OK, so blog post discussions are not immune from derailment, and blog spots are hardly consistent in promoting the kind of discursive exchanges an optimist might assume. But Facebook does seem to promote a special kind of dialogue, one that is possible because a) most people have an extensive list of Facebook friends well beyond particular academic or discipline specific interests, many of whom have strong opinions about faith, the bible, and well, pretty much everything. And b) the whole idea behind the Facebook exchange is instant call and response; quiet and patient reflection would obviously not work in the Facebook format. More often than not, this leads to a frenetic exchange that tends to reveal more about its participants than it does about ideas.
Perhaps you have found yourself in a Facebook debate that looks something like this (and in the spirit of every great evangelical sermon I have ever heard preached, I see myself in all of this ;))
Person 1 “Provocative semi-theological statement” (most likely the result of reflection upon a number of disciplinary concerns that author is engaged in, however context completely unknown to all but 18 of 724 Facebook friends).
Person 2 Witty reply seeking likes
Person 2 Double reply, trying to attend seriously and makes a good point
Person 3 Vague theological quote with grammatical errors
Person 1 Author inserts qualifying remark
Person 4 Irrelevant comment that shifts focus to me
Person 5 Questions whether original statement and qualifying remark is even biblical
Person 6 Reference to a passage in Romans
reference to passage in Romans 8
reference to passage in Romans 8
Person 8 Paul-hating comment with air of moral superiority
Person 2 Counter with Scripture from the Amplified bible
Person 1 Unexplained tagging of Another Person
Person 4 extreme passive aggression followed by Jesus reference
Person 6 Pompous response with dubious link
http://www.dubiouswebsite.com/stupidopinion/factoidsgalore
http://www.dubiouswebsite.com/stupidopinion/factoidsgalore
Person 8 Reference to the apocalypse of Ezra
Person 8 ^ just kidding
Person 6 Liking of every second post
Person 3 reference to how manly this conversation is
Person 6 Offensive comment that will ultimately be deleted
Person 1 copy and pastes informed comments from other post
Person 2 looking up wikipedia for definitive Derrida quote
Person 3 *mansplaining* with asterisks
Person 1 Claims to be a feminist for having read something by Coakley
Person 4 use of urban dictionary
Person 9 awkward comment from family member who is proud of status author
Person 1 Mansplains the meaning of mansplaining
Person 6 Attempts to affirm woman in conversation but accidentally suggests that attending to her ‘female perspective’ is optional.
Person 8 “To pretend, I actually do the thing: I have therefore only pretended to pretend.”
Person 3 corrects misplaced use of Derrida quote with confusing and irrelevant reference to presence and absence
Person 2 allusion to the ‘real world’
Person 1 Cat meme!
Person 7 Pacifism (hopes to ignite more debate)
Person 4 Comment meant for other thread
Person 3 moronic attempt to show comment is linked to this very important discussion
Person 9 Apology
Person 2 Notes moronic attempt to shows comments are linked
Person 1 Righteous indignation
Person 3 Recollection of a shared experience when teenagers
Person 9 science
Person 7 rejects science
Person 5 CREATIONISM, FUNDAMENTALISM, RAPTURE, HELL!!!
Person 1 Accusation of Unitarianism
Person 5 blames, in this order, modernity-liberalism-Bultmann
Person 1 embarrassing explanation of post-modernism
Person 3 grammatical interjection
Person 2 Out of theological depth – sudden reference to hip foreign film
Person 8 defending ‘Ian’
Person 6 Random person adding an irrelevant comment
Person 9 Accusations of socialism
Person 3 Wearing accusation as a badge of honour
Person 2 deflecting attention by comparing Hitler to Obama
Person 1 attacking ‘Ian’
Person 4 MORE FUNDAMENTALISM
Person 1 way too late clarification of terms
Person 8 comment about the misuse of apostrophes
Person 2 Bows out with final passive aggressive comment
Person 1 gut wrenching autobiographical disclosure as trump card
Person 7 feigned compassion
Person 4 rejection of emotional trump card with reference to scripture
Person 3 Use of: ‘what I think you really mean is…
Person 6 Responds to a statement made 30 comments earlier
Person 8 Mark Driscoll
Person 9 DRISCOLL!
