Top 10 Articles of All-Time at “Christianity for the Common Good”

This week marks the beginning of my fourth year blogging at Christianity for the Common Good. I’ve enjoyed blogging and am especially grateful to Trevin Wax, Chris Martin, and Jonathan Howe for helping me get started.

Given that I’m pressed for time and unable to write a post this week, I thought I’d look back through the archives and pull out the articles that received the most readers. I was a little bit surprised at which articles ranked the highest. In fact, I’m a little disappointed that some of my less-favorite articles made the list while some of my favorite articles were not even within whiffing distance of the top-ten.

So here is the list of the ten most-read posts at Christianity for the Common Good. A big “thank you” to all of you who visit the site to read and share the articles!

Top 10 Articles at Christianity for the Common Good

10. A Dozen (or So) Things We Will Never Regret Doing with Our Kids

Like most mothers and fathers, we are acutely aware of our own flaws and shortcomings as parents. Compounding the problem, we are facing the fact that our small children will soon be adolescents and, before we’re ready for it, they’ll be grown and off on their own. So, in light of how precious our children are, and how short our time with them will be, we sat down to write out the things most important for us to do with our children. In other words, the things we will never regret doing with our kids. Here is our list.

9. 5 Ways to Get the Most Out of a Book (Mar 28, 2016)

It’s sad, but true. I had already graduated with a Ph.D. before I really learned to get the most out of a book. It’s not that I hadn’t read many books or hadn’t read them with serious intent. I had been a serial reader since I was a small child. I had studied books in order to prepare for exams, evaluate them for critical reviews, or interact with them in research papers or journal articles.

8. Mr. Trump and Secretary Clinton: An Evangelical Assessment (Nov 1, 2016)

Mr. Trump’s ethnocentric nationalism is the wrong response to globalism and the wrong response to the frustrations of working-class white voters. His demeaning rhetoric towards those who are different from him will further enflame the burning fires of civil unrest. His unawareness of, and lack of interest in, basic policy issues does not engender confidence that he will govern our nation with care…

With a Clinton presidency, we will experience the appointment of Supreme Court justices who view the Constitution as a living document and who, therefore, bypass the people in order to legislate a progressive agenda from the bench. We would experience a continued elevation of “nondiscrimination” rights at the expense of the constitutional right to the free exercise of religion. We would never be able to trust that she is telling our nation the truth, even about matters of grave significance, such as national security….

7. An Open Letter to the Cartoonist Who Mocked Kavanaugh’s Daughter (Oct 4, 2018)

Many of our elected officials are poll-sniffers and tea-leaf readers who are acting on cue because they think We the People want them to behave like idiots and asses. So it’s up to us—everyday Americans—to challenge the dominant ways of speaking and acting in the public square. It’s up to us to demonstrate good will toward the people with whom we disagree.

6. The Top 25 (Or So) Books for a Young Theologian to Own (And Read) (Jun 5, 2016)

If ever in history there were a non-event, this is it: my top 25 (or so) books for a young theologian to own (and read).

5. #BlackLivesMatter (5): Frequently Asked Questions about BLM (Sept 18, 2017)

In spite of generous media coverage, many Americans do not understand the #BlackLivesMatter movement. In addition to basic questions about its core principles and mission, readers ask a number of other questions related to BLM. Here are a few of the questions my readers frequently ask:

4. Immigration: Was A.G. Sessions Right to Quote the Bible in Defense of Family Separation? (Jun 17, 2018)

How we treat the most vulnerable among us reveals what our values really are and what kind of nation we aspire to be. For Americans in general, and for Evangelicals in particular, the opportunity to keep families from being separated is not just something to consider. It is a biblical and moral imperative.

3. 4 Key Ingredients in a Devotional Reading of Scripture (Aug 29, 2016)

When we pray the words of Scripture back to God, “riffing” off of them as we do, we ensure that the Lord’s word is at the center not only of our listening but also of our response. We receive the word as a gracious gift, we ruminate on it and embrace it, and then offer it back to the Lord in thanksgiving. We allow the living Lord to decenter us so that he can regain the center of our lives.

2. 12 Books Every Pastor, Professor, or Student Should Read (about Christianity, Politics, & Public Life) (May 1, 2016)

Here are twelve books I recommend to pastors, professors, and students who wish to be Christian witnesses in politics and public life. I will describe each book and then rank its level of difficulty on a scale of 1-5.

1. Tony Dungy, Nick Foles, and the Emerging Trend of Christian Shaming. (Feb 8, 2018)

Each and every American, from the outspoken Christian to the died-in-the-wool atheist, has a “religion,” whether they use the term or not. Something or somebodysits at the center of all people’s lives, shaping their identities, organizing their lives, and guiding their views of right and wrong. That something or someone functions as the god of that person’s life.