[The Jargon File](http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/index.html), an online compendium of all things [hacker](http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/hacker.html), defines a [“ping”](http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/P/ping.html) as “a slang term for a small network message sent by a computer to check for the presence and alertness of another.” In this case, as a blogger, I’m using the term erroneously: The pings for the things mentioned below will only happen once they find out that I’m talking about them. Not to mention that theologians are notoriously inactive on the web, so some of these people may never get the notice.
It’s just more fun to say “ping” than “slug.”
Plus I wanted to link the Jargon File.
The first one is truly belated: I found out that one of my coworkers is a blogger… about 2 months ago. Steve Knight has about 3 blogs running, which is proof that he’s absolutely insane. He’s got the [personal blog](http://www.knightopia.com/journal/), he’s got the [Reality Show blog](http://www.realityblogs.com/), and he’s starting up one on [local news](http://gastoncountyspectator.blogspot.com/) in Gastonia, his home town.
Oy! Here at Puretext, on the other hand, we’re in the business of consolidating to increase bandwidth. By employing two bloggers to blog about whatever crosses their minds at any given time, we’ve almost gotten up to an average 1 post per day, attracting a **massive** audience of 35. Steve’s also more cool than me. I can’t prove it, but something tells me he’s way more got his finger on the pulse of cool Christianity. Serge at [Imago Dei](http://www.imago-dei.net/imago_dei/) will be bitter, since I’m promoting Steve to “Friends and Family” without the mandatory purgatory Under Surveillance. Them’s the breaks, Serge.
Second, a few books. Both of these are deserving of a full write-up. In my opinion they’re a must in every thinking Christian’s bookshelf. They’ll really make you think.
* [Gospel & Law, Contrast or Continuum?](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0960263810/qid=1109175006/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-2084870-5286543) by Daniel Fuller.
This book I read to fulfill a requirement for my Theology 501 class. The assignment: pick a subject and read 500 pages. This was about 250 of those pages. Daniel Fuller was (is?) professor of Hermeneutics at Fuller Theological Seminary in California, which was founded by his father, Charles Fuller. Here he does a very thorough critique of the two major hermeneutical systems in Protestant thought (hermeneutics = ways of interpreting). Both draw a sharp distinction between Law and Grace. Covenant theology makes the distinction by making the bible switch gears mid-paragraphbetween the two, often within a single verse. Dispensational theology divides it chronologically, so that nearly the entire old testament is “law” and almost the whole new testament is “grace.” Fuller has problems with both, and when he’s done, you may well too.
* [Dissonant Voices: Religious Pluralism and the question of Truth](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1573830828/qid=1109180537/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/102-2084870-5286543?v=glance&s=books) This book was prep work for my Apologetics paper on Pluralism. Netland is assistant professor of religious studies at Tokyo Christian University. He looks at religious pluralism from the perspective of epistemiology (i.e. how do we *know*), and basically rips the stuff to shreds. A good read for anyone who has questions about pluralism. He goes deep, but it’s still pretty easy on you. I read all 300 pages in about a week.
Both of these book are going on the wishlist. I need to be able to look them up again…
More rich bloggy goodness later…
[Edit: Knightopia is going under “Friends and Family.” “Gaston County Spectator” is going Under Surveilance. Ain’t no way I’m linking to anything to do with Reality TV.]
neumatikos 
It turns out that the late Mike Muuss, the guy who wrote ping in one night, was studying sonar at the time, and he wanted to write a program that was the cyberspace equivalent to sonar.
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