It’s the Biblioblog Top 50 – for the month of May 2009!
The Biblioblog Top 50 ranks each biblical studies blog, or “biblioblog,” by the total traffic or “hits” it receives each month.
For the third time running, the Number One Biblioblogger of the month is…
Jim West
So who’s also hot in biblical studies blogging for the month of May 2009?
- Bryan Lilly (Katagraphais), up 108 places to No. 18
- Roland Boer (Stalin’s Moustache), who bounced back into the Top 50 as a result of a liberal number of posts on sex, up 92 places to No. 28
- Daniel and Tonya (Hebrew and Greek Reader), who were into the Top 10, up 11 places to No. 7
- Neil Godfrey (Vridar), up 46 places to No. 15
- Jim Getz (Ketuvim), on the eve of his Biblical Studies Carnival for May 2009, up 78 places to No. 23
Additions and changes to the Complete List of Biblioblogs:
- This month, we added Phillip Marshall’s new blog (Biblical Languages) to the list, which provides some helpful Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek tips and advice. We also noticed that Karyn Traphagen blogs on Hebrew and gardening at Boulders 2 Bits, McClellan posts on Hebrew and other aNE languages at Maklelan, and Timothy McCormick reviews Catholic Bibles. The blog at Bill Mounce.com was also added to the textual criticism and translation section.
- You might want to have a read of Jane Stranz, who blogs at Of life, laughter and liturgy. . ., specializing in feminist theology.
- In Hebrew Bible / Old Testament blogging, we added our first Romanian blogger, Theophyle, who is currently blogging summaries on just about every topic from the ancient Near East, early Judaism and early Christianity. We also added the blog of Julia O’Brien, Professor at Lancaster Theological Seminary (Pennsylvania), and Jeffrey García’s Helek Tov (previously Me-vaser).
- In New Testament blogging, Ian Millington tries out some mathematical and statistical analysis to understand the New Testament, at his new blog, New Testament Math. We also added Ardel Caneday’s Biblia Theologia, Andy Naselli’s Thoughts on Exegetical, Biblical, Historical, Systematic, and Practical Theology, T.C. Robinson’s New Leaven, Richard Wilson’s Italian Bibbia Blog, Antony Billington’s Billington’s Blog, Jacobo Jovan Payes’s Biblical Faith, and Matthew Barnes’s In the Corner with Matt. In addition, we found Rafael thinking in public at Verily, Verily, Robert Hulme studying the Bible at RobHu Studies the Bible, and Brett Berger trying to read more dead people at Reed Mor Ded Peepl. We see that John Ottens has begun to engage in some Speculative Hermeneutics, which sounds dangerous. And also worth checking out is John Brentlinger, at RevJohn.
- Biblioblogs which have withered and died in recent months include Kevin A. Wilson’s Blue Cord, Pail Randle’s Greek Books, ‘Conn’-versation, UHL’s The View from Jerusalem, Tony Burke’s Apocryphicity, and Gordon Lyn Watley’s Sibylline Leaves. So we have struck them from the list. But who knows, they may be back.
- We have also made a large number of additions this month to the Related Blogs section – blogs which contain some biblical studies material but whose primary focus lies elsewhere (e.g. archaeology, theology, computer software, etc). Check out the very personal reflections offered in The New Heretics, from a blogger who shares how he lost his Christian faith while in Bible College. Or read a religious studies lecturer’s reflections on the Bible, religions, and politics in Missives from Marx. Or enjoy A K M Adam’s Random Thoughts, such as his current series in which he offers advice on exegesis.
