The fact is, you need no credentials to be an expert on something on the web. Because of this, I thought it might be wise to put up some info about why I’m here and why I feel qualified to write on this subject.
The simple fact is that I have no direct credentials to offer. Nope. No realistic qualifications at all. Zip. Zilch. Nothin’.
I’ve been blogging for about six years now (lacking credentials obviously didn’t slow me down any). It’s been an off-and-on adventure, with some joy and some heartache along the way. Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s not. Blogging is, in the words of Jeff Miller, more addictive than crack. There’s no point in arguing against that idea…it’s 100% true.
My degree is in history. I studied general stuff, but took as many medieval history classes as I could. In fact, it was in one such class that I first encountered the idea of becoming Catholic. I worked on my Masters for a short while, but ran out of money long before graduation and had to quit. So I don’t have any formal education in theology or eschatology or any other -ology. I did, however, learn to research a subject deeply and write a decent paper.
I do have a bit of background in adult education. I taught at the local community college for about four years. I am something of an expert in what I do for a living, so I was able to teach as an adjunct in the business program. It was loads of fun (and paid very nicely for a part time job). I learned a great deal from teaching. As the old saying goes, you never truly know a subject until you try to teach it.
I haven’t, in reality, been Catholic for all that long. I entered the Church at the Easter Vigil of the millennium – 2000. I have, however, spent a fair amount of the past eight years learning and attempting to teach the faith. Part of this is because I came out of RCIA knowing so little. I had to teach myself as best I could. Part of my learning curve is because of my kids. As they’ve grown older I’ve had to keep ahead of them so they can know what they need to. But most of the reason that I’ve learned as much as I have is the fact that the subject is fascinating.
For a while, I thought very seriously about going back to grad school for a degree in theology. But theology isn’t really what I’m into, so that didn’t make much sense. There are also financial and temporal commitments that I can’t even attempt. This kind of blog seems perfect for what I can do.
The research necessary is right in line with the kind of research I did in grad school. You dig through the same kind of resources and write the same kind of papers. Different topics, same methods. The teaching experience, I hope, gives me an ability to impart the information in a way that makes sense to the average reader. I could make it a lot more complicated, using lots of “$5 words” with Greek roots (eschatology, anyone?). But teaching adults in a business program taught me to avoid academic lecturing and writing. The only people that want to read that stuff are either insomniacs or experts in a field that use this level of discourse every day. My audience is neither academia nor insomniacs, so I try to write accordingly. Lastly, my love of linguistics seems to have an outlet at long last.
Blogging has run me through a gauntlet of sorts. It’s been the online world where I’ve encountered the most basic (and most hostile) assaults on my faith and my church. That’s fine. It comes with the territory. It has, in the words of one Protestant interlocutor, sharpened iron on iron. I’ve learned a great deal from these encounters. Little did they realize that their assaults on my church would have the opposite effect they had intended. Instead of making me hide under the desk, and eventually turning me away from the Church, they caused me to dig – and in some cases dig hard – to find answers to their challenges. To those that thought they’d get me to turn, I'd like to say – THANKS!
So, readers here are forewarned. I'm a self taught nincompoop suffering from blogish delusions of grandure. I think that makes me pretty much mainstream...
