Top 10 Posts from the Second Half of 2012

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Happy New Year! Well, kind of anyway. I tend to think through the calendar based on academic semesters, which means that the New Year does not mentally begin for me until our January Term starts on Monday. But since I’m sure that at least some of you, gentle readers, go by the vulgar calendar, I might as well post this now.

Those of you with elephantine memories might recall this post, which highlighted the top 10 posts from the first half of the year. As I noted then, I would remind you that the stats on which this ranking is based do not factor the amount of traffic a post received as part of the front page, e.g., on the day it was posted and those immediately following. It can account only for traffic dealing directly with that post.

So, without further ado…

  1. Topping the list in the second half of the year just as it did in the first half, is Why I Think…Ben Myers Isn’t Quite Right About TF Torrance. It is certainly gratifying that this post continues to draw significant traffic.
  2. This slot is also a repeat from the first half of the year: So, You Want To Read Karl Barth?
  3. Ah, yes. Here we have a new entry, much like the one lodged in the second slot - contributor Brandy Daniels with So You Want to Read….Dietrich Bonhoeffer? This is a very worthwhile post if you are considering picking up some Bonhoeffer for a rainy Sunday afternoon . . . or . . . for any time really.
  4. My self-proclaimed “diatribe” entitled Science, Theology, and None-of-the-Above (i.e., “creationism”): On the recent flap between Bill Nye and Ken Ham occupies this fourth slot. I’ll admit, I just got a burr in my bonnet on this one. But I did receive some interesting FB messages as a result . . .
  5. Another frequently high achieving post here, having taken the third slot in the first half of the year: Types of Theology. I must have simply landed a solid, search-engine friendly title on this one.
  6. I am very happy to see that this post is getting enough attention to make this list as I think it deals with some important contemporary theological debates, even if mostly obliquely or suggestively rather than extensively. Be sure to read this one if you haven’t yet done so: Review of Oliver Crisp's Retrieving Doctrine: Essays in Reformed Theology.
  7. I was very happy to see this post break out of the pack. It was written by my good friend, colleague, and theologically-conjoined twin, David Congdon, for the 2008 KBBC, and it is well worth your time: Demythologizing the Divide between Barth and Bultmann.
  8. This post was fun to write for a number of reasons, and I’m glad some folk are reading it. It is partially a playful appropriation of someone not usually counted as a theological ally, and partially a vent for frustration at the current state of Anglophone theology. For more than that, you’ll have to read it yourself: In Defense of Theological Blogging and Belligerence, with Christopher Hitchens.
  9. Wow! You folk are actually reading one of my boring historical posts! Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything. ;-) It isn’t high on the list, but I’m glad it charted: Calvin to Bullinger on Luther. I came across the material in this post while preparing for the Reformation course I taught last semester. It turned out to be a pretty good class (if I do say so myself).
  10. Last but not least, we have a post from another DET contributor, this time it’s Derek Maris. In this post Derek offers a juicy tidbit that integrates his interests in both Barth and Moltmann: Moltmann on Barth Research.

Honorable mention - This post was only 1 visit short of tying for the #10 slot, so I thought that I should include it: Migliore on Barth, Bultmann, Pannenberg, and Moltmann on the Resurrection.

There you have it – the top 10 posts of July through December, 2012. I think that it has been a relatively slow year here at DET, especially the second half of the year. But I’m hoping to return to form in 2013 and I hope that some of the other contributors will continue to step up and provide quality material for us all to ponder. So, as always, stay tuned!

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