Anna Blanch has done a survey of the top 100 biblioblogs according to ChristianColleges.com. This is what she said about Euangelion:
Euangelion: Joel Willits, Assistant Professor in Biblical and Theological Studies at North Park University in Chicago, and Michael Bird, an Australian scholar and lecturer in New Testament at the Highland Theological College in Dingwall, Scotland, are the authors of this blog which is self labelled as a "post post-modern" blog which discusses "New Testament studies, Christian Origins, Theological Exegesis, and following Jesus." A scholarly theological blog which explores a wide range of issues, commentaries, recent book releases and posts in line with their stated telos. My biggest criticism is a painful design which is aesthetically very difficult to read - actually stopped from reading more!
Making the Grade:
Scope - B
Quality - B
Theological Leanings - Protestant (Anglican ?)
(1) Is the black background really that bad? Luke Skywalker wears black! (2) Why are we suddenly Anglican?
I like the design. However, some people find inverted colors difficult to read. Better, therefore, to use dark letters on a light background...
ReplyDeleteWell I guess I will never have to worry about her critiquing my blog ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat is wrong with being Anglican...?
ReplyDelete(lol) .... I quite like the design of your blog.
Funny, in Tajeckistan where my live your bog is lolly pink with hot pink writings. Is this a jokey?
ReplyDeleteEmomali Rahmon
I'm not fond of the light on black so I usually read this in my blog aggregator unless I'm interested in the comments. Maybe there's nothing wrong with being Anglican, but she's not sure that this is what you are?
ReplyDeleteI thought you were Presbyterian, but I haven't been following that long.
ReplyDeleteThe site design is beautiful, but you might want to put light panels behind the text and use a dark font there.
I'm not fond of black backgrounds and white text, but I enjoy your blog. I'm Roman Catholic and always find your blog stimulating and interesting. It never occurred to me you were anything but serious bible scholars. If not Anglican, what are you? I suspect Evangelical, but heck, I really don't care so long as you keep this blog rolling along.
ReplyDeleteHa Ha Ha! I'm loving the fact that my friend is being considered as having succumb to the Dark Side!
ReplyDeleteYou may think you're Luke "I'm a Baptist" Skywalker but you've really become Darth "I'm an Anglican" Vader!
Give over to your leanings and join us!
I'm sure we can find you a place in the monolithic mass that is the Death Star but also goes by the name of Moore Theological College.
Congratulations on having an excellent blog.
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ReplyDeleteMike Bird is a Reformed Baptist.
ReplyDeleteThe design is that bad. However, I read your blog on a RSS reader. You might want to think about having a custom blog make. You can see ours at www.bringthebooks.org.
Maybe she got you confused with Michael A. Bird, the infamous bishop! It took me awhile to figure out that he wasn't your alter ego! : )
ReplyDeleteSince this is the only Biblical Studies blog I am occasionally reading, I don't have much to compare it with. I used to follow Evangelical Textual Criticism, which is a fine effort with some first class scholars. The only criticism I could level would be an obsessive preoccupation with secondary literature, but that is virtually a built in feature of modern, post mod and post post modern scholarship in general so it is hardly worth mentioning.
ReplyDeleteThe overall design is great but the black background is pretty bad. I finally started reading the blog in my Mail program on my Mac
ReplyDeleteHi Michael and Joel,
ReplyDeleteExcuse the assumption on the theological leanings. Your blog was one of the earliest i reviewed before i realised I really shouldn't be assuming i could figure it out unless the blog author explicitly told me somewhere on the blog. Please leave me a comment and I'll make the change on the review. I didn't mean to misrepresent you. So is Baptist correct?
You have a good quality blog - I'd hate to see a design feature (ie: color palette) mean that you don't get the readership you would otherwise. But i think your other commenters have made it clear that it isn't just my opinion...
Have a great day, and keep up the great work!
A.
I'm thankful for your blog - it has really been helpful to me. Regarding the design, I have to admit that before adding it to a feed I used to highlight the text so that the colors were inverted (and thus easier to read).
ReplyDeleteHey – thanks for the link to those reviews, Mike. And I rather agree on the colour scheme critique.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I can't resist saying I got a B+ on quality!
Been reading your blog for a couple of months now Mike and I find it really stimulating - so thanks for your work.
ReplyDeleteBut I have to agree - white on black is not a good mix if you actually want people to read more than a couple of lines