christ.

As a result it is most prudent at this time for me to walk away from that whole complex. I don’t really want anything to do with Christian academia, at least the industrial side of it, and so it is best for me to walk away from it. I once aspired to get the PhD in theology, but for what ultimate purpose I don’t really know; except maybe to be accepted into a guild that has already damaged me more than I can even realize. Are there some quality people in that realm? Yes, I know some. But it’s the industry itself that retards spiritual maturation, almost by insidious design, that I must repudiate at this point. And so removing myself from FB and Twitter is the best thing I can do at the moment; since this is where I have contact with that world most.

I will always keep blogging. Ironically, I will keep reading academic theology, and posting on it. But I will only do so for purposes I ever started doing that in the first place: to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. I am uninterested though in the opinions of academics on my life; how much “I know,” or don’t etc. These are all things that don’t matter before God; but things that are tantamount in the Christian academic world. No thank you. I might start a new FB account down the road, one that has contacts with friends which isn’t shaped by the academic world; we’ll see. Pax

Always bear this in mind: Blog posts are typically “bloggy,” intended to provoke, and at best have the space and thus capacity to float theses with the lineaments of a potential argument. That’s what you should expect when you read most of my blog posts.

Addendum: I’ve changed my mind. I’ll keep comments open, but I have them in moderation status. Please keep comments on topic per whatever post you’re commenting on. Don’t attempt to psychoanalyze me, or promote your own pet theological peeve in every comment you make. If your pet peeve fits in with the topic of a particular post, then I guess you can go ahead and bring it up then. With commenting, I’m looking for substantive engagement in and around the topic of the post. That has always been my “policy” ever since I started blogging back in 2005. Too often folks want to make their own points, and go down rabbit trails of their own. But this is my blog ;), and so if you choose to comment just make them on topic. I do appreciate engagement I just have grown weary, once again, of comments that have little to do with the content of my posts. You get it. Alright. See you in the comments. 

I’ve decided to close comments on all my posts going forward. A rare few of you comment now and then, and I appreciate many of them. But more than not if anyone does comment it seems as if they are comments that have more to do with someone attempting to forward their own particular agenda, or who want to passive-aggressively take me to task via personal anecdotes or what have you. I need a break from that, so I am going to suspend the possibility for commenting for the foreseeable future. I will keep blogging, and if you’re friends with me on Twitter or FB we can engage there; I suppose. I’m just starting to get burned out, believe it or not, by being so accessible to the whole wide webbed world. I’ve been blogging continuously since 2005, I had many other blogs prior to this one in the past. And I’m becoming overwhelmed by the online life at this point; I’m sure I’m not alone in this. Anyway, I still need an outlet to think my thoughts out loud; so I’ll continue posting for that reason alone. And hopefully there will be some benefit in that for others. I do appreciate my readers. It seems that’s mostly all I have anyway these days (versus commenters). Pax Christi

PS. If you feel like you have to tell me something about a post or something, you can always email me @: growba@gmail.com

Any topics in particular you my readers would like me to address? Not promising to address any or all suggestions, but would at least like to get a feel for what issues you all are interested in as well. My guess is that Calvinism, and questions surrounding Calvinism are still most prominent among many of my readers; but I’m not totally sure. Anyway, let me know in the comments.

Addendum 2: I’ve decided to come back here to blog. This blog continues to generate the type of traffic that it did before I closed it. I had full intention of quitting blogging altogether. I grow weary of social media. But I guess the reality is, is that at some level I’ll always be a hopeless blogger. So I have annulled my relationship with my new Torrance blog, and this will be the exclusive place for reading me online (as far as this sort of platform goes). Sorry for the inconvenience. But hey, I used to do this sort of stuff every few months or so. At least this time I went about ten years before I did it this time ;). 

Addendum: Alas, I’ve already started another blog project. If you’re still here, come over and subscribe to the new blog. It is called Sub Specie Torrancitatis. You can find it by Clicking Here. Or alternatively, here is the full address: http://posttorrancean.wordpress.com . I explain in my first post there the rational behind starting a new blog. Even in this short week I’ve realized, once again, that having a blog is part of my DNA, at this point. It helps with my reading, and gives it some purpose other than simply being for me. Blogging fills a lacuna in my life, and the PhD may never come. My energy levels are tapped out, it seems, at just maintaining a blog (I currently work graveyard, and even now am operating on minimal and terrible sleep). Anyway, if you want to continue to read my stuff then come on over and subscribe. It will be a different experience, I think; as far as focused content on TFT. But of course, if you’ve been reading me for awhile here, you’ve gotten plenty of Torrance here as well. See you there!! 

I’ve come to the conclusion that this blog The Evangelical Calvinist has run its course. I originally started blogging in 2005, and had many other blogs prior to this one which I started in 2009. I originally started this blog as a secondary blog to focus on what Myk Habets and I were doing with Evangelical Calvinism; this blog was never intended to be my only or primary blog, but that’s what it ultimately became. In some ways I feel like my blog is holding me back from doing something new; meaning, I really want to pursue the PhD and other things, and holding onto this blog almost makes me feel locked into a past that zaps my focus that way. So part of closing the blog has to do with that. But on the other hand, blogging itself has, in my view, changed or died, relative to the function it used to have in the online world. Blogs used to have a network of other blogs it was part of, and there was a lot of helpful banter and debate that took place as a result. That has all changed, and the comments sections of almost ALL blogs has seemingly dried up; thanks to the way Twitter and Facebook has conditioned people to interact on social media (I think). Anyway, I am totally appreciative of all my faithful readers, although I don’t even know who you are because you never comment ;). But I think it really is time, this time, to retire this blog.