Person 1 Philippians 2 Chistology
Person 2 Gets into argument with stranger about Piper vs bible
Person 4 Discredits Piper without possessing any prior knowledge of the man
Person 7 Uses “no offence” to absolve offensive content of previous comment
Person 1 reference to my forthcoming publication
Person 2 Joke about forthcoming review of forthcoming publication
Person 6 (sends three friend requests to complete strangers participating in debate)
Person 8 Back on topic comment from author
Person 2 Points out that all these questions have already been answered in his previous publication.
Person 1 Author private messages intimidating friends to apologize for douche who keeps referencing his publications
Person 3 Highlights Godwin’s law
Person 9 counts how many people have liked each of my comments
Person 5 appeals to nuance of some ancient language
Person 8 Lengthy explanation that just keeps on and on til you just give up reading or persevere until you want to gnaw your own arms off… Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam placerat consequat eros et ornare. Integer lobortis sed eros et tempor. Aenean nisl nisi, vehicula non venenatis id, sollicitudin in augue. Duis ut nibh non eros aliquet egestas. Donec molestie dictum arcu, sit amet sollicitudin nibh accumsan eu. Nunc ligula mi, sodales in rutrum eget, fermentum eu tellus. Nunc pretium lectus nec porta tempus.
Etiam ut lacinia leo. Sed quis ipsum sed libero pharetra consectetur. Proin pulvinar luctus sapien, at fermentum lectus volutpat et. Ut fermentum id nunc id semper. Integer sed enim ultricies, mattis est ut, feugiat dui. Suspendisse id suscipit sapien. Morbi quis velit vitae dolor congue scelerisque. Proin id turpis sit amet magna blandit vestibulum. Etiam in rutrum magna, eget commodo augue. Suspendisse ac justo ut libero auctor faucibus.Aliquam at est id elit auctor rutrum vel vitae ipsum. Fusce id consectetur purus, nec rhoncus diam. Nulla imperdiet eget mi vel tristique. Ut rutrum placerat augue, commodo auctor odio porta eget. Nulla tincidunt vulputate felis et tempus. Pellentesque sodales bibendum ullamcorper. Donec sagittis orci non cursus sagittis. Cras aliquam tincidunt ullamcorper. Pellentesque ac congue arcu. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. In vel nibh tellus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.Maecenas vulputate metus quis semper condimentum. Vivamus vitae arcu a magna pretium iaculis. Cras molestie egestas mauris eu ultrices. Fusce dictum, risus at vehicula adipiscing, eros elit posuere ante, a luctus dolor lacus eu erat. Fusce non nulla pretium, adipiscing tortor aliquet, interdum tellus. Sed ultrices facilisis euismod. Nulla vel tincidunt orci. Fusce varius molestie adipiscing. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Pellentesque in facilisis nisi. Sed non mollis risus, vitae lacinia ipsum. Integer laoreet nibh quis interdum pretium. Maecenas id nunc nisi.
Etiam ut lacinia leo. Sed quis ipsum sed libero pharetra consectetur. Proin pulvinar luctus sapien, at fermentum lectus volutpat et. Ut fermentum id nunc id semper. Integer sed enim ultricies, mattis est ut, feugiat dui. Suspendisse id suscipit sapien. Morbi quis velit vitae dolor congue scelerisque. Proin id turpis sit amet magna blandit vestibulum. Etiam in rutrum magna, eget commodo augue. Suspendisse ac justo ut libero auctor faucibus.Aliquam at est id elit auctor rutrum vel vitae ipsum. Fusce id consectetur purus, nec rhoncus diam. Nulla imperdiet eget mi vel tristique. Ut rutrum placerat augue, commodo auctor odio porta eget. Nulla tincidunt vulputate felis et tempus. Pellentesque sodales bibendum ullamcorper. Donec sagittis orci non cursus sagittis. Cras aliquam tincidunt ullamcorper. Pellentesque ac congue arcu. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. In vel nibh tellus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.Maecenas vulputate metus quis semper condimentum. Vivamus vitae arcu a magna pretium iaculis. Cras molestie egestas mauris eu ultrices. Fusce dictum, risus at vehicula adipiscing, eros elit posuere ante, a luctus dolor lacus eu erat. Fusce non nulla pretium, adipiscing tortor aliquet, interdum tellus. Sed ultrices facilisis euismod. Nulla vel tincidunt orci. Fusce varius molestie adipiscing. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Pellentesque in facilisis nisi. Sed non mollis risus, vitae lacinia ipsum. Integer laoreet nibh quis interdum pretium. Maecenas id nunc nisi.
