Today I'm excited to be hosting a short interview with the guy who runs one of the most useful little websites (or, rather, families of websites) on the web. Rob is the webmaster/scanner/editor/promoter/everything for the 'Theology on the Web' set of websites, which cover a huge range of content, all of it freely available online. Ahead of a blog post roundup of some of my favourite accessible theology websites, I wanted to ask Rob a few questions, and direct you to his excellent websites(s)
Anyway, over to Rob! [apart from my questions...]
Anyway, over to Rob! [apart from my questions...]
Thanks for the opportunity to share a little about Theology on the Web.
Q. What is Theology on the Web?
A. Theology on the Web is the ministry name for a network of websites that provide free resources for students of theology around the globe. They are:
Material is divided by subject between these sites as no one site could cover everything.
Q. What is the vision behind Theology on the Web?
A. I believe that one of the greatest needs of the church in the Two Thirds World is in the area of training leaders. One of the essential components of that training process requires access to good quality theological books and articles. My vision in setting up TOW was to provide as much access as possible, free of charge to anyone who wants it, anywhere in the world.
Q. What prompted you to start this amazing ministry?
A. In the UK Christians have so many resources available to them. With relatively little effort almost any student or pastor can get access to virtually every theological article ever published. This is not the case in the majority of the countries in the Two Thirds World, where books and articles of any kind are often expensive or impossible to access except via the Web. Even on the internet, theological articles are usually only accessible by subscription or via Universities and Colleges. An ordinary pastor or Bible teacher outside of the tertiary education system (which is often State controlled) would rarely be able to afford the subscription price themselves.
With this in mind I began setting up the websites in 2001. Initially I wanted to provide a gateway to theological studies by producing basic bibliographies for a huge range of subjects. These have gone on to provide a framework on which to hang links to online material, either on my sites or other people's. Some of this is public domain material but the majority is still in copyright and appears there because the copyright holders believe that it is only of value if it being used to equip the Church.
How many resources can we find on Theology on the Web?
In addition to the bibliographies, the sites currently host over 19,000 theological books and articles and links to many others hosted on other websites. I have never counted the number of third party links, but it must run to many thousands. I am told that Theology on the Web now provides the largest source of free theological articles available on the Web.
Q. Can you tell us about the Journals you carry?
A. I list here [http://theologyontheweb.org.uk/journals.html] over 70 theological journals. At the very least, for each journal you will find a full listing of articles (which is often unavailable elsewhere). More often these tables of contents link to the full-text of the article, which is either hosted by myself or on third party sites. The content of the journals represent a wide range of theological views. I want students to have the opportunity to read material for themselves and come to their own conclusion as to which views they accept, just as students would do when studying in a conventional college library.
I was particularly encouraged when the editorial team of the Caribbean Journal of Evangelical Theology [http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/articles_caribbean-journal-theology_01.php], which had ceased production, realised they could re-launch their journal for free, hosted on biblicalstudies.org.uk. In this way the site is not only making the past material available, but also enabling the production of new articles.
Q. What can we look out for over the next few months?
A. I currently have enough material in hand to keep me busy scanning for some time. I recently received copies of Palestine Exploration Quarterly and the Journal of Theological Studies, both of which contain a large number of articles now in the Public Domain. Digitisation of Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology is in the final stages of production and is due for release in January. Beyond this I am in various stages of negotiation with several other journal editors who are considering making their material available through my websites. I have plans for more websites too, including a large one on Christian Missions, but these are on hold because of time limitations.
I am working closely with Tyndale House's STEP Bible [stepbible.org] and over the next year my article databases will be integrated into the STEP software to allow Bible students to cross-reference the Bible text with relevant secondary material (theological articles) online. This is a very exciting development and it is wonderful to be able to assist with such a significant resource (see further [http://theologyontheweb.org.uk/step.html].
Q. How can we support your ministry?
A. My overwhelming desire is to work on the websites full time. There is so much that could be done and so little time in which to do it! I currently have a full-time job working for a Christian Charity and a growing family (with 3 boys under 12). This means that I can now only spend about 10 hours each week working on the websites - or risk burn-out. Given my target audience, I am committed to not charging for the material on the websites. However, raising financial support for the ministry has proved difficult. Third party advertising is often distracting and inappropriate.
Commission from affiliate programs seems to be falling month on month. With this in mind I have produced a vision statement [http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/intro-to-theology-on-the-web.pdf] which I hope will help me find a base of regular support among like-minded people that will enable me to make Theology on the Web my full-time job. I fully understand that everyone's budget is stretched, so have tried to put together a range of other support options, many of which do not involve sending money directly [http://theologyontheweb.org.uk/support.html]. For instance, just clicking through one of the sites' affiliate links (Amazon, Logos etc) will go a long way to help.
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So there we go! I hope this brief interview will have whet your appetite to go and check out this fantastic set of resources - it is a goldmine for the theologically-interested individual! I hope, too, that some of you might consider supporting Rob and his ministry, via giving, prayer, and sharing links. It is a fantastic and valuable ministry, and I'm really grateful to Rob for taking the time to answer a few questions. Just £2.50 a month would go a long way to helping Rob realise his vision of doing this full time, with the amazing knock-on effect for students of theology, and church leaders in developing countries. Would you join me in supporting Rob and Theology on the Web?
Rob's work on these various websites is fantastic and very much appreciated. It's good to be able to point students to a reliable source of materials, freely available, on the web.
ReplyDeleteHi svedek - indeed and amen! Thanks for commenting.
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