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1. Brendan says:

   February 5, 2013 at 12:38 pm

   Stuff Christians like can filed under “Evangelical Mega-Church Humor”. It’s actually a great laugh, I’d recommend it.

   • Brendan says:

     February 5, 2013 at 12:42 pm

     I also would have never guessed Michael Hyatt was Orthodox, with what little I’ve seen of his blog I’d thought he was Mega-Church/Andy Stanley type.

     • Alan F says:

       February 5, 2013 at 2:32 pm

       Yes, Michael Hyatt is a Deacon in his Orthodox Parish near Nashville. While his blog is pretty much all about leadership, he has a podcast on Ancient Faith Radio that is (naturally) related to the Orthodox Church and is quite good.
   • dumb ox says:

     February 5, 2013 at 3:15 pm

     John Acuff’s name sounds familiar…
2. Michael says:

   February 5, 2013 at 12:42 pm

   Why is post-evangelical in quotes? That seems like a bit of commentary on their part.

   It seems to me that the fact that there are so many Reformed blogs, and that the YRR types have a reputation for being, shall we say, combative, isn’t a coincidence. The Internet as a medium has a tendency toward conflict and a tribalistic “We’re-in-and-you’re-out” mentality.

   Also, Scot McKnight is Orthodox? As in, capital O, officially split from Rome in the 11th century, Orthodox? How have I missed that? I thought he was evangelical with a concern for small-o orthodoxy.

   • Justin Boulmay says:

     February 6, 2013 at 8:29 am

     I’m pretty sure that McKnight is Anabaptist, isn’t he? I could be wrong.

     • Chaplain Mike says:

       February 6, 2013 at 10:30 am

       Theologically, yes
3. Michael says:

   February 5, 2013 at 12:43 pm

   I’ve been sent to moderation purgatory. Let’s try the comment again:

   Why is post-evangelical in quotes? That seems like a bit of commentary on their part.

   It seems to me that the fact that there are so many Reformed blogs, and that the YRR types have a reputation for being, shall we say, combative, isn’t a coincidence. The Internet as a medium has a tendency toward conflict and a tribalistic “We’re-in-and-you’re-out” mentality.

   Also, Scot McKnight is Orthodox? As in, capital O, officially split from Rome in the 11th century, Orthodox? How have I missed that? I thought he was evangelical with a concern for small-o orthodoxy.
4. Dana Ames says:

   February 5, 2013 at 12:44 pm

   Michael Hyatt’s blog is not a “religious” blog, it’s a “leadership” blog. Not sure if it belongs on this list at all, though glad to see an Orthodox person is read so much.

   The header on Jesus Creed says Scot McKnight is “exploring the significance of Jesus and the orthodox faith” but Scot is very much “Evangelical” and uses “orthodox” in the little-o sense.

   Dana
5. Michael says:

   February 5, 2013 at 12:44 pm

   My comment is in moderation purgatory–can you send me an indulgence, Chaplain Mike or Jeff?

   • Jeff Dunn says:

     February 5, 2013 at 1:35 pm

     I guess your payment was approved!

     • Michael says:

       February 5, 2013 at 2:52 pm

       Thank you good sir!
6. Sarah says:

   February 5, 2013 at 12:44 pm

   I thought it was the 6th point of Calvinism that all Calvinists were required to have at least 3 blogs (5 if they are good Calvinists). That might explain the over-saturation.
7. Eagle says:

   February 5, 2013 at 1:27 pm

   I am not surprised…this blog touches on things others won’t touch. That’s why its do dear to me. My hope is that we need to bump number 12 and make it number 13. All in the name of God’s Sovereignty. If its God’s will that bridges collapse, tornadoes hit Minneapolis or Indiana, or that Adam Lanze kill 26 people in a school in CT (did you read that on Desiring God post?) than it must be God’s will that Piper’s blog is not read!

   Come on guys…help me unbelief with prayer!
8. Stuart Boyd says:

   February 5, 2013 at 1:41 pm

   Echo Chambers.

   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/balanced-news-reports-may-only-inflame.html?_r=0

   • dumb ox says:

     February 5, 2013 at 3:05 pm

     Sigh. I’m afraid you’re right.

     It is refreshing to see new faces at Internetmonk, who don’t necessarily hold to the party line – not that thiere is a party line in the Post-evangelical wilderness.
   • Chaplain Mike says:

     February 5, 2013 at 4:19 pm

     That’s an excellent and frightening article.

