Top DET Posts from 2014

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With the Oscars now out of the way, it's time again to refocus attention on the posts that have been performing well here at DET in terms of readership.

Here is the list of our hottest posts (drum-roll, please....):

Top 10
  1. So, You Want To Read Karl Barth?
  2. Demythologizing the Divide between Barth and Bultmann
  3. So You Want to Read….Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
  4. Sarah Coakley defines Systematic Theology
  5. Comments Brought to Light: David Congdon on Bultmann, Barth, Heidegger, Scripture, Tradition, and Sache
  6. Helmut Gollwitzer and John Webster on Scripture, or, the problem of *ethical* biblical criticism – A guest post by Collin Cornell
  7. Karl Barth on Eberhard Jüngel’s “God’s Being Is In Becoming” - from a new book by Eberhard Busch
  8. To my deconverted friend – A guest post by Collin Pae Cornell
  9. Is God Dead? - Paul M. van Buren’s “Austin Dogmatics”
  10. Karl Barth Blog Conference (2007) - Hegel

(For comparison, you might want to take a quick gander at the last top 10 post: Top 10 Posts from the Second Half of 2013)

What this "Top 10" confirms for me is that, although from time to time we've had a variety of content from a variety of theological perspectives, the bread and butter for most of our readership is dialectical theology -- especially (of course) the work of Barth and Bultmann and the thinkers and movements most inspired by these theological giants (e.g., read no. 9 to learn about the under-appreciated but seminal contribution of Paul van Buren to Barth interpretation.)

At number one is Travis McMaken's classic post from 2007 on "How to Read Karl Barth". (I will admit this is one of the few blog posts I myself have read multiple times over the course of several years.)

In a similar vein, at number three, is Brandy Daniels' intro to studying Bonhoeffer, in which an aspiring scholar and Vanderbilt theology student (and prolific blogger, mainly on...sigh...other websites) gives us a snapshot of her ongoing journey into one of the hottest, if not always best understood, subjects of research in Christian thought.

Another keen topic of research and in the field for the past 15 years or so has been the revisionist reexamination of the relationships between Barth and his Protestant predecessors and contemporaries. Two posts delve into the ways scholarship has been problematizing stereotypical accounts of how Barth is situated among the projects of his peers in the dialectical theology movement. An earlier post (no. 2) explores that, as does the riveting window David Congdon offers (see no. 5) into his own scholarship. I'm eagerly awaiting what I'll learn from reading Congdon's forthcoming book on Bultmann (even if I'm a little less excited about the list price for the cloth edition).

Guest contributor Collin Pae Cornell, a NT-scholar-in-training at Emory (one of my own alma maters), has gifted us with two impactful posts (at no. 6 and no. 8). It is refreshing to read his gripping letter to a "deconverted friend", especially in light of all the pabulum on the inter-webs these days about belief, doubt and skepticism.

Quick disclaimer: The links above are only page specific hits and do not account for those who read the post while it was on the main blog page.

* * *

Finally, I note that I soon will pass the one-year mark as a regular contributor here at DET, and it's been a fantastic ride for me so far. I've especially enjoyed some great pushback and amplifications from some of you in several comment threads that has helped me rethink and reframe both what I'm trying to say and how I say it.

Remember that we love to hear what's on your mind, gentle readers, so please don't hesitate to join the conversation.

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