Not Another Blog!

From my 2009 trip to France, the Bayeux Cathedral

I was reading that there are some 150 million or more blogs out there in the internet world. How could another blog add to this growing ethereal community? I have been asking myself this question for some time now, while considering content, focus and direction for a possible blog of my own. I clicked and dragged over many an article sporting the title "blogging tips for beginners" or "50 tips for starting a blog." My perusal also included web searches for other blogs with content and focus in my fields of interest. It seems that Solomon was correct when he wrote "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9), imagine that! Thus I decided that even though I may not contribute in a meaningful or significantly impactful way to the blogosphere, I can at least share some of my thoughts, and the thoughts of others. The blog title Argumentum Ad Nauseam appears strange as a description of blog content, and perhaps better describes my condition after a long and turbulent airline flight. Argumentum Ad Nauseam is a technical term used to describe a logical fallacy in which an argument (right or wrong) is repeated over and over again until hopefully it is accepted by the hearers as true. I thought this an appropriate phrase to describe the content of this blog. It may not have anything particularly new, groundbreaking, fundamental, cutting-edge or even newly interesting. But it will reveal my thoughts on an eclectic selection of topics which I often think and read. Though most of what I may say has already been said before (thus the title). So, what to expect from this?

• Light discussions on philosophy and history
• Reviews of books I am reading, including text books
• Reflections on Greek and Hebrew languages
• Biblical topics, Christian life and History
• Aviation, mostly from the perspective of helicopter maintenance

Most of this will be filtered through my own Christian paradigm and will often relate to my faith in some way. I originally wanted to title the blog Fides Quaerens Intellectum, (faith seeking understanding) a term from the medieval theologian and philosopher Anselm (ca. 11th century) but this was a popular blog title (understandably). This Latin phrase best describes the motivation behind my life, reading and world view. Hopefully this will spark some engaging conversations.

[EDIT: I have changed the blog name (obviously) to The Textual Mechanic as it appears to me to be a much catchier name than my previous title. It also describes better my circumstances as my career as a Helicopter Mechanic intersects with my passion for textual criticism of the New Testament, canonical studies, and Biblical Studies in general.]