     • JoanieD says:

       February 5, 2013 at 4:43 pm

       Stuart, that writer’s last two lines say it all: “Here, then, is a lesson for all those who provide information. What matters most may be not what is said, but who, exactly, is saying it.”

       • Stuart Boyd says:

         February 5, 2013 at 7:42 pm

         What was very troubling was that the article suggests that the echo chamber actually makes people MORE extreme in their position and that even facts, data, and logic cannot overcome the echo.

         And the WHO being more important than the Truth is very scary indeed.

         Not sure if the solution–that someone who is “somewhat” like the echo but holds a different opinion may be able to be heard–will work once the echo chamber gets too strong since anyone who is”somewhat” different cannot survive too long when the majority of the echo has become clones.

         • Pattie says:

           February 6, 2013 at 9:18 am

           It is hard to remember, but when I was a child and teen in the late sixties and early seventies, during the era of the six o’clock news and daily newspaper, most people were getting the same information presented in a straightforward manner. As opinions and outlooks started to cloud what had been “facts”,camps splintered in an effort to get to the “real story”. Sadly, we are now at a point in US politics and in Christianity that if you disagree with me, you are not merely misguided or wrong, but you are stupid, evil, hateful, ignorant,and should not speak, or maybe even breathe.

           From this, combined with emotion instead of any reasoning, we get our current polarized Tower of Babel.
         • Brendan says:

           February 6, 2013 at 5:45 pm

           It’s funny Pattie that you should bring up babel because today’s media feels more like the curse of babel. All of these voices but no one makes sense.
9. David Quinn says:

   February 5, 2013 at 1:51 pm

   One thing I believe it demonstrates is that the Reformed crowd places a higher value on writing to convey thoughts and ideas than other denominations or theological camps. From my perspective, they tend to be much more academic in the way they advocate living out faith. The written Word is emphasized a lot, so they spend a lot of their time reading and writing and expositing. They’re slow to adopt new things or ideas. A lot of what they write is collections or analysis of what others write. They’ve established a large network of bloggers and followers who all share and promote each other’s writings and agree on almost everything. They often feel a need to return to the past to see what others have said as a way to guard against error. They believe they have a responsibility to defend truth. Many of them also have a strong desire to teach and believe writing is a good outlet for that. They think the best way to teach is with strong theological arguments, and that’s appealing to a lot of people who want certainty. That’s my perception on the whole thing anyway.

   • Danielle says:

     February 5, 2013 at 6:25 pm

     This is my observation as well.
   • dumb ox says:

     February 5, 2013 at 6:48 pm

     “They’ve established a large network of bloggers and followers who all share and promote each other’s writings and agree on almost everything.”

     Precisely. Then someone like Wilson or Driscoll writes or says something absolutely nutty, and the inner-circle can’t see it due to its blind spots. External criticism is deflected at the circumference. Self-criticism is non-existent.

     This can happen to any exclusive group. There is no hubris intended here. But again, the Internet Monk crowd is so diverse that it seems the blinds spots are covered pretty well. The danger is in being emphatically anti-any-one-particular-group (i.e. anti-reformed) while being pro-nothing-in-particular. That equally breeds exclusivity and blind spots..

     • Headless Unicorn Guy says:

       February 5, 2013 at 7:06 pm

       “They’ve established a large network of bloggers and followers who all share and promote each other’s writings and agree on almost everything.”

       Isn’t that usually called an Echo Chamber or Sock Puppeting?
10. AJG says:

    February 5, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    I have a hard time believing RHE is as low as she is. Just take a look at the number of comments on her blog (listed at 24) as opposed to Scot Mcknight (#7). It’s not even close. RHE has a HUGE following among non-Reformed women (and men). I wonder if the popularity of all these Reformed blogs is skewed because they area all constantly linking back and forth to each other.

    • Miguel says:

      February 5, 2013 at 2:17 pm

      It’s also very interesting to compare this list to Technorati. IM stays about the same, but RHE and Piper are at the top there. It all depends on how the ranking is done. I’m sure it would be interesting to learn about the science behind it. I know other blogs with very high traffic that don’t seem to make either list. Strange, isn’t it?

