stillhaventfound.org

The year’s come to an end. I’ve been blogging for 7 months. I try as much as possible to write my own thoughts in my blog entries. However, if I don’t have time decide not to make time, I do at least have a weekly list of links to articles and writings that interest me. Quite regularly too I post quotes that resonate in one way or another with my thinking. However, for those who’d like to read more of my own writings and thoughts, you can always click on my Thoughts & Life section, which contains about 10 years of my writings. For now, I’ll leave you with my top 10 favorite blogs of 2006:

Cross-disciplinary:

• Political Theory Daily Review - Though not really a blog, this is easily my most visited site in 2006. Incredible amounts of excellent links updated daily that deal with Politics, Economics, Development, Philosophy, etc.

• SciAm Observations - Opinions, arguments and analyses from the editors of Scientific American

• Crooked Timber - Great posts about everything interesting (to me, at least!).

International Development:

• Pienso - Probably the best blog on International Development around. This person also shares an interest in Spanish and Latin America. Whoever you are, keep up the excellent work!

• Private Sector Development Blog - This World Bank blog is up there with Pienso. A great source of information on development issues.

Economics:

• Marginal Revolution - About economics and everything else. Probably the most popular economics blog.

Anthropology:

• Savage Minds - Dedicated to bringing Anthropology to a wider audience. Anthropology fascinates me.

Christianity:

• Jesus Creed - This is one of the most thought-provoking Christian blogs. The blogger, Scot McKnight, is a writer and theologian very sympathetic to the Emerging Church movement.

• SmartChristian.com - A blog of daily links for the intelligent Christian.

Media:

• Houtlust - An amazing source of advertisements and campaigns related to social activism.

Q: Could you comment on how postmodernity has affected how we do missions or our view of missions?

A: The world of spirits is not traditionally thought of as an area of scientific investigation. In the Western world, that’s part of why it’s de-emphasized—if it can’t be measured, then it must not be happening. Well, postmodernism is really a movement that says there is an element of reality that is not entirely susceptible to modern methods. Modernism is arrogant. Modernity or scientific rationalism is too arrogant in essentially making a case that what’s real is what is explore-able in a lab or by means of scientific investigation. What is not investigate-able or study-able by those means either doesn’t exist or is relatively unimportant, or else you can’t make any decisions about it.

There’s obviously a huge variety of postmodernists, from those who would be willing to say nothing is possible to know, over to people who are just more ambiguous about knowledge, willing to use fuzzy logic. I think that’s where Christians are being affected. Not necessarily negatively by the postmodern spirit that’s in the air. They are more open to that which is mystical, and they accept the fact more readily that the way that God works is somewhat incomprehensible. It’s not as predictable as you think.

Therefore, Western methodologies have been criticized. We mention in the book that people are accusing the West of “managerial missiology.” There have been others who have accused us of having a militaristic strategy because we use militaristic terms—logistics, strategy, tactics. That’s an extension, to me, of our Western, rationalistic approach, because it looks so nice and cut and dried.

Yet I think for a postmodern person, such terms makes them feel uncomfortable when it comes to spiritual issues. I don’t think it’s that cut and dried. I think we’re operating at a different level of dynamics.

(Michael Pocock, The Gospel for All People)

International Development:

1) Daniel Altman’s Managing Globalization blog’s Q & A session with the pro-globalization trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati.

2) The Reality of Aid Reports analyze, comment and advocate key messages relating to the performance of aid donors from a unique perspective of civil society in both donor and recipient developing countries. Check out The Reality of Aid Reports 2006 here.

3) Can you really change the world just by buying certain foods?

4) The “Next Big Thing” for Global Business.

5) The Dark Side of Development Aid.

Politics & Economics:

6) American foreign policy will never be wholly realist or idealist - and that’s a good thing.

7) What we learn when we learn economics.

Progressive Christianity:

8) Books & Culture on Christian materialism.

Others:

9) TIME magazine’s best photos of 2006.

10) The 10 most bizarre people on earth.

International Development:

1) The richest two percent own half the world’s wealth.

2) Mohammad Yunus’ Nobel Peace Prize Lecture.

3) Can you really change the world just by buying certain foods?

4) Seven brilliant practical inventions for better living.

5) The downside of ’cause celebs’.

Politics & Economics:

6) Hernando de Soto on Is Economic Freedom for Everyone?

7) Bill McKibben on Is Corporate Do-Goodery for Real?

Progressive Christianity:

8) How Christianity shouldn’t be practiced.

Others:

9) The changing face of philantrophy.

10) Keeping money in mind makes people less helpful.

International Development:

1) My favorite soccer team’s most difficult challenge.

2) Microcredit is booming in India, but the loans don’t often pull people out of poverty.

3) Chinese sweatshops are getting better at concealing abuses.

Politics & Economics:

4) Charity’s Political Divide: Do Republications or Democrats give more to Charity?

5) The economics of altruism.

Progressive Christianity:

6) Mercy Ministries: Two Perspectives.

7) Liberal and Christian?

8) Kember: I will not testify against my kidnappers at trial.

Others:

9) Best Blogs of 2006 that you (maybe) aren’t reading.

10) The 10 most viewed Youtube videos of all time.

The compassion of Christ has somehow been tagged as liberal. It’s not about being liberal or conservative. It’s about following Christ and trying to live the kind of life that he lived. (Joel Hunter)

International Development:

1) William Easterly vs. Steven Radelet on the effectiveness of foreign aid.

2) Stanford Social Innovation Review on how successful development programs start with real buyers who are willing to buy real products.

3) Ludwig von Mises Institute on the myth of the Grameen Bank.

4) How marketing can reduce worldwide poverty.

5) Three things you don’t know about AIDS in Africa.

Politics & Economics:

6) State vs. Market: forever a struggle?

Progressive Christianity:

7) The Obama-Warren Controversy.

8) Catholic Social Thought vs. Neo-liberalism.

Others:

9) Multiculturalism in Canada.

10) An interview with the most widely read philosopher alive.