2014, especially the latter half of it, has been a fairly quiet year here on this blog. However, I thought that I would engage in the rather self-indulgent annual activity of a retrospective nonetheless.
Most Visited New Posts of 2014
1. The Loss of Pastoral Credibility in the Age of the Internet
2. Rescuing Christian Masculinity
3. Why a Masculine Priesthood is Essential
4. Chris Seitz on the Biblical Crisis in the Homosexuality Debates
5. Hear Me Out: On Sitting Through Sermons
Most Visited Old Posts of 2014
1. Rob Bell and Don Draper: The Ad Man’s Gospel
2. The Same-Sex Marriage Debate: Questions and Answers (also here)
3. On Triggering and the Triggered, Part 4
4. Summary of Edwin Friedman’s ‘A Failure of Nerve’: Part 1
5. The Cup of the Adulteress: Understanding the Jealousy Ritual of Numbers 5
My most visited posts of a given year are seldom my favourites. They are more likely the ones that provoked the most conversation and controversy. The following are five of my favourite posts from 2014.
Five of my Favourites from 2014
Some Rough and Unordered Thoughts on Church Leadership
Why We Shouldn’t Trust Our Stories
The Prophet Oded and the Good Samaritan
Some Remarks on the Future of Protestantism Conversation
Death Before the Fall
During 2014, I also took part in a study of the books of Luke and John, upon which I blogged at considerable length. My posts on this study didn’t receive a great deal of attention, but I greatly enjoyed writing them.
The Mere Fidelity podcasts began in 2014. Even when I haven’t had time for my own blogging, I have thoroughly enjoyed my podcast conversations with Derek, Matt, and Andrew. We are now 24 episodes in and, Lord-willing, should be continuing for some time to come.
In addition to posting on my own blog, I have also posted seventeen guest posts (my full list of guest posts can be seen here). Some of my favourites are:
Five of my Favourite Guest Posts
Lent, Individualism, and Christian Piety: An E-mail Conversation
Five Principles of the New Sexual Morality
Evangelicalism’s Poor Form
The Politics of Hospitality—Matthew 25:31-46
The Politics of the Empty Tomb—John 20:1-18
Alastair's Adversaria 
I started following your blog this year, having previously been an occasional visitor. I’ve enjoyed, and benefited from, your writing. Death Before the Fall and Why We Shouldn’t Trust Our Stories were two of my favourites.
Having found The Ad Man’s Gospel post fascinating not just for its discussion of Rob Bell but it’s relevance to a parallel approach that I think was taken up by Mark Driscoll I made a point of linking to it a few times.
My husband discovered your blog this past year after reading your charitable, patient, insightful, truth-filled comments on a controversial blog explosion somewhere on the web. We so appreciate the graciousness of your interactions and your thoughtful, biblical positions on many topics. We’ve both been following your blog since then and personally, I don’t think you waste a single word on even your longest posts. 😉 I wanted especially to mention that I appreciated your Luke2Acts posts – I shared them with our teens and they also were fascinated by some of the connections you uncovered in the text and it gave them (and me, really) a new excitement about our Bible studies in general. “I wonder if Alastair has written about this…” is a fairly common comment in our house. We’re praying that you have a long and fruitful career graciously and persuasively proclaiming Truth. By that, I mean that we literally pray for you! Blessings.
Thank you for the kind and encouraging words, Sara! I thoroughly enjoyed the Luke2Acts studies. It is in such biblical study that I feel most in my element. I’ll have to arrange another similar project at some point this year!
We’d really enjoy that! I especially like the compilations that were posted here. We’ve come back here a few times to read ‘Alastair’s Commentary on Luke and John.’ 🙂