And here’s the full list of the Top 50 Biblioblogs for May 2009:
| Rank | Prev. | + / – | Blogger | Blog Name |
| 1 | 1 | – | Jim West | Jim West |
| 2 | 3 | 1 | Joel L. Watts | The Church of Jesus Christ |
| 3 | 2 | -1 | Ben Witherington | Ben Witherington |
| 4 | 4 | – | James McGrath | Exploring Our Matrix |
| 5 | 5 | – | Airton José da Silva | Observatório Bíblico |
| 6 | 7 | 1 | Scott Bailey | Scotteriology |
| 7 | 18 | 11 | Daniel and Tonya | Hebrew and Greek Reader |
| 8 | 9 | 1 | John Hobbins | Ancient Hebrew Poetry |
| 9 | 10 | 1 | Thomas Verenna | The Musings of Thomas Verenna |
| 10 | 23 | 13 | Peter M. Lopez | Beauty of the Bible |
| 11 | 6 | -5 | Michael S. Heiser | The Naked Bible, PaleoBabble, UFO Religions, Scribal Practices, Two Powers in Heaven |
| 12 | 8 | -4 | Mark Goodacre | NT Blog |
| 13 | – | – | Various | Biblioblog Top 50 |
| 14 | 12 | -2 | Dave Black | Dave Black Online |
| 15 | 61 | 46 | Neil Godfrey | Vridar |
| 16 | 21 | 5 | Claude Mariottini | Claude Mariottini |
| 17 | 15 | -2 | Chris Tilling | Chrisendom |
| 18 | 47 | 29 | Jeff Oien | Scripture Zealot |
| 19 | 127 | 108 | Bryan Lilly | ΚΑΤΑΓΡΑΦΑΙΣ / Katagraphais |
| 20 | 13 | -7 | Tommy Wasserman, et al | Evangelical Textual Criticism |
| 21 | 11 | -10 | Nick Norelli | Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth |
| 22 | 16 | -6 | Chris Heard | Higgaion |
| 23 | 101 | 78 | Jim Getz | Ketuvim |
| 24 | 17 | -7 | Chris Brady | Targuman |
| 25 | 53 | 28 | Loren Rosson | The Busybody |
| 26 | 20 | -6 | Phil Harland | Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean |
| 27 | 26 | -1 | Tyler F. Williams | Codex |
| 28 | 120 | 92 | Roland Boer | Stalin’s Moustache |
| 29 | 55 | 26 | John Crawford, et al | Faith-Promoting Rumor |
| 30 | 52 | 22 | Mike Aubrey | ἐν ἐφέσῳ / In Ephesus |
| 31 | 50 | 19 | April DeConick | Forbidden Gospels Blog |
| 32 | 44 | 12 | John Hobbins, et al | Bibbiablog |
| 33 | – | – | Andy Naselli | Thoughts on Exegetical, Biblical, Historical, Systematic, and Practical Theology |
| 34 | 71 | 37 | Duane Smith | Abnormal Interests |
| 35 | 48 | 13 | Ken Brown | C. Orthodoxy |
| 36 | 24 | -12 | ElShaddai Edwards | He Is Sufficient |
| 37 | 39 | 2 | Rick Brannan | Ricoblog |
| 38 | 62 | 24 | James Pate | James’ Thoughts and Musings |
| 39 | 51 | 12 | Mandy and Calvin Park | The Floppy Hat |
| 40 | 75 | 35 | Peter Enns | Peter Enns |
| 41 | 34 | -7 | Jim Davila | PaleoJudaica |
| 42 | 69 | 27 | J. K. Gayle | Aristotle’s Feminist Subject |
| 43 | 56 | 13 | Michael Barber, Brant Pitre | Singing in the Reign |
| 44 | 131 | 87 | David J. Larsen | Heavenly Ascents |
| 45 | 74 | 29 | Alan Lenzi | Bible and Ancient Near East |
| 46 | 60 | 14 | James Tabor | The Jesus Dynasty |
| 47 | 73 | 26 | Andreas Kostenberger | Biblical Foundations |
| 48 | 22 | -26 | Andrew Bernhard | Gospels.net |
| 49 | 32 | -17 | Matt Page | Bible Films Blog |
| 50 | 27 | -23 | Art Boulet | Finitum Non Capax Infiniti |
Some technical info on how the stats are calculated is included here.