      • Chaplain Mike says:

        February 5, 2013 at 2:31 pm

        Agree, Miguel. The various ranking systems are not easy for me to understand. Happy to say that all of you by your participatio have consistently brought us a pretty high rank on most of them!

        • Headless Unicorn Guy says:

          February 5, 2013 at 7:02 pm

          Even if IMonk does seem to be an isolated island iin a sea of Calvinism Calvinism Calvinism.
    • Headless Unicorn Guy says:

      February 5, 2013 at 7:07 pm

      I wonder if the popularity of all these Reformed blogs is skewed because they area all constantly linking back and forth to each other.

      That’s the Larry-Moe-Curly method of building buzz on the Web:
      Larry links to Moe,
      Moe links to Curly,
      Curly links to Larry,
      repeat forever — Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!
    • Ben says:

      February 7, 2013 at 10:31 am

      Comments can’t really be the measuring factor. He blog is all about conversation and the crowd that she attracts, I think, is more likely to comment than those who visit other sites.
11. Steve Martin says:

    February 5, 2013 at 3:19 pm

    13th on the list…#1 in my heart
12. JoanieD says:

    February 5, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    Yes, I am surprised that Rachel Held Evans is rated #24 too. Also, it’s good to see Father Dwight Longenecker there. I had forgotten about him. I will have to include that site as a “Favorite” in my religion links. It’s kind of cool that he is a husband, father and Roman Catholic priest. (He used to be an Anglican.) All the more reason to let any of the priests marry, I say. Yes, it’s more complicated in terms of having to support families and not just men, in terms of expense, moving them around, risking the possibility of divorce and then what do you do with that? But I should not “hijack” this thread talking about that.

    And I agree with Eagle…let’s bump #12 (Desiring God) to a lower positiion!

    And no, Scot McKnight is not Orthodox with a capital “O” unless something has happened in the last couple of months that I don’t know about! I only stop in at his blog once in a while now. I like it, though.

    • Pattie says:

      February 6, 2013 at 6:32 am

      I also am a fan of Fr. L…..his blog and Fr.Z;s are the only two I recognize, and I read both regularly (but not twice a day like here at I-Monk!)

      The shades and degrees of each sort of non-mainstream Christianity are a blur to me. Perhaps in a future post, one of our fine staff theologians can do a “Denominations and Sub-Groups for Dummies” sort of article. You know, a “just-the-facts” approach which will still, I’m sure, make someone mad or argumentative. Seriously, like Joanie, sometimes I had NO IDEA who these guys are or what they believe……????
13. JoanieD says:

    February 5, 2013 at 3:46 pm

    I see that Scot McKnight’s blog banner’s sub-title says, “Exploring the Significance of Jesus and the Orthodox Faith for the 21st Century.” So I can see where someone may think he is “Orthodox.” But I believe that he means the orthodox faith in the sense of what he believes the apostles and early Christians taught about Jesus. He would be aligned with the Apostles’ Creed, I think.
14. That Other Jean says:

    February 5, 2013 at 4:06 pm

    Slacktivist doesn’t make that list? How did that happen? Most of Fred Clark’s topics at least touch on Christianity, and comments regularly number in the hundreds, particularly for his analysis/deconstruction of the “Left Behind” books. He’s part of the the Progressive Christian Channel at Patheos, but self-identifies as Evangelical. Don’t liberal Evangelicals count as part of the “Christian blogosphere?”

    • MattPurdum says:

      February 5, 2013 at 6:19 pm

      I don’t think anyone reads Fred any more, he’s way too predictable.

      • Richard Hershberger says:

        February 5, 2013 at 6:55 pm

        I put up four posts yesterday. They have 15, 112, 51, and 176 comments respectively. To the extent that number of comments is an indicator of readership, that is healthy, though not amazing.

        • Chaplain Mike says:

          February 5, 2013 at 8:44 pm

          I have learned not to put too much stock in number of comments. I prefer quality of conversation, which in my opinion is top notch at Internet Monk — one of the reasons I myself started reading in the first place. Different subjects and different kinds of posts elicit various numbers when it comes to comments.

          Our readership numbers, which I track by number of unique visits each day, is up. In January, for example, we had nearly twice as many unique visits as we did most months last year.
    • Joel says:

      February 6, 2013 at 9:30 am

      James McGrath is much more liberal than Fred, so he’s certainly not being excluded for that reason. Fred’s highly adversarial style probably attracts more comments but not necessarily more readers (notice which iMonk threads tend to get the most comments).

