A Few Year in Review type things
I was surprised, but gratified, to hear that the episode of the podcast “Crackers and Grape Juice” that featured me and Will Willimon was their most listened to of the year. A quarter million downloads.
In case you missed it, here’s a link to the episode. It had two titles. One was “Good News in Exile,” the title of a book I did with Will and Martin Copenhaver some time ago. The other title was “Grumpy Old Men.” I preferred the latter.
The tag line or brand of “Crackers and Grape Juice,” is “Talking About Faith Without Stained Glass Language.” Quite apart from the several episodes I was on this year, I recommend it. Lots of great interviews with interesting folks. I would describe the orientation as “Evangelical Liberal.”
Here at “What’s Tony Thinking?” the most downloaded post was “Empty Pews: An American Public Health Crisis.” The idea there was that there is a strong correlation between overall health and being active in a religious congregation. The second most read of my blogs was “Walking on Thin Ice,” where I took on the topic of abortion. That one got both strong affirmations and strong dissents, a good sign.
For the curious, this site has just shy of 800 regular subscribers. Readership in a average month is a bit over 5,000. In the course of this year the “open rate” has gone up from 36% to 46%. Thanks so much.
I like to write. I call it, borrowing from Ivan Doig, “thinking with my fingertips.” I write to find out what I think. Many of you, apparently, like to read or at least indulge me. So it’s a great partnership. Thank you!
Of course, blogging is, I’m told, a bit passe. Podcasts are all the thing now a days. Oh well. “Keeping up” — one of our culture’s great imperatives — is hard to do and, i.m.h.o., over-rated. But thanks for keeping up with me here. I appreciate it. And I very much appreciate the notes of encouragement as well as occasional correction that I receive from many of you.