{"id":47185,"date":"2020-05-01T12:31:20","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T16:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=47185"},"modified":"2020-05-01T19:19:21","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T23:19:21","slug":"tackling-the-objection-that-my-articles-are-too-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/05\/tackling-the-objection-that-my-articles-are-too-long.html","title":{"rendered":"Tackling the Objection that my Articles are “Too Long”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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[originally posted on Facebook on 6-9-19; expanded on 5-1-20]<\/div>\n
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The following criticism was taken from the equal parts ridiculous and entertaining comments under my now-censored Amazon review of Taylor Marshall\u2019s book, Infiltration<\/em><\/a>. . . This is one of my favorite attacks, which has been recycled through the years when people run out of (or are incapable of) rational replies (e.g., anti-Catholic Baptist James White used this innumerable times):<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Johnny Curedents<\/em>: I really don\u2019t think we have to worry that this Armstrong fellow will dissuade many from reading T. Marshall\u2019s book. Like most apologists for the disastrous handling of Church matters the last several decades, Armstrong is prolix almost beyond belief. Just as he has misjudged the reasons for the near collapse of Catholicism in the West, so he has misjudged the nature of the Internet. He has missed totally the notion that brevity is a virtue in electronic communications. Ignore him as most other readers will once they get a look at his book-length review here.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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Just this past week [i.e., in late April 2020] I defriended someone on Facebook because he was engaging in public gossip about a good friend of mine. He shot back that my articles are \u201ctoo long.\u201d Good riddance . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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What this guy Johnny, above,\u00a0misses<\/em>, of course (like many who make this dumb criticism) is that, for many years now, I have actually specialized<\/em>\u00a0in providing short answers and articles and book chapters about Catholic apologetics. The evidence is all around, for all to see:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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1) My regular articles for National Catholic Register<\/em> <\/a>(four per month) are all 1000 words (which is usually about two-and-a-half pages).\u00a0<\/span>Articles for former writing gigs, Michigan Catholic<\/em> and Seton Magazine<\/em>, were also either 700, 800, or 1000 words.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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2) My book, Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(2015) consists of 80 chapters: all 700-1000 words.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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3) My bestselling book, The One-Minute Apologist<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(2007) consists of 61 chapters: all two-pages in length and in a standard, Summa<\/em>-like format.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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4) My bestselling New Catholic Answer Bible<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(2002) contains 44 of my apologetics inserts: all one page in length.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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5) My book, Revelation: 1001 Bible Answers to Theological Questions<\/em><\/a> (2013) is just as it sounds: every \u201canswer\u201d is a Bible passage. You can\u2019t get much more \u201cshort answer\u201d than that!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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6) My book, 100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(2012) devotes a short chapter to each argument. Since the book is only 134 pages, this means that the average length of each chapter \/ argument is 1.34 pages.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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Additionally, I have literally hundreds of short articles linked on my blog: especially the hundreds from Facebook. Yes, there are (assuredly) not a few long ones, too<\/em>, but that doesn\u2019t wipe out the others. I am seeking to meet the needs of all kinds<\/strong> of people<\/em>. Some require, long, detailed treatments of topics, to possibly ever be persuaded. Others respond much better to brief, short expositions. As St. Paul stated, \u201cI have become all things to all men.\u201d That\u2019s my methodology. He is my evangelistic model.<\/div>\n
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The trend in my writing \u2014 especially since 2007 \u2014 has been shorter and shorter treatment. But I do a lot of dialogues, too, so including all my opponents\u2019 words make them considerably longer. Such is the nature of substantive dialogue. But if folks don;t like those, they can simply stick to the majority of my articles, which are short.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Lastly, it is beyond ridiculous for a Taylor Marshall fan to complain that a negative review of the book on Amazon is too lengthy, seeing that there are now 1,056 reviews (the book has been out for all of 17 days): a mere 18 of which are critical.\u00a0<\/span>So I am supposed to be ashamed of the fact that I took the opportunity to write a fairly lengthy review, knowing that it would be in a tiny, tiny minority, to start with? My reply to that is: \u201cif you don\u2019t care for my critical review, go read some of the 1,038 reviews that are positive!\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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My Amazon review that this nitwit above described as a \u201cbook-length<\/em> review\u201d was exactly 3014 words, or, roughly, seven-and-a-half pages in a conventional book. That\u2019s what he absurdly thinks is \u201cbook-length.\u201d Even as an obvious exaggeration<\/em>, the description just doesn\u2019t work<\/em>. It\u2019s like \u201ccomparing\u201d a glass of water to the liquid volume of a tub full of water.\u00a0<\/span>But, bottom line: this guy, like virtually all the other wide-eyed Taylor Marshall fans, is unable to mount a rational counter-argument, and so he descends to stupid, laughable stuff like \u201cArmstrong is prolix almost beyond belief\u201d and \u201cHe has missed totally the notion that brevity is a virtue.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Nice try.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Others mock the mere fact that I am prolific<\/em> (I write a lot; i.e., numbers<\/em> of articles and books [50], and fast<\/em>). I don\u2019t see how that is a criticism at all<\/em>, but for some reason they do<\/em>. If anyone can explain that to me, please do so. It seems to me that the only thing that one can criticize in someone\u2019s writing is its content<\/em>: not simply the fact that someone produces a lot<\/em> of material. It could be good or bad, but attacking all of it on the basis that it is a large collection, is stupid and meaningless: as desperate and pathetic as it gets.<\/div>\n
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Facebook friend Mark Otte wrote over there:<\/div>\n
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\u201cHis articles are too long, so he\u2019s incorrect\u201d would be a non-sequitur.\n