      Though actually, these numbers make you realize just how small a sample of the church the
15. brambonius says:

    February 5, 2013 at 5:25 pm

    Jesus Creed Orthodox and Tall Skinny Evangelical???
16. Chuck says:

    February 5, 2013 at 5:30 pm

    How is Michael Patton not Reformed?

    • Michael Bell says:

      February 5, 2013 at 10:00 pm

      Michael Patton would call himself and Evangelical Calvinist I believe.

      But I would ask how you call a Baptist like Albert Mohler reformed?

      • Isaac (or possibly Obed) says:

        February 5, 2013 at 10:30 pm

        Oh, there’s a growing Reformed camp in the SBC these days. Heck, Piper’s a Baptist!

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinistic_Baptist

        • John says:

          February 6, 2013 at 11:23 am

          I think Michael’s point was that holding to “five points” by no means makes one reformed. The language has been skewed in the last decade or so, but I would tend to agree with Michael. The term “Reformed Baptist” is at best a misnomer, and at worst an oxymoron.

          • Josh in FW says:

            February 6, 2013 at 7:04 pm

            My experience is that ‘reformed Baptists’ take the worst from the Baptist tradition and mix it with the worst from the Calvinist tradition.
17. David Cornwell says:

    February 5, 2013 at 6:52 pm

    Quality if more important than ranking. This is a blog with high quality. Of course that’s a subjective assessment. But people here have very strong positions at times, yet most are willing to respectively listen to other points of view and to learn from them. I know for sure that opinions have been modified and minds changed, at least on the margins.

    Good subjects are discussed. Things I’ve never even thought about are brought to mind and presented with excellent writing.

    Love for God and neighbor are much in evidence also. There’s a feeling for community here that transcends other considerations. And people are seldom burned at the stake. So far at least.

    • David Cornwell says:

      February 5, 2013 at 6:52 pm

      “if” = “is”
    • Pattie says:

      February 6, 2013 at 6:24 am

      That’s why this old mackeral-snapping Cat-lic loves her some I-Monk!!!!
      
18. PastorM says:

    February 5, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    Well, tongue in cheek, the real surprise is that John Maxwell is #49!
19. srs says:

    February 5, 2013 at 10:10 pm

    Could the prevalence of Reformed blogs in this list also be influenced by how popular Reformed theology was ten years ago when people started blogging?

    (Of course, there may be some selection bias in my question – I was around more YRR types then than now. Maybe reformed theology was more prevalent then. Maybe it is more prevalent now.)

    (Given that the YRR acronym has been around for a while, do they still get to use the Y…?)
20. JoanieD says:

    February 5, 2013 at 10:19 pm

    In reading on the internet what “Reformed” means, I ran across a site that says, “The Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) is a communion of Christian churches in the Reformed tradition. We stand on the great Reformation principles of Scripture alone, Christ alone, Grace alone, Faith alone, and Glory to God alone.”

    Do you think that is a good beginning definition of what it is to be Reformed?

    • Rick says:

      February 6, 2013 at 7:28 am

      Yes, the “solas” are key to that theology.
21. JoanieD says:

    February 5, 2013 at 10:22 pm

    The New Advent (Catholic) website gives me some info about Reformed too and says, “The name given to Protestant bodies which adopted the tenets of Zwingli and, later, the doctrinal principles of Calvin. This distinctive title originated in 1561 at the colloquy of Poissy. Initiated in Switzerland, the movement from which the Churches sprang gained ground at an early date in France, some German states, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Hungary, and Poland. Later, emigration and colonization secured a still wider diffusion of the Calvinistic system. Some of the denominations which adopted it go today under a special name, e.g. Presbyterianism: they receive separate treatment in this work. Others became national churches and are mentioned under the name of the country in which they exist,”
22. Steve Scott says:

    February 5, 2013 at 11:21 pm

    Doug Wilson being labeled “evangelical” was like Jethro Tull winning a music award in the “heavy metal” category.

    • dumb ox says:

      February 6, 2013 at 12:00 am

      I’d rather talk about Jethro Tull.

