I am starting back from nothing in two ways today. I am starting this blog, which launches into the biblioblog part of the blogosphere. While I will be writing about the themes of my existing websites (Early Christian Writings, Early Jewish Writings, and Christian Origins), I may stray into other topics and other projects. This will be my only blog, so it will be a reflection of what I’m thinking about or working on at the time. My blog is informal and may not even reflect my own views a week from now, so if you see something wrong, a comment would be appreciated. May I always be open to a change of mind and ready to admit a mistake!
I am also starting my library from nothing, or almost nothing, because I did have four books on the Dead Sea Scrolls that my sister had found left in her apartment. I had sold all of my books because I had been moving around a bit, most importantly to Norway where I met my wife and married her in 2012. Last year, we found out that I would not be able to immigrate to Norway to be with her, so I packed my life back into two bags, and now we have an apartment in California.
I have a strong itch to create new things and to make my living that way, working for myself. To make this possible, I have saved up a little from jobs and now have set out to do the fun, hard work of going it on your own. Most of the projects that I have imagined working on have involved software of some kind, whether that is for business, for games, or for some kind of website. The first one that I want to work on, though, is not chosen for being lucrative (it isn’t) but for being more closely related to what I have already been working on. That project is to improve myself as a student of the subject of the early Christian writings, to improve the websites I have regarding it, and to turn this into something more: an app, an e-book, perhaps even a plain old paperback.
(Cue the Beatles’ song, “Paperback Writer.”)
You may find it useful to have a list of the books I chose to reboot with. I intend to use them in conjunction with Bible software that has commentaries on and the text of the Bible, such as Logos, and online access to journals.
World of the New Testament, The: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts
Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature: A Literary History
Fathers of the Church, The: A Comprehensive Introduction
Dictionary of Early Christian Literature (Herder & Herder Books)
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version
Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions And Literature
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha ( 2 Volume set)
New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1: Gospels and Related Writings
New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 2: Writings Relating to the Apostles; Apocalypses and Related Topics
The Gospel of the Savior: A New Ancient Gospel (California Classical Library)