The launch of the new Matthias Media blog The Sola Panel (how green is that!) seems as good a time as any to revisit the question we occasionally ask around here as to whether people have favourite blogs or websites that they like to visit (not necessarily Christian).

One that I keep coming back to is the Arts and Letters Daily, recommended by one of the forum contributors here ages and ages ago, I’m sorry, I can’t remember who now.

Tony Payne told me he likes to read slate.com, which I like but generally when I look at it I for some reason think, “Why am I reading this on a laptop? I think I’ll just go and read The New Yorker in a paper magazine, out in the sunshine.

The Atlantic Monthly is great too, but again, I prefer the paper version.

Everyone knows Craig’s blog, but also worthwhile is…

well, you can say...! Feel free to mention your own blog.

Oh, and here’s mine!

Just checked out the “Sola Panel”. Great initiative guys, well done - make sure you post daily like you’ve said!

Language Log For the inner linguist in everyone.
Better Bibles Blog Yes, apparently they could exist.
Things of Interest Some great fiction in progress
Subtraction Yay Khoi
Lingamish A former bible translator and a happy hippo
A Brief Message 200 words or less about design
William Gibson
The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web Always useful

Dear sola-ists,
can you put your most recent post at the top of the page? I guess you might be keeping your intro as a sticky for now.

Craig Schwarze - 30 April 2008 02:23 PM

Just checked out the “Sola Panel”. Great initiative guys, well done - make sure you post daily like you’ve said!

Thanks Craig, we are very much committed to the daily update.

I thought Lionel Windsor’s first post on the power of prayer was a corker, and comes at the topic with an unpredictable twist.

John, the inner workings of the website elude me. After all, I only work there.  ;-)

However, Karen would love to get feedback on briefingATmatthiasmedia.com.au (with an @ for the AT).

Speaking of Lionel Windsor, his blog is well worth a look too, and not just for his surgical precision in taking apart the views of not-quite-evangelicals like NT Wright.

Hi,
I pray that the Sola Panel blog will do well,
but it seems to me this comment in Tony Payne’s introduction:

But the Sola Panel won’t have a particular party line

is straining credibility for an Internet audience and would be better said differently.
Grace & peace,
Terry

Albert Mohler always worthwhile
Spengler out of left field
Christian Cadre like these guys - check out their atheism thread
City Journal good place to hunt down Theodore Dalrymple
Barney Zwartz for a bit of action, if you’re up to it
Australian Christian Lobby
Benny Peiser for articles, and other stuff on climate change that highlight the difficulties in the science and proposed responses

here’s 3 that haven’t been mentioned yet.

1) of first importance - great little nuggets
2) twenty-two words - Abraham Piper - short and insightful
3) dave miers dot com - currently in the top 600,000 blogs on technorati (and climbing)

peaceout

There didn’t used to be so many women blogging from a Reformed evangelical perspective, at least in Australia, but I regularly read and benefit from Nicole’s and Jean’s. Nicole’s in Sydney, Jean’s in Melbourne.

http://www.challies.com/

Pipers stuff

the blogging parson

justin in NYC

if you are really bored

I think it’s always good to read things that may take us out of our comfort zone, and challenge us to think about why we believe what we believe .I like to look at:

http://ducknoodlegang.blogspot.com/

www.shipoffools.com

and found this site off here, ironically enough but some of the thoughts are worth considering

http://notthesoutherncross.blogspot.com/

Trevor Cairney’s CASE blogspot is far more orthodox but is thought provoking for all the right reasons.

http://andjustincase.blogspot.com/2008/04/business-of-world-poverty.html

Just had a look at “Not the Southern Cross”. What a bin full of trash. They can print that as an endorsement if they like…

Dieoff.com – not so much a blog but a major opinion piece on why the human population might just die back to 1 billion. Not my opinion, but theirs, and quite academic.
http://worldchanging.com/
Worldchanging admits the problems but believes there are attractive solutions. I read them to stay sane.

Byron Smith — thought provoking theological discourses on eschatology, Western thought, individualism, community, politics, and many environmental matters (such as Global Warming and peak oil), from a Sydney Anglican ministry perspective.

Neil Cameron – One Salient Oversight. Because he’s Neil, and Neil is my friend, and was best man at my wedding, and he has opinions, and if you disagree with him you are wrong. ;-)

http://www.energybulletin.net/news.php
Energy Bulletin is one of the best news round ups of energy studies, energy claims, environmental matters, solutions, collapse narratives (not my favourite, they kind of freak you out after a while), and other extremely “deep green” stuff. I’ll check there a few times a week. You can click on a number of tags on the side to see the latest news on practically any energy news you want. New solar thing? Check solar, wind, ethanol, whatever.

Oh, and I check Craig S now and then because I have to explain it all to him. ;-)

Oh, and Sydney Anglicans is my favourite Christian site for stuff.

I really like Byron’s blog and I would hate to see it typecast as a Peak oil or what have you blog.

He does far more than this. It is very very stimulating theological thinking.

Point taken — I’ve edited my post to do Byron’s blog more justice.

Again, I do not endorse the doomsday material on some of the blogs I mentioned above — but see them as scenarios to be avoided, yet can only be avoided if a broader societal discussion begins immediately.  I’m sure Byron understood the dangers of the fuel V food situation years before it actually occurred and hit the headlines as it has over the last few months. 

BTW Micheal — I should put your blog up as one of my top 5 Christian blogs.

EG: I was quite encouraged by the article on approaching teenagers sensitively with a gospel of hope, and thought you made some excellent points on the gospel Jesus presented to those who already pretty much ‘knew’ they were sinners needing rescue (as opposed to the gospel Jesus presented to the Pharisees who ‘knew’ they were OK!)

Also, your blog attracts another level of discussion which I sometimes find educating, and other times has me running back to the safety of stuff written for us lay people!

My favourite blog is http://triablogue.blogspot.com

I often enjoy Pyromaniacs and I see that in the 5th June post, they even quoted young Craig Schwarze.