Blogiversary Writing Project

Dr. Platypus officially opened for business (after a nasty bout of server problems) on August 28, 2006. To celebrate, I’m offering my readers the chance to win their choice of any of the new releases from Smyth & Helwys Publishing. This includes any of the titles featured in the main (left-hand) column of the page linked above.

Here’s how to enter: August 28 is the feast day of St. Augustine of Hippo. It also marks the likely death date of John Smyth, who, along with Thomas Helwys, founded the Baptist movement in the early seventeenth century. I’m inviting anyone who likes to write a blog post about either Augustine or Smyth and Helwys. It need not be deep and scholarly, although there ought to be plenty of exegesis, theology, and other issues to tackle for anyone who is so inclined. Poetry, humor, and whatnot are certainly allowed.

Write your posts and either leave a link in the comments to this post or send me an email (darrell [at] pursiful [dot] com). I’ll compile all the posts here and an impartial judge will determine the winner. (Actually, the “impartial judge” will probably be my six-year old, who will pick somebody’s name out of a hat.) I’ll announce the results on August 28.

Thanks to all of you for hanging around this past year. It has been fun!

And the entrants are…

• Saint Augustine’s View of Scripture by Adam Stewart
• You Go, Gus by Mike Aquilina
• John Smyth (1554-1612): Puritan, Separatist, Baptist, Mennonite by Michael Westmoreland-White
• Ode to Saint Augustine by Singing Owl

Although he prefers not to enter the drawing, I’ll also point you to:

• New Perspective 5 by Scot McKnight

Unfortunately, I didn’t receive permission to enter the following until after the drawing:

• Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church by Orycteropus Afer