Top 10 Posts So Far This Year

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Well, half of 2012 is over. I don’t know about you, but I’ve done a ton so far this year but nowhere near as much as I need to. Here’s hoping for a very productive second half of the summer…

In the meantime, I thought it might be worthwhile to highlight the top ten posts so far this year in terms of traffic. In other words, what are you – gentle readers – reading?

To begin, I’m not going to include the structural aspects of the site in this. For instance, in terms of raw visits, the blog’s front page blows everything else out of the water. The contributors page ranks right behind that, and the about page is in the top five. Also ranking rather high are things like the recommended reading page, the Karl Barth Blog Conference index page, and that post from way back in January announcing the new collaborative format and the change in blog name from Der Evangelische Theologe to Die Evangelischen Theologen. So, setting those aside, what are the top 10 content / material posts so far this year here at DET?

(Note: I feel compelled to point out 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 following. It can account only for traffic dealing directly with that post.)
  1. At the top of the list we have an oldie but a goodie, my years old piece on “Why I Think…Ben Myers Isn’t Quite Right About TF Torrance.” This is also the post that has my brief comments on neo-orthodoxy.
  2. Next comes an even oldier but goodier post, my guide to reading Barth entitled “So, You Want To Read Karl Barth?” Darren recently did his best to supplant this guide with his own while also performing the necessary genuflections in the direction of mine. But I’m not fooled. His disparagement of Barth’s Evangelical Theology will not be permitted to stand. Do you hear me, Darren? I’m coming for you…eventually…
  3. Ranked third is another oldie but, honestly, I am a little stumped as to why this post gets so much traffic: “Types of Theology.” It must just have to do with random SEO stuff or something. I just banged this post together one day for fun… I much prefer my post, “Types of Philosophy: A Serioues Jest?”
  4. My dissertation’s abstract made the list, a very gratifying thing. Go check it out. One of the things I need to get more work done on this summer is getting this thing ready for publication.
  5. David Congdon and I have had a lot of fun on the theo-blogs over the years, and the list’s fifth-ranked post is another instance of that. Of course, in this case “fun” means something a bit different than the usual definition. What am I talking about? This: “Evangelical Progressivism: An Open Letter to the Editors of Christianity Today”
  6. Coming in with a very solid showing is DET contributor Brandy Daniels’s introductory post: “An Introduction of Sorts...”
  7. The seventh-ranked post is a hard worker but not flashy – it is a post providing links to write ups at another blog of the recent Barth Conference at Princeton Seminary: “PTS Barth Conference - Some links”
  8. DET contributor Derek Maris makes the list in the eight position with his post: “Pannenberg & Barth: ST, I.1.1”
  9. Another hard-working but not flashy post – a post highlighting the Spring 2012 call for papers for the Princeton Theological Review: “Machismo Church: The History and Future of Masculine Christianity - PTR Call for Papers.” You have to figure that the catchy title is driving a good chunk of the traffic on this one. It does make me wonder when this issue is coming out, however…
  10. Finally, tenth position is occupied by DET contributor Derek Maris, with his second “charting” post on Pannenberg: “Pannenberg 101: God & Ontology”
So, there you have it. Not a bad top 10 list for the first half of the year. We’ll have to see what awaits in the next six months…

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Comments

crob said…
Yeah, where is that issue of PTR?

These are some solid posts you've collated, Travis. Incidentally, do your Lindenwood students contribute to the blog traffic here? or do you keep your blogging hero identity hidden and separate from your professional life?
July 03, 2012 3:27 PM
W. Travis McMaken said…
This is my automatic e-mail "signature" on my LU account:

======================
W. Travis McMaken, PhD
Assistant Professor of Religion
Lindenwood University
http://lindenwood.edu
http://derevth.blogspot.com

"How can I boast of mastery in the arts and sciences...when I was twisted about in my wandering from true piety into pestilent irreligion?" St. Augustine, Confessions, 4.31.
======================

Other than that, I don't mention it that much. Although I plan this year to direct them to some of my pedagogical posts...
July 03, 2012 3:31 PM
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