February (Web-only) 2004

ARTICLE TOOLS

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Revenge of the bloggers
Several Christian bloggers took issue with the initial entry of Weblog in Print, Christianity Today's effort to put the spirit of blogging on paper. No big surprise there: as the column noted, the blogging community likes nothing more than critiquing articles about blogging. The main critique of the column was that it didn't mention this or that blog.

Let's try to remedy that by recommending a few Christian weblogs that are just getting started. Get in on the ground floor; say you were there when it all began; be a charter subscriber. The first, The Paris Project, includes a heaping dose of cat entries, but those uninterested in feline exploits will keep coming back for the writer: Jenell Williams Paris, associate professor of anthropology at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, author of the books Urban Disciples and Birth Control for Christians, and author of two Christianity Today articles. As one might expect from her past writings, a number of Paris's postings are on sex. "I'm looking for a way of life, a quality of dialogue, and an intimacy of relationship in the church that can help us live together with sexuality as an acknowledged part of our lives," she wrote in one post.

I also think that we won't all agree—we can't just start an educational campaign to tell everyone what's what. We need a strong grounding in orthodoxy and a strong engagement with community … and then we need to just live with each other, honestly talking and respectfully disagreeing, and being part of each other's decision-making, even in the most intimate parts of life. And when people make sexual choices that have bad consequences, we need to share our own similar stories and remind ourselves that God's grace is sufficient ...