      • Steve Scott says:

        February 6, 2013 at 12:40 am

        Sitting on a park bench?
    • Miguel says:

      February 6, 2013 at 12:29 pm

      Wilson may be very Reformed, but he is a leader in a denomination called the “Confederation of Reformed and Evangelical Churches.” He’s Evangelical in the sense that the Puritans were.
23. Warren says:

    February 5, 2013 at 11:51 pm

    Am I missing something? The title of this post is “latest blog rankings”, but the link to Adrian Warnock’s blog leads to a post dated 4 Nov 11. 15 months is a long time as measured by the Internet calendar and likely explains some of the surprise expressed in the comments above.

    • Steve Scott says:

      February 6, 2013 at 12:41 am

      Yes, blog years are even more compact than dog years.
    • Chaplain Mike says:

      February 6, 2013 at 12:42 am

      Yeah, I copied an old list inadvertently. Thanks for calling my attention to it. I’ve updated the post. See if it changes your perceptions in any ways.

      • Warren says:

        February 6, 2013 at 1:23 am

        It would be interesting to see whether blogs are trending up or down in popularity. Several more data points would be required, however. The fact that I have at least a passing familiarity with many of the blogs listed is a strong indicator I spend too much time online.
      • brambonius says:

        February 6, 2013 at 5:12 am

        From what I recognise I see more emerging and liberal protestants (or liberal-ish evangelicals like Enns) in the new list, and desiring God got much higher for some reason too, as did our ‘orthodox’ friend McKnight. Funny that the “post evangelical” blog is followed by Rachel and Don, who could be seen as part of the more popular “post-evangelical” corner.

        Also, as a European I wonder strongly, is there even any non-American left in that list (with TSK gone)?

        Another interesting change concerning blogs that I do read (most of them are the non-reformed it seems) is the postmodern anabaptist Kurt Willems.

        • Warren says:

          February 6, 2013 at 7:42 am

          Challies (Canadian).

          • brambonius says:

            February 6, 2013 at 8:27 am

            ah, didn’t know that. Still makes it a North-American list though… (and poor TSK is 51 in this list, which is not that bad seeing how he has not written much blog posts in 2012…)
          • Warren says:

            February 6, 2013 at 9:13 am

            Given the likely nationality of the majority of readers. the “not invented here syndrome” may be a factor.
      • JoanieD says:

        February 6, 2013 at 7:21 am

        OK, at least with the newer list, Rachel has moved up, but Desiring God moved WAY up. And I see Internetmonk moved down. Hmmmm….
24. Rick says:

    February 6, 2013 at 7:31 am

    It is interesting that many connected to the emerging church conversation has slid down from where they used to be. Scot McKnight being a big exception.
25. Eagle says:

    February 6, 2013 at 11:20 am

    My comments on Adrian Warnock have been deleted. I mean everything….from asking if John Piper’s replacement is going to teach that women endure abuse to others..for example.

    When he quoted Mark Driscoll I asked how many women have been coerced to doing sexual acts against their will becuase Drisocll mandates it?

    Or when he talks about Sovereign Grace I asked him if its “The Gospel” to force a 3 year old to forgive their molesteror…is that what Christianity is about?

    Or when he holds up Mark Dever at Capital Hill Baptist this is what I said. So let me get this straight…”The Local Church” mandates membership, discipline, working within community as Mark Dever teaches, BUT that can all be waived for CJ Mahaney when he fled to Capitol Hill Baptist with HIS tail between his legs. So then all the talk of membership, discipline, and other characteristics of 9 Marks can all be waived…and in the end they mean nothing. Is it “The Gospel” to practice such blatant hypocrisy?

    So he can’t take hard questions or criticism. What is with these Neo-Cals? Many women on this blog and others have bigger balls than those in the reformed crowd. These guys make atheism healthy!

    • StuartB says:

      February 13, 2013 at 8:22 pm

      Years ago I followed Warnock and liked his stuff…gave him up around the same time I gave up Driscoll and the rest.
26. Steve says:

    February 6, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    Glad to see Internetmonk made the top 20. There are a lot of blogs out there. I can’t follow them all. This one, Roger Olson’s and Frank Viloa’s are the only blogs I follow.
27. Kyle In Japan says:

    February 6, 2013 at 6:44 pm

    I’m very glad to see that Internet Monk and Tullian Tchivijian’s blog are ranked so high on this list.
28. StuartB says:

    February 13, 2013 at 8:19 pm

    Would still love a peek behind the scenes at the Internet Monk analytics page one day…I find myself currently with a lot of time on my hands…unemployment is wonderful!…