But \u201cHis articles are too long, and this limits his readership and influence\u201d is not a non-sequitur. It\u2019s a perfectly reasonable inference.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a fan of yours, but I am nevertheless frequently deterred from reading entire articles of yours because of their length. Brevity is the soul of wit, and it is<\/em>\u00a0even more necessary on the internet than in print.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Then don\u2019t read the long ones. As I explained [above], I have tons of short ones if that is your cup of tea. A little something for everyone . . . I have 201 1000-page articles collected in one place (my NCR articles<\/a>). Whatever floats your boat . . .\n

There is no reason to not ever<\/em> <\/strong>do long articles, though, because there are folks who want to get into that amount of depth, and they need to be reached, too.\u00a0If I did only<\/em> long articles, then I would be defeating my purpose to a great extent. But since that isn\u2019t true, I\u2019m not. I offer different kinds of readers at different educational and spiritual levels, what is best for them.<\/p>\n

Brevity is not<\/em><\/strong> the soul of serious, in-depth theology. It\u2019s okay for beginners, like the Pauline \u201cmilk\u201d \u2014 but for advanced students, more is required. And I am at least partially dealing with both advanced students of Catholicism and advanced skeptics of Christianity in general. These folks will not learn or be persuaded by brief summary treatments.<\/p><\/div>\n

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It\u2019s also why I have never done Twitter, except to link to articles. That is the other<\/em>\u00a0extreme: everything reduced to soundbites. It\u2019s impossible to do serious analysis that way.\u00a0I don\u2019t have to give into that because it\u2019s fashionable. I\u2019ve always been a nonconformist. I want to challenge and encourage people to think more and more deeply, and not less, and only in a shallow way (as Twitter does, in my opinion).
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***<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[originally posted on Facebook on 6-9-19; expanded on 5-1-20] *** The following criticism was taken from the equal parts ridiculous and entertaining comments under my now-censored Amazon review of Taylor Marshall\u2019s book, Infiltration. . . This is one of my favorite attacks, which has been recycled through the years when people run out of (or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":47188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,44],"tags":[10915,10906,10918,2360,10903,2332,22,10897,10900,10909,10894,10891,10912],"class_list":["post-47185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic-apologetics","category-personal-page","tag-articles-by-dave-armstrong","tag-articles-that-are-too-long","tag-book-chapters-by-dave-armstrong","tag-books-by-dave-armstrong","tag-brevity","tag-catholic-apologetics","tag-dave-armstrong","tag-lengthy-articles","tag-lengthy-papers","tag-my-articles","tag-prolific-writing","tag-prolixity","tag-writing-of-dave-armstrong"],"yoast_head":"\nTackling the Objection that my Articles are "Too Long"<\/title>\n<meta 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}