So what does this mean for this blog? What it means is that I will no longer be actively posting here. What it doesn’t mean is that I will delete this blog; I will never do that. This blog represents blood, sweat, and tears; it represents lots of work and lots of research. This blog will serve integral to my PhD work (whenever that happens) in the days to come. I have so many quotes and ideas embedded in the makeup of this blog that it would be ludicrous to delete it. Hopefully, even though I will no longer post here, this blog will continue to serve as a resource for folks who are looking for an alternative mood within the Reformed Christian reality.

Because I have at least eight outstanding blog book reviews I have committed to over the last couple of years I will continue to write at my Medium.com site. In fact, I will continue to write at my Medium site quite regularly. I will leave a link to that at the bottom of this post. As I have in my sidebar: ““I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write.” – St. Augustine cited by John Calvin. Since this is the case: I will always need a place to write and learn. Medium will serve as a nice transition place for me; it is set up more like Facebook, in a way (meaning, the like button is more of the focus rather than comments so much, although commenting is still available at Medium), with a focus on the writing itself rather than on comments so much—which fits with the way blogging itself has gone anyway.

I am sort of sad to do this, but I think it is an important step for me with hopes of transitioning to a new phase in regard to what I would like to accomplish academically in the days to come. Again, I so appreciate the faithful readership so many of you lurkers have offered me over the years. And hopefully you’ll still be able to benefit from any insights I might have as I continue to write over at Medium. So for the last time here at The Evangelical Calvinist Pax Christi and Blessings!

You can still read me over at: medium.com/@bobbygrow

I’ve been blogging consistently since 2005, not all at this url, obviously. I’m starting to think that I might retire TEC. It isn’t as fulfilling as it once was, and I’m not even sure I have that many readers anymore. But even if I do, I’m starting to think the work of The Evangelical Calvinist might be done and over with. If I do retire TEC, I’ll still write, sometimes, over at my Medium site; which if I do retire I’ll leave a link to that here. But the reason I ever originally started TEC was to be a thematic blog that sought to offer an alternative mood of Reformed theology; alternative to Federal theology, and the more popular iterations of Calvinism found in baptistic and five pointed forms. That battle, or engagement, has seemingly been fought; at least in the theoblogosphere, and I’ve said everything I need to say about that.

Anyway, I’m contemplating.

I used to write posts like this more often; I think it’s time for another one. What I want to briefly do is explain my theory of blogging, and then discuss how and why I write blog posts in the main. I also want to clarify what I’m open to and not open to in regard to feedback here at the blog.

Blog posts are going to be bloggy, they aren’t essays. At most they will be something like an abstract to a paper rather than the paper itself; they will be suggestive (most of the time) rather than substantive (in regard to development). So blog readers, at least here, need to adjust your expectations to these standards as I understand them per my blogging activity. There will be variance with regard to my many blog posts, some will be more developed than others; but you should know by now (if you have been reading here for any amount of time) that my posts are typically me interacting with whatever I am reading at the time. I will often attempt to creatively apply what I am reading to current events in the Christian world; but again, those applications will typically be in line with the standards I just laid out.

As far as the style of my blog: It is unapologetically Christian academic in orientation. On my last post I received two comments—one rude and snarky (which I spammed), and the other not as rude in its language—which either wants me to quit using “academic jargon,” or wants me to offer greater depth of clarity and explanation (so something like a paper).  I read academic theology, it is all I read! I am trained as an academic. I have internalized academic parlance. Academic jargon is not jargon to me but my internal-conversational lingua franca. I will never EVER be apologetic about that! If you read my blog hopefully you are being challenged to stretch (if in fact academic theology is not your first or second language). I don’t have the time to break down all of these things; when I blog I, as I have noted often!, am simply throwing my thoughts out there (free of charge!—whereas pastors expect to be paid for their services). Again, when I write blog posts I am not writing a research paper with finished thoughts; typically my posts have beginning thoughts that would need to be finished off at a later date (but that’s what makes them bloggy).

I hope this makes sense to you all. Indeed, I will post provocative things with provocative titles; I always have and always will—that’s my blogging mode. I have opinions and view points, and will attempt to align those with substantive theological developments even if I don’t have time to always develop those developments myself (which is why I often quote others who have). Thanks for reading, and I hope you can appreciate where I’m coming from.

P.S. I am not open to being edited, or told how or what I should write. I write what I write, when I want to write, if I feel like writing. This is the joy and freedom of blogging I have always appreciated, and will continue to. I have never written for blog stats or large audiences. I am thankful to have readers, and glad that my writings have blessed some over the years. I plan on continuing my blogging activity up and until the eschaton. Pax Christi