As Tommy Kidd noted yesterday, we are in the middle of Patheos’ five-year-anniversary celebration. Congratulations to Patheos for successfully “hosting the conversation on faith” for the past half-decade. In my estimation, they have done a great job!
For my part, this month marks a full year that I have had the privilege of writing for The Anxious Bench on the Patheos Evangelical Channel. As a result, I do not have a deep well of blog posts from which to draw my “best of.” To date, including three guest posts I wrote before I joined the regular rotation, I have written thirty posts for The Anxious Bench. (Thirty-one including this one.)
Even so, in order to celebrate, I am honoring the five-for-five theme. Below are my most-shared posts:
#1: Plagiarism, Personality-Driven Leadership, and the Problem With Evangelicalism
At a time when the Janet Mefferd-Mark Driscoll dust-up was in full swing, I offered an historical explanation regarding why the shape of American evangelicalism both subtly encourages and simultaneously cannot adjudicate such conflicts.
My second-most popular post, I think that something went awry with the share feature, allowing my mom to click it 3800 times. Regardless, it is a good piece with Ozzie and Harriet, the Cleavers, and Sydney Ahlstrom making appearances.
#3: David Barton, Civic Religion, and Patriotic Idolatry
My very first (guest) post for The Anxious Bench, since I worked on it a long time, this one contains some good writing. I especially like the the final paragraph.
#4: The Meaning of Baptism in the Early Church
This is a synopsis of Robin Jensen’s fine Baptismal Imagery in the Early Christianity: Ritual, Visual, and Theological Dimensions . I personally found it a great help in preparing lectures regarding life and practice in the early church.
#5: A Primer on the Southern Baptist Convention, Part 1
I wrote this in advance of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting in Houston, TX last year (2013). It is perfect to review now as this year’s annual meeting is right around the corner: June 10-11, 2014 in Baltimore, MD.
I hope you enjoy these posts, especially if you missed them the first time around.
Happy Anniversary Patheos!
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