DET’s Top 10 Posts of 2015
That’s right, gentle reader, it’s that time again—time to count down the top 10 posts of 2015! I know you’re as excited as that exclamation point proves I am. Our senior contributing author, Scott Jackson, did the honors with last year’s top 10 post. Doing these kinds of posts is fun for me not only to see what posts resonated most with folks, but to give folks a chance to catch things that they may have missed along the way.
Before we begin, I need to point out that these are the top 10 posts to the best of my knowledge. It’s hard to discern how many of all the hits that come to the main page should be credited to a particular post then currently on the main page, so I only count hits directly to post pages.
So, let’s get to it!
Post #10—What Am I Reading? Kevin Diller on “Theology’s Epistemological Dilemma”
I’m a little surprised by this one since it is only a few months old. That means it didn’t have as much time to “soak,” so to speak. But it seems to have resonated with folks.
Post #9—Karl Barth’s Three "Words" to Atheism – More from Kimlyn Bender
This is another one that isn’t very old, but I find that putting “Karl Barth” and “atheism” into a title tends to result in gaining a solid readership.
Post #8—T. F. Torrance on Karl Barth and “the temptation of orthodoxy”
Wow – posts from September and October are doing very well in this list. Torrance is another perennial favorite post topic among DET readers and, as I said in the post, “temptation of orthodoxy” is - quite simply - an excellent turn of phrase.
Post #7—So, You Want to Read T. F. Torrance?
This is one of those older posts that keeps on giving year after year. It didn’t make the list last year, though, so I’m happy to see that it is picking up some steam. If you haven’t read Torrance yet, go read this post and then go read some Torrance!
Post #6—So You Want to Read….Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
Another solid performer from a few years ago. Brandy Daniels wrote this one for us and I really appreciate it. Apparently you do too, gentle reader, because this is the second year in a row that it has made the list. It came in at #3 last year.
Post #5—Eschatological Business: Introduction - A Guest Series by Nathan Hitchcock
This was, I believe, the first installment of a series of guest posts that Nathan Hitchcock offered DET early in 2015. It was a fascinating series and I really enjoyed engaging with Nathan. Apparently it resonated beyond me. This wasn’t the first time that Nathan has written for DET and hopefully it won’t be the last.
Post #4—Gorringe on Barth: The Freedom of Theology vs. the Bondage of Worldviews
Scott Jackson, our intrepid senior contributing author, gave us this post. I wonder if some of the traffic got lured in with the multivalent language of “bondage.” It’s a good post, though, and made me want to dig in to Gorringe’s book. I’m particularly pleased that this post did so well because poor Scott didn’t have any posts in the top 10 last year, and a #4 placement is nothing to shake a stick at. Well done Scott!
Post #3—Karl Barth on Eberhard Jüngel’s “God’s Being Is In Becoming” - from a new book by Eberhard Busch
I’m curious as to why this post drew so much attention this year. It is fairly old and hasn’t performed well enough to make past lists (as far as I can tell without digging through the whole DET archive). But, you liked it this year, gentle reader, and that’s good enough for me. It is certainly a worthy post.
Post #2—Demythologizing the Divide between Barth and Bultmann
This is no surprise. Longtime readers of DET know that this post always performs well. In fact, it landed in the #2 slot last year as well. It is from the 2008 Karl Barth Blog Conference and was written by David Congdon. David has, of course, now published two books on Bultmann. Someone needs to dig into this post and trace how David’s mind has changed… Perhaps I’ll send one of the DET contributing authors out on this assignment.
Post #1—So, You Want To Read Karl Barth?
No surprise here. This post has been at the top of the traffic numbers since it was written in 2007, and this is the second year in the row that it has taken 1st place. If you haven’t read it yet, you are the theo-blog equivalent of Rip van Winkle (or something), and you should go read it immediately.
Honorable Mentions
There were, of course, a number of great posts that didn’t make the top 10 list. Here are the three closest runners up:
Stay tuned for what we have in store for 2016, and I look forward to seeing what next year’s top 10 will look like!
