I have recently become aware that Mere O has some of the smartest and most interesting readers around. This is, to be sure, a direct correlation to the authors' own abilities (he said with a wry grin).
That realization has prompted me to take a bold step this summer: we are, for part of the time at least, turning Mere O over to the readers. Joe Carter (whose ideas I've been shamelessly toying with of late!) used to run a series that he called "Expert Witness," which allowed "guest bloggers to write about a topic in which they have a particular interest or expertise."
Here at Mere O, though, we've set the standard lower. The only qualifications we are looking for are:
- that the author is a reader of Mere O
- that the author agrees to take full responsibility for what he writes (I am reading all the posts, and while I edited the first one, I quickly realized that liability issues would prevent me from doing that again)
- that the author won't take money from us if we ever decide to put ads on Mere O, and their post brings in traffic from search engines.
Which means, of course, that over the course of this series we may be posting essays with which we vehemently disagree as authors of Mere O. All essays will carry the appropriate disclaimers, of course.
But I'm ridiculously excited about the concept all the same. I've been blogging through what it takes to have a great discussion, and great discussions don't happen without yielding the floor to other people. It's my hope that as other voices speak up in "our space" here at Mere O, we will foster healthy and interesting discussion about some important issues. And if not, at least we tried!
I'm also excited about it because it gives us as Mere O's authors a chance to become better acquainted with some of our readers' style of thinking and interests. While comments do allow that to happen a little, this will afford us with a more substantial opportunity to do so.
Many of our readers have their own blogs, of course. And I try to read as many readers' blogs as I can. But we wanted to have a little "blog hospitality" this summer and open up our own place to others. So if you haven't heard from me and would like to join in the fun, feel free to email me and let me know.
Matthew Lee Anderson
Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.
