Introducing: The Topics Section

Please note the views expressed here are those of the author, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation. You can read more about what we believe here.

Today's entry was written by Stephen Mapes. Stephen Mapes is a web developer and editorial coordinator for The BioLogos Foundation and Science & the Sacred.

As the curator of sorts for Science & the Sacred, it’s been amazing to watch the growth our blog has seen over the past year and a half. What began on BeliefNet as a modest collection of short daily reflections alongside featured weekly essays by our three BioLogos leaders has expanded into a collection of almost 500 pieces written by 73 different authors, ranging from pastors to theologians to scientists to laypeople. Our community has grown in similar leaps and bounds, with thousands now visiting our blog each week, some simply to read, others to engage in fruitful dialogue with fellow believers (as well as non-believers) about the nature of science and faith.

But with all of these exciting developments and our ever growing number of posts, it can be a daunting task for readers to find essays on the exact topics they’re looking for. Until now, the only option was to search for certain words and topics and hope the results were relevant, or to click through the “Related Posts” on the side of each entry. However, since these essays are potentially a great resource for the Church during the ongoing dialogue about science and faith, our task is to make related topics easy to find and readily accessible.

We at BioLogos have been aware of the need for our readers to be able to access the treasure trove of older essays that address the subjects they’re most interested in learning about. With that in mind, we’re excited to offer our new “Topics” section, a new way for visitors to find blogs on the topics and questions they want to read about.

The section breaks down our blog content into nine major categories and twenty-six subcategories to allow readers to jump to the blogs that interest them. Curious to see all the essays addressing the question of Adam’s historicity? Jump to the “Adam” section under our “Theology” header. Want to see our posts about “Intelligent Design” or “Young Earth Creationism”? Pieces addressing these viewpoints, and more, can be found under our “Perspectives on Origins” header.

While the search bar will continue to be useful for those looking for specific posts by title, the new “Topics” section allows our readers to explore the more general questions and subjects that form the basis of Science & the Sacred, questions of science, theology, Scripture, Christianity, and education, as well as pieces focused on praise and worship.

For now, the section will be a work in progress, as we get a sense for what other topics our readers are most interested in, and we would very much appreciate your constructive feedback as we move forward with the project. But for now, we hope that the new “Topics” section will allow our blog to function not just as a daily magazine for those interested in the more general topic of science and faith but as a compendium of diverse and insightful essays to help those exploring, seeking, or wondering about the harmony of science and faith.

A special thank you goes out to Chris Evans, Kelsey Luoma and Quinn Yost, three undergraduate students from Point Loma University in San Diego, Calif., who dedicated several weeks of their summer vacation to reading through and organizing the hundreds of posts on Science & the Sacred. Without their hard work and dedication, this resource could never have been completed.

The Topics section is now featured prominently on the Home Page and under the “Explore Our Blog” section of the sidebar, so please direct others to this location as a great way to enter into the science-faith dialog that we hope will continue to engage the church in the days -- and years -- to come.