New Year, New Blogs

Just in case you're getting a tad jaded with reading posts about sex at Thinking Anglicans, posts about sex at Anglican Mainstream, posts about sex at An Exercise in the Fundamentals of Orthodoxy (there's a pattern here - Ed), here's a few new blogs to look at.

These are culled from the Ebuzzing 'religion and belief' blog lists, they rank them each month but the data collection is seriously up the creek. Most of the top ones will probably be familiar, so these are from the lower reaches, but worth a look.

Resistance and Renewal: great passion for justice and the poor, I wish we were having more of our Anglican discussions on blogs like this, and topics like this.

The Vicars Wife  - latest post is a very useful and powerful set of questions to use at the start of a new year. Print them off and book that quiet morning now in an undisturbed place.

Thorns and Gold - on faith and suffering, Ht The Church Sofa 2012 awards

Jake Belder - mainly about theology, some good links, almost 10 years in the blogosphere which makes him a serious veteran.

Living Wittily  really good, better to visit than me try to describe the content & style. Great reflection on Rowan Williams recently.

Psephizo: no I don't know what that means either. Blog by Ian Paul, tutor at St. Johns Nottingham, very clear and easy to read, if you're a preacher, worship leader, interested in Biblical studies or Anglican matters it's worth a look.

Just Luckie - doesn't blog very often, but some excellent reflections.

Thomas Creedy - I couldn't really cope with the interface on this, but that's because I'm an old fuddy duddy who likes words and text, rather than things that look like an Iphone. So if you're under 40 you'll  probably be ok.

Talking Christian good spread of topics, easy to read, lively style.

Ebuzzing rankings for September (i.e. August), and other stuff

Until Ebuzzing fix their data collection I'm not going to do any more full run-downs, but if you're interested in exploring other blogs, or in where you are in the blog pickers top 20, the latest Ebuzzing rankings for Religion and Belief are out. Mildly amused that the top 2 are an atheist blog, and a Christian apologetics blog, I wonder if they communicate with each other. Also good to see Lay Anglicana in the top 10 for the first time.

In other list news, the Church of England is now doing a daily rundown of media coverage, well done to Arun Arora, new Head of Comms, for setting this up. It would be good to have a 'subscribe' button but hopefully that's on the way.

If that's got you all too excited, there's also a press release on the next bishops gathering to tie themselves in knots over women bishops. Anyone who can read this at one sitting and understand it has been spending too much time in WATCH meetings. Actually I think the best thing for now would be for the various pressure groups to observe a public vow of silence until the end of the year, so that we can work this out as Christians rather than as lobbyists.

Ebuzzing top blogs for July (aka June) 2012

Time for that monthly plunge into the mysterious world of the Ebuzzing rankings for religion & faith blogs. I've given up trying to understand how they work, but if nothing else it's a good way of finding other blogs. As has become the tradition (i.e. I've done it a couple of times before), the top 15 is followed by a carefully selected cross section of other blogs. Because it's July, it's the turn of 27, 37 and the rest. Happy browsing.

1 The Freethinker
2 Thinking Anglicans must be some kerfuffle about women bishops going on.
3 eChurch Blog
4. Anglican Mainstream. You know what I'm going to say.
5. BIGBible project
6. iBenedictines
7. God and Politics in the UK
8.  Adrian Warnock
9 Krish Kandiah
10 Peter Saunders - Christian Medical Comment surprised, I would have expected this to rise in the month of the BMA conference
11 Apologetics 315 looks like a US site, so not quite sure what it's doing here, but hey...
12 Barthomews Notes on Religion
13 Nick Baines
14 Vicky Beeching
15 The hermeneutic of continuity

and this months specials
17 Peter Ould still exercising the fundamentals of orthodoxy. Rivals 15 for most baffling title.
27 Ismailmail
37 Maggi Dawn
47 Dean Roberts - he seems to make this section every month, cunning chap.
57 Purple Words on a Grey Background nothing to do with Shades of Grey. At least I hope not.
67 The remarkable Steve Tilley
77 New Kid on the Blog
87 The Urban Pastor
97 Transforming Grace

Ebuzzing top religion blogs, June 2012

Alongside the normal 'yes buts' of any ranking system (see last month) Ebuzzing is also struggling to cope with Bloggers switch from .com to .co.uk for UK blogs. but for those of you who like lists, here's the top few:

1. the Freethinker
2. Krish Kandiah
3. Islam in Europe
4. Thinking Anglicans
5. Echurch blog
6. The BIGBible Project
7. Peter Saunders - Christian Medical Comment
8. The 'Anglican' 'Mainstream' new aggregator
9. The Cartoon Blog  the marvellous Dave Walker is currently publishing a series of former Church Times cartoons, hence the bounce
10. Welcome to the top 10 Vicky Beeching, worship leader.

