Thinking Blogger Award

By -
David Congdon recently declared me a Thinking Blogger. It is an award given by peers in order to recognize the quality of one’s blogging efforts. It was started here back in February of 2007. As much as I appreciate this award, and I truly do, it puts me in a bit of a tough spot. You see, a recipient of this award is obliged to pass the award along to 5 bloggers of similar distinction. The trouble is that almost all of those whom I would like to recognize with this award have already received it. So, I am going to do something a little different by granting one award and then by granting a challenge.

And the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ goes to…

Matthew Milliner! Someone, and I can’t really comprehend this, Matt has yet to be granted this award. (At least, that is what he told me when I asked him.) Anyone who has visited his site will readily grant that he deserves it, and I would argue that he deserves it much more than I did. Matt and I spent some time together here at PTS. He is currently a PhD student at Princeton University, and we are both proud graduates of Wheaton College (IL). It is with great pleasure that I bestow this upon him.

Challenge

There are three bloggers out there that I think have the potential of meriting this award, but who have not as of yet demonstrated the consistency, commitment and involvement required to earn it. (This is presuming, of course, that I know what the requirements are and have met them…a dubious presumption at best!)

Darren Sumner is a new classmate of mine, and another Wheaton College (IL) graduate. As the title of his blog would suggest, Darren is interested in historical theology, and many of his posts have to do with illuminating certain historical figures, phrases, etc.

Michael Pailthorpe is currently a post-graduate student in Philosophy residing in Sydney Australia. He and I have gotten to know each other a bit through our respective blogs and the occasional e-mail exchange. Michael has not been posting much of late due to the recent birth of his daughter Meg, but he is in the habit of posting quotes from respected theologians with some comments of his own. He has also posted some of his sermons, which are fun to read (at least for me!).

Jon Mackenzie is another theo-blogger that I have recently taken notice of. In recent weeks he has posted some interesting things about Barth and other theological figures at his blog entitled ‘Bazaar of Herecleides.’ This blog, devoted to “theological discourse,” is a new endeavor for Jon, who has another blog that has been around since before I went live here at DET.

This is the challenge: Darren must maintain his current pace and depth; Michael must return to his pre-Meg pace and depth; Jon must continue to impress me with his theological posts at 'Bazaar of Heracleides.' If any of these bloggers meet this challenge by September 1, 2007, I will bestow the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ upon them (if no one beats me to it!). So, have at it gentlemen!

Comments

W. Travis McMaken said…
Are you sighing because you are afriad to take up the challenge?

:-)
May 25, 2007 6:44 PM
Michael J. Pailthorpe said…
I'm glad you find my sermons fun to read!
May 26, 2007 2:45 AM
Michael J. Pailthorpe said…
OK WTM, I'm taking up the challenge. I want that Thinking Blogger award. ahhhhhhhhhhh!
May 29, 2007 4:30 AM
Darren said…
Ahhh, you b@$#@&*. Alright, if I can be convinced that I am blogging for anyone other than Travis and myself, I shall take up your challenge and blog the #*!! out of this summer

... relatively speaking, having a wife and 18-month-old son and German and some crazy reading group. And boy, it sure is nice outside today!
May 31, 2007 1:14 PM
Post a Comment

Popular Posts

So You Want to Read….Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

By -
Image
"I fear that Christians who stand with only one leg upon earth also stand with only one leg in heaven." "The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from everyday Christian life in community…may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; for in the poor sister or brother, Christ is knocking at the door." "Since ethical thinking in terms of realms is overcome by faith in the revelation of the ultimate reality in Jesus Christ . . . there is no real Christian existence outside the reality of the world." "People who reject their bodies reject their existence before God the Creator." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer Prelude Andreas Steinhoff [Attribution], via Wikimedia Commons I envisioned having a lot of time for blogging this summer, but that simply has not been the case - the last month has been a crazy one, to say the least. For two weeks, I was working at a theology summer camp of sorts, the Duke Youth Academy, and s...
Keep reading

So, You Want To Read Karl Barth?

By -
Image
Every now and then I am asked for advice about studying Karl Barth. So, I thought that I would share some of my standard advice here. But, before I do that, let me just say that I am by no means a Barth expert as compared to the people whose books I will mention below. I would be thrilled to find myself in their league one day, but as of yet that remains a distant dream. Still, I have been reading Barth for long enough, and under the supervision of a number of the scholars that I will mention below, that I think I can provide a decent orientation. I have never read Karl Barth before. Which of his books should I read first? Barth’s most famous work is the monumental 13-volume Church Dogmatics . Reading the CD with understanding is not an easy thing, so you definitely do NOT want to start here. Luckily, there are two smaller works by Barth that serve as helpful introductions to his work. Evangelical Theology: An Introduction - Based on the lectures that Barth delivered duri...
Keep reading

Karl Barth on Hell, the Devil, Demons, and Universalism – A Florilegium

By -
Image
You know, all the most interesting topics. Although Barth often confessed that he didn’t find these questions particularly interesting. At best they might draw sideways glances, as it were, as one travels the theological road. But I found a number of places in the records of Barth’s later conversations that I thought folks might find interesting, so I’ve collected them here. And if you aren’t familiar with the term “florilegium,” here you go ! All these texts are from the first volume of Barth in Conversation , with pages numbers given in parentheses along the way. As usual, italics are in the text and bold is mine. Hell “Now we come to hell. You shouldn’t laugh! There is nothing to laugh at! What does hell mean? I think hell means to be in the place where you are once fore all damned and lost without ceasing to exist, without losing the image of God, being what you are but being damned and lost, separated from God, whose creature you are, separated also from your neighbor, from...
Keep reading

George Hunsinger’s gloss of the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2

By -
Image
I’ve been reading George Hunsinger’s (my doktorvater , for anyone who might be new around here) entry in the Brazos Theoloical Commentary on the Bible series on Philippians. Anyone who has studied with George will find this book to be a compendium and application of many of his most characteristic and beloved analytical tools and patterns, and I’ve been enjoying it immensely. But one of the things that really stood out to me was how he glossed the so-called “Christ hymn” of Philippians 2. George Hunsinger, Philippians , Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids: BrazosPress, 2020). The gloss that Hunsinger provides is not a historical-critical interpretation. Rather, it is an ecclesial, ecumenical, and theological interpretation that attempts to fill in the blanks for how to understand this proto-liturgical formulation in light of the later formulations of the ecumenical creeds. In order to achieve this gloss, Hunsinger engages in “ecclesial hermeneutics” and makes “...
Keep reading

2010 KBBC: Week 3, Day 1

By -
On the Monstrosity of Christ : Karl Barth in Conversation with Slavoj Žižek & John Milbank By Paul Dafydd Jones For a while, I hoped to frame this conversation in terms of a dramatic interchange – something along the lines of “A Slovenian philosopher, a British theologian, and a Swiss dogmatician walk into a bar…” Alongside an eye-wateringly hip assemblage of cinematic references, literary allusions, and comedic scenes – my early favorites being when Barth imagines a young adult novel, entitled Are you there God? It’s me, Žižek , and when Milbank waxes poetic about the Twilight movies – I wanted to engage some topics that would likely receive attention, were the authors to meet for drinks. Primarily, I envisioned an intense discussion of the logos asarkos and the logos ensarkos , with Milbank talking up the former category, Barth emphasizing the latter, and Žižek asking whether recent debates are but symptoms of secret puzzle, embedded in the Church Dogmatics – a puzzle that...
Keep reading