Donec tincidunt mi at tempor blandit. Curabitur nec nisi vitae lorem dictum vulputate id non urna. Mauris nisl mi, accumsan vitae ante in, congue imperdiet tellus. Proin feugiat nibh et nunc fermentum, vel tempus nunc aliquam. Donec odio diam, accumsan a mi in, gravida mattis nisi. Duis nisi magna, dictum fringilla risus non, rhoncus fermentum dolor. Nulla egestas dapibus eros, eget vulputate erat mollis a.
Person 4 tl;dr
Person 7 copy and pastes informed comments from other post
Person 6 Considers looking up previous reference then realises it will take too long to find and re-join conversation in a seemingly intelligent way so chooses to politely smile and nod and move on. Smiley-face emoticon with tongue out.
Person 3 random disclosure of tattoo
Person 4 whoa!
Person 1 Attempts to claim that being a white male limits academic possibilities.
Person 1 anecdote from non-western country with a photo of a black baby
Person 8 Aligns with another commenter to make the same arguments and overpower a minority voice
Person 5 accusation of dualism
Person 9 accusation of essentialism
Person 3 comment that attempts to poorly summarise everyone’s opinions and show how we really all agree
Person 2 Puzzling use of question mark?
Person 5 Doesn’t know what essentialism or dualism is so responds with childish retort
Person 4 references really important scholar I have never actually read
Person 7 Links important scholar to show that they are Facebook friends
Person 2 Questions the whole concept of important scholars. Suggests we spend more time with the suffering
Person 1 TV Quote
Person 9 Doesn’t get tv show reference and responds seriously and piously
Person 7 pompous comment combining “Trinitarian”, “Pneumatological” and “Eucharistic”
Person 10 interjects with ‘sorry I came to this late, but…
Person 4 quotes poem in hope flowery language will disarm conceptual abilities of opponents
Person 2 ‘What you say is really great, and I fully agree with all of it, but…
Person 7 Links to cool female pastor with tattoos
Person 6 I love that chick
Person 1 rolls eyes
Person 9 Complains about mainstream music
Person 4 Questions the credibility of involved ‘academics’
Person 2 Agrees to disagree
Person 1 wrapping up joke with ridiculous #hashtag
WIT 
And this is why theology or any other serious matter should never be discussed via Facebook. Use of social media should be restricted to an exchange of cat pictures and one-liners, which is what it was created for in the first place.
Thanks for the great post. Made me smile.
What a great post and spot on. And while I theoretically agree that Facebook might not be the best place for a theological conversation, in practice, I love Facebook for theological conversations. Despite the spikes in my blood pressure due to some of what you have enumerated above, I have met so many fine people and I have learned so much. Thank you!
Hah! I’ve been bemoaning to a college of mine that there are so few theology blogs don’t 1) lack a critical mass of participation to foster academic exchange or 2) devolve into something like the above.
I was blaming the medium but then she’s in philosophy and pointed me toward blogs where actual philophical debate takes place in the blog format.
Maybe it’s something about religion on the Internet that everyone feels they need to respond with something unrelated to the topic at hand but desperately important enough to post.
And that should be colleague…autocorrect hits again.
I blew my coffee out my nose! 😀 I’m # ……
FB – good for looking at family photos from afar and getting practice in maintaining some privacy and security.
So spot on. Great fun 🙂 Thank you. Should go in the Annals of FB ❤
Made me laugh out loud even though I missed some of the references – not sure which person in the scenario that makes me!