It being the 6th month, here are some 'randomly' selected others -
16. Bishop Alan (last month it was Bishop Nick Baines at 15, wonder who'll be 17 in July? #patternemerging
26 Bartholemews Notes on Religion
36 Emerging UMC  United Methodist website, mission perspective.
46 A Reader in Writing (those with good memories will remember this was 75 last month. See what a link from my blog will do for you?...)
55 Per Crucem ad Lucem well, exactly. Really worth a look.
65 Dean Roberts a 'worshipping welshman'. If he's still worshipping today, I'll take my hat off to him. Though a wetsuit might be more use.
75 Distinct Reflections some good posts on discipleship at the moment, concise and punchy.
85 Apples of Gold
95 Digging a Lot. I do like this one.

Full list here.

update: oops, sorry, someone's pointed out that I've slipped from 6's to 5's, apologies, you'll get a link later in the week.

Ebuzzing top blogs, May 2012

I have no idea how accurate these are (see below), but for the record:

1. the Freethinker
2. Thinking Anglicans
3. Krish Kandiah
4. Peter Saunders - Christian Medical Comment
5. eChurch Blog
6. is the news aggregator Anglican Mainstrem, which isn't a blog
7. iBenedictines
8. Islam in Europe
9. the BIGBible Project
10. God and Politics (good to see this in the top 10, great blog)

It being the 5th month, here are some 'randomly' selected others - my main use of Ebuzzing is to discover other blogs -
15. Nick Baines
25  An Exercise in the Fundamentals of Orthodoxy
35 What's in Kelvins Head (Provost of Glasgow Cathedral, very readable)
45 Dyfed Wyn Roberts: theology beyond the fence
55 Looking Deeper (Lucy Mills). Love the poems
65 Rev Ruths Rantings
75 A Reader in Writing (has sections on 'Wildlife', 'Theology' and 'Mothers Union'. I'm just glad if I can tell the difference)
85 Distinct Reflections  written by baptist minister Neil Brighton
95 Views News and Pews

Full list here.

For statistical purists, a few riders
 - as far as I know, the ranking above depends on links and traffic from other Ebuzzing registered blogs. That cuts out plenty of traffic sources, and it also means if you're not registered, you don't get in the listing.
 - Ebuzzing isn't that good at spotting all said links, based on the evidence of my own blog!
 - most of my traffic actually comes via Twitter and Facebook, not sure how well this is picked up either.
 - Cranmer, the top blog in this category, is in the 'politics' category, and apparently you're not allowed to cover more than one subject.  Heresy Corner would be somewhere in here too, if it were allowed.
 - but, in the absence of Church Mouse and Rev Lesley, someone has to keep new media lists alive, so....

It's quite US-centric, but the best ranking device for Christian blogs is this one, which combines several different indicators into a single rating.

Ebuzzing/Wikio top blogs for March

We have a new no.1, congrats to Krish Kandiah from the Evangelical Alliance. Here's the top 15, plus a few interesting ones from lower down the list:

1. Krish Kandiah
2. The Freethinker
3. Thinking Anglicans, which has kept a running commentary on CofE votes on the Anglican Covenant. Non CofE folks, don't worry, looks like you didn't miss anything by not knowing about it.
4. Islam in Europe
5. Peter Saunders at the interface between Christianity and medicine. Worth a look, if you haven't already.
6. Echurch blog
7. Comprehensive Unity: the No Anglican Covenant Blog (not sure how comprehensive unity in the CofE can involve being against something being proposed by people within the CofE, but there you go. The winners write the history)
8. IBenedictines
9. The BIGBible Project
10. Nick Baines outside contender for AB of C and Radio Times contributor.
11. The Ugley Vicar
12. The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley
13. A non-blog which cuts and pastes from other sites in full without seeking permission and doesn't allow comments. If this is mainstream Anglicanism then call me a Baptist.
14. Vicky Beeching of the remarkable hair and great voice, probably leading worship at Spring Harvest as I write this.
15. The hermeneutic of continuity an even more obscure title than I used to have for this one.

also worth a peep
19 Peter Ould one of the architects of the Twurch of England, an even more avid statistician than I am, and always a good read.
21 Dreaming Beneath the Spires always good to find another fan of Jesus of Montreal
26 LLM Calling. Prolific is not the word - nearly 600 posts so far this year. And I'm always happy to promote people who want to put mental health on the agenda
37 Lay Anglicana a really nice blog to look at. And read.
43 Dean Roberts never looked at this one before, but a good blog, well presented, lots of book reviews.
47 God and Politics this will be top 5 by the end of the year if Gillan keeps going at this level. Great blog, in a niche recently left too much to Cranmer by Christian bloggers
60 Cookies Days one of my favourites at the moment, really thought provoking, lots of great links, and a massive passion for mission.

that'll do for now. And I'm pleased they've finally caught up with my change of name.

oops, suppose I'd better include the link to the site itself!!