Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

…or, Something to keep you busy over the weekend…

…or, The Past Fortnight in the Theoblogosphere.

There have been some significant goings-on here at DET lately:

• To begin, I announced only last Thursday that I have accepted a teaching position (assistant professor of Religion) at Lindenwood University. Thanks again for the congratulations that friends and blog acquaintances have heaped upon me. I'm very excited, although it is making for quite the busy summer.
• My series on baptism and the church in North Africa is now concluded. Comments piled up nicely on the introduction, and were continuing to do so until quite recently, so that is worth checking out. The final post also generated some good if limited discussion. The whole is now indexed on the serials page.
• Next, a recent post about Bultmann, Barth, and the proper relation of philosophy and theology has generated good discussion - which continued at least up until yesterday - so you might find that interesting as well.
• Finally, as far as local news is concerned, I once again updated the recommended reading page, so feel free to browse.

Now for news of the wider theology blogging world:

• Michael Gibson recently started his own blog, named "Over the Transom." It is sure to be worth adding to your reader.
• Friend of the blog, Jason Ingalls, posts a sermon on 1 Peter 2.2-10, entitled "Jesus the Cornerstone." Why not read his sermon in tandem with the pertinent posts from the DET series, Reading Scripture With John Calvin - indexed at the bottom of the serials page?
• More from Jason, this time announcing a series aimed at providing a "Spiritual Exegesis" of the Anglican "Baptismal Covenant." I'm looking forward to the first installment.
• Roger Olson discusses "Why I can't give up the label 'evangelical'". Olson has been putting up great stuff lately. Here's a nice bit to whet your appetite: "When did “evangelical” become a problem for me and many others who proudly wore that label for decades? First, when Jerry Falwell began calling himself an evangelical and, second, when the mass media began depicting Falwell and Pat Robertson and people associated with the Religious Right as “the” evangelical–i.e., as the leading spokesmen for the movement."
• More from Olson: this time he reflects on the notion that the drift of evangelicalism toward a neo-fundamentalism might be conservative over reaction to the 1960s. Once again, Falwell lands in the cross-hairs: "Also, I grew up in a very conservative Christian home and church and yet we were no where near as conservative as many of the influential leaders of evangelicalism today. We considered Jerry Falwell a crazy fundamentalist extremist (in the 1960s and into the 1970s) and yet he emerged as a spokesman for evangelicalism without changing his views much at all. He just toned down his criticisms of Billy Graham (for example)."
• The always interesting Women In Theology blog posts a feminist deconstruction / commentary on Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)" video aimed at demonstrating the continued need for feminism. The main point? That the contemporary characterization of feminine power as somehow tied to sexual prowess or characteristics only serves to mask the continued inequality between the sexes. Go watch.
• Chad Holtz provides a very interesting (on many levels) reflection, entitled "The 12 Steps of Theological Addiction." Those who write and frequent theology blogs, as well as many other folk, would be bettered by reading this post.

If that's not enough for you, you might consider reading this post from the 2009 Karl Barth Blog Conference, entitled "Defending Barth’s Commitment to “Let Paul Speak for Himself:” Romans 1 and Paul’s Rejection of the Possibility of Natural Knowledge of God."

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