Our Top 20 Blog Posts of 2017

As the year draws to a close, I continue the tradition of giving a run-down of the most viewed blog posts for the year on our site.

This year I’m doing it a little bit differently. I’m first giving the top ten most visited posts that were originally written and published in 2017. Then, because a significant portion of our current blog readership is for posts that were first published before 2017, I’ve given the top ten most viewed posts in 2017 that were published prior to this year—think of them as our Greatest Hits that continue to get air time.

The most visited new blog posts of 2017 follow some familiar themes. The top post (by a large margin) was one of the responses to the Young-Earth Creationist film Is Genesis History. Then, if there is a well-known person involved with a post, it tends to do well. This year these included N.T. Wright, Morgan Freeman, and (of course) Ken Ham. Finally, I was pleased to see our post about the new 2017 Gallup Poll on faith and science made the top ten. We’ll need to see the trend continue, but if it does, this year will be remembered by people who track the demographics of the origins conversation as the year that the tide began to turn (read the post if you don’t know what I’m talking about; it’s a pretty big deal!).

Here are the top ten posts (as measured by unique page views) that were originally written and published in 2017:

1. A Geological Response to the Movie, Is Genesis History? by Gregg Davidson, Joel Duff, and Ken Wolgemuth (Mar 1)
2. If Creation is Through Christ, Evolution is What You’d Expect by N.T. Wright (Apr 25)
3. Evolution and the Historical Fall: What Does Genesis 3 Tell Us about the Origin of Evil? by Richard J. Middleton (Mar 2)
4. Ken Ham’s Alternative History of Creationism by Ted Davis (Feb 22)
5. A Former Young-Earth Creationist Responds to Is Genesis History? by Mike Beidler (Mar 7)
6. Ard Louis and Morgan Freeman talk about Science and God on National Geographic by Mike Beidler (Feb 7)
7. Humans as Imago Dei and the Evolution of Homo Sapiens by J. Richard Middleton (Jan 4)
8. Where are Adam and Eve in the Story of Evolution? Four Possibilities by Loren Haarsma (Jul 10)
9. Believing Scientists Respond: What Questions are You Asked About Your Faith? by multiple authors (Aug 2)
10. New Gallup Poll Shows Significant Gains for BioLogos View by Deborah Haarsma (Mar 24)

Our greatest hits (again in terms of unique page views) are dominated by Peter Enns and Dennis Venema. And you’ll find other posts in this list that testify to the fact that there is great content in our archives that continues to be relevant. Remember, what you find there is intended to be a conversation between multiple viewpoints and perspectives, past and present. If you haven’t browsed through some of that content in awhile, you might try out our revamped search engine.

Here are the top ten posts of 2017 that were originally published prior to 2017:

1. The Firmament of Genesis 1 is Solid but That’s not the Point by Peter Enns (Jan 2010)
2. Genesis 1 and a Babylonian Creation Story by Peter Enns (May 2010)
3. 10 Misconceptions about Evolution by Jim Stump (Sep 2015)
4. Evolution Basics: Artificial Selection and the Origins of the Domestic Dog by Dennis Venema (Apr 2013)
5. Soft Tissue in Dinosaur Bones: What Does the Evidence Really Say? by Scott Buchanan (Oct 2015)
6. Evolution Basics: Endosymbiosis and the Origin of Mitochondria and Chloroplasts by Dennis Venema (Aug 2013)
7. Flood Geology and the Grand Canyon: What Does the Evidence Really Say? by Stephen Moshier, Gregg Davidson, Joel Duff, and Tim Heible (Jun 2016)
8. Evolution Basics: Species Trees, Gene Trees, and Incomplete Lineage Sorting by Dennis Venema (Jul 2013)
9. Six Reasons Young Christians Leave the Church by the Barna Group (Sept 2011)
10. The Relationship between Science and Religion according to Laudato Si by Nicanor Austriaco (Jun 2015)

Because so much of our work at BioLogos is on the internet, it is sometimes easy to forget that there are real people out there (not just metrics on an analytics page). As we turn the calendar on 2017 and hit the reset button on those analytics, please know that we are extremely grateful for you—the real people of our audience. Whether you agree with our position or not, we’re so thankful to be engaged in this meaningful dialogue with you. We think 2018 will be our best year yet—we’ve got a ton of cool new stuff in the works. See you then.