East and West: How---Might Technology Help?

(Prof. Darrell Bock is Research Professor of NT Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas, USA. This note is written exclusively for NTSW)

To have better contact between the East and West for New Testament Studies, we need to have better means to meet together and promote exchanges. The normal means of doing this at the current large NT gatherings really do not permit the personal level of detailed exchange that is necessary to build the networks that allow a genuine exchange. So we need to find ways to facilitate meetings, despite some of the distance and expense issues. Perhaps internet technology can open up more opportunities for less expensive means of communicating and holding discussions. At the least this option should be explored. I have held classes through Skype that have connected me to others on my own continent, but that certainly is also possible elsewhere where the internet pipe is large enough to handle the load. So a small proposal that is certainly but one small piece of a larger puzzle.