The Biblioblog Top 50 
Seven… number of perfection!
Not even with a move can I crack the list. Oh well.
And of course I would like to remind everyone, I have moved to wordpress. The new link is hesedweemet dot wordpress dot com. Do check it out—my article is up!
Gee there’s just so much to say… Take that, McGrath, showed you, Shuck, etc…
;-)
but i’ll resist the temptation to do a happy dance with raised hand at several folk.
Do the dance, Dr. West, and then put it on youtube! As a reminder, I’ll be changing the masthead, er, location maybe? of my blog. http: //thechurchofjesuschris.us
Thanks to all the wonderful folks who do the great work, the long hours, and the tedious dissecting to produce this wonderful list.
Thanks, Polycarp.
Although, assuming you haven’t converted to the worship of Jesus Chris, I think the new URL for your blog should be http://thechurchofjesuschrist.us/. ;-)
So, I’m not perfect after all! My wife will be so pleased.
Looks like I just missed it this month. Man, I had nearly a thousand more visits this month than last, and yet I still went down. Interesting fluctuation.
Patrick – it was much more to do with the ranking of other blogs above yours – the cut-off for the top 50 rose dramatically in May (by about 25%).
Can I be so bold as to ask what number I’m even at, and out of how many. And perhaps the related question–how many inactive blogs are above me? ha!
john you’re number 1 in our hearts, even if you’re number 300000000 on the list….
;-)
Jim, you are so sweet. I can only hope one day to be as cranky, old, and successful as you!
Congrats again, buddy. Keep at it!
cranky and old, yes, successful? nein! if i were that i would be rich!
You judge success far differently than I do, Jim. I deem it a success if I can stop my son from coloring on the furniture or wiping spaghetti-o’s in his hair. Pretty lofty goals for a 27 year old, huh?
i find that if children’s hands or fingers are cut off, it relieves the wall coloring. ;-)
[i’m just kidding!]
So this is what it feels like to be a biblioblogger? (among the big boyS and girl in the Top 50)!
(Thanks for directing us to Julia O’Brian’s blog and for giving that shout out to Jane Stranz).
why does gender matter? or race for that matter? i notice you didn’t say ‘so this is what it’s like to be a white person…’ etc. isn’t the content of what one does more the important (and the only important) thing?
Why is such an important question. So this is what it’s like to be a white person among so many, doing so many important things as if (our) race is invisible. Why is that?
i dont know. i always thought what people thought was more important than what their skin pigment was or what sort of genitals they possessed.
I agree completely Jim–and no, I am not being sarcastic.
Unfortunately, not all are as you two.
John – your new site was at No. 77. There was no way to aggregate rankings with the old blogspot site. Your blog star is on the ascent.
Thanks Tonya and Daniel. (Jim, What do you make of what LaVonne Neff thinks? You may leave a comment over at my blog.)
Wow, 77! Not bad at all, actually. Was my old blogspot site rated, and if so, I would be curious where it was ranked.
I’ve had a great day of visitors today–the “advice to Ph.D. applicants” seems to be a huge hit in terms of readers, and some comments. I’ll try to keep the momentum going!
Shalom!
We didn’t rank the old site. It was ranked slightly ahead for the whole month (even though it stopped during the month) – effectively about 75th place. Watch out next month!
Thanks . . . looks like the move to wordpress made a big impact; within a handful of days I was able to come within two slots of where my old site came for the entire month. Outstanding!
It’s been a good day today!
Shalom!
May raised the bar 25%…?
And yet I move from 52 to 30. Its about time I got back on it. It was a difficult 3 months off!
thanks for the shout out guys – and thanks to JK for championing me. Your individual and combined erudition quite terrifies me but I’m glad you’re all out there and that I can reap the benefits of your learning. Truly the real specialist on all textual matters relating to women is the splendid, feisty, indefatigable and erudite Suzanne Mccarthy.
Keep blogging folks we depend on it.