==================================
Follow @WTravisMcMaken
Before we begin, I need to point out that these are the top 10 posts to the best of my knowledge. It’s hard to discern how many of all the hits that come to the main page should be credited to a particular post then currently on the main page, so I only count hits directly to post pages.
So, let’s get to it!
Post #10—What Am I Reading? Kevin Diller on “Theology’s Epistemological Dilemma”
I’m a little surprised by this one since it is only a few months old. That means it didn’t have as much time to “soak,” so to speak. But it seems to have resonated with folks.
Post #9—Karl Barth’s Three "Words" to Atheism – More from Kimlyn Bender
This is another one that isn’t very old, but I find that putting “Karl Barth” and “atheism” into a title tends to result in gaining a solid readership.
Post #8—T. F. Torrance on Karl Barth and “the temptation of orthodoxy”
Wow – posts from September and October are doing very well in this list. Torrance is another perennial favorite post topic among DET readers and, as I said in the post, “temptation of orthodoxy” is - quite simply - an excellent turn of phrase.
Post #7—So, You Want to Read T. F. Torrance?
This is one of those older posts that keeps on giving year after year. It didn’t make the list last year, though, so I’m happy to see that it is picking up some steam. If you haven’t read Torrance yet, go read this post and then go read some Torrance!
Post #6—So You Want to Read….Dietrich Bonhoeffer?
Another solid performer from a few years ago. Brandy Daniels wrote this one for us and I really appreciate it. Apparently you do too, gentle reader, because this is the second year in a row that it has made the list. It came in at #3 last year.
Post #5—Eschatological Business: Introduction - A Guest Series by Nathan Hitchcock
This was, I believe, the first installment of a series of guest posts that Nathan Hitchcock offered DET early in 2015. It was a fascinating series and I really enjoyed engaging with Nathan. Apparently it resonated beyond me. This wasn’t the first time that Nathan has written for DET and hopefully it won’t be the last.
Post #4—Gorringe on Barth: The Freedom of Theology vs. the Bondage of Worldviews
Scott Jackson, our intrepid senior contributing author, gave us this post. I wonder if some of the traffic got lured in with the multivalent language of “bondage.” It’s a good post, though, and made me want to dig in to Gorringe’s book. I’m particularly pleased that this post did so well because poor Scott didn’t have any posts in the top 10 last year, and a #4 placement is nothing to shake a stick at. Well done Scott!
Post #3—Karl Barth on Eberhard Jüngel’s “God’s Being Is In Becoming” - from a new book by Eberhard Busch
I’m curious as to why this post drew so much attention this year. It is fairly old and hasn’t performed well enough to make past lists (as far as I can tell without digging through the whole DET archive). But, you liked it this year, gentle reader, and that’s good enough for me. It is certainly a worthy post.
Post #2—Demythologizing the Divide between Barth and Bultmann
This is no surprise. Longtime readers of DET know that this post always performs well. In fact, it landed in the #2 slot last year as well. It is from the 2008 Karl Barth Blog Conference and was written by David Congdon. David has, of course, now published two books on Bultmann. Someone needs to dig into this post and trace how David’s mind has changed… Perhaps I’ll send one of the DET contributing authors out on this assignment.
Post #1—So, You Want To Read Karl Barth?
No surprise here. This post has been at the top of the traffic numbers since it was written in 2007, and this is the second year in the row that it has taken 1st place. If you haven’t read it yet, you are the theo-blog equivalent of Rip van Winkle (or something), and you should go read it immediately.
Honorable Mentions
There were, of course, a number of great posts that didn’t make the top 10 list. Here are the three closest runners up:
- Gregory of Nyssa’s "Great Catechism": Synopsis, Chapters 1-32
- Barth and MacIntyre on Tradition – More from Kimlyn Bender
- What Am I Reading? David Congdon’s “The Mission of Demythologizing” (That this post performed so well as to come in as an honorable mention when it was only posted 15 days before the end of 2015 is rather remarkable. I have a sneaky suspicion that we’ll see this one on next year’s list.)
Stay tuned for what we have in store for 2016, and I look forward to seeing what next year’s top 10 will look like!
==================================
Follow @WTravisMcMaken
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