My Ten Favorite Blogs 2.0 (9 and 10)

And so it begins. The following are numbers 10 and 9 from my blog Top Ten List.


10. John Armstrong

John's blog is a fascinating and challenging one to me (you'll see that theme running throughout this entire list). This blog focuses explicitly and primarily on ecumenism within the church. John's desire is to see growing unity in the body of Christ.

I appreciate that John refers to himself as a "missional-ecumenist." He literally is on mission to foster increased dialog and resultant unity of the church.

I have mixed emotions about this blog. For the most part I loudly applaud John's work toward oneness of the body. However, I also think the author has a tendency to downplay significant theological differences between groups of Christians (for example Protestants and Catholics). That may be a bit unfair of me. It may be that because of John's emphasis on unity, it only appears that he minimizes what are real roadblocks to unity (such as different understandings of the gospel itself).

Much of the theological blogosphere focuses on differences within the church. My blog is certainly not immune to that. It is refreshing to read a blog where the main theme is unity. We would all benefit from more blogs like John's.


9. Between the Times

BTT is the official blog of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (where I attended). A first glance, the idea of a seminary blog might seem stuffy and boring. Some undoubtedly are. BTT is different.

The reason I like BTT is that it focuses a great deal on application. The main thrust at Southeastern is the Great Commission. Therefore, the authors at BTT (various professors) write a great deal about living out the Christian life in the world and carrying the gospel to the ends of it.

I also enjoy the fact that while BTT gets involved in SBC issues, it tends to take a balanced, level-headed approach. Unlike some other seminaries, jumping into in-house Southern Baptist fights is not a focus at BTT.

As with any other blog, I don't agree with all that is written at BTT (in fact, I only agree with this blogger all the time). However, for being a blog that is based in the institution, BTT dares to push the edges of the envelope at times. The authors do not give the sense of being locked in theological towers. Rather, they are clearly living in the real world.

If you have any desire to read a seminary blog, this is a good one.