Top 15 Downloads in January

I haven't been able to blog much recently because I am working on a major digitisation project and can't publish any details about it yet. However, I thought that readers might be interested in seeing what site viisitors to www.biblicalstudies.org.uk were most interested in reading last month

1) Figures of Speech (Rob Bradshaw)
2) Alpha and Omega (James M. Boice)
3) Applying the Old Testament Law Today (J. Daniel Hays)
4) The Purposes Behind Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians (Rob Bradshaw)
5) The Ancient Near Eastern Treatises and the Old Testament (J.A. Thompson)
6) Elijah (Rob Bradshaw)
7) The Cross of Christ (Rob Bradshaw)
8) The History of New Testament Study (F.F. Bruce)
9) The Trinitarian Ontology of John Zizioulas (John G.F. Wilks)
10) Sir William M. Ramsay:(W. Ward Gasque)
11) Pentatechal Criticism and Interpretation (Kenneth A. Kitchen)
12) Abraham (Rob Bradshaw)
13) From Babylon to Bethlehem (H.L. Ellison)
14) The Meaning and Significance of the Phrase "Kingdom of God" (Rob Bradshaw)
15) Theology and Culture in Canonical Historical Dialogue (D. Vincent Palmer)

There were 2,860 downloads of No.1 on the list decreasing down to 678 of No. 15. While I delighted to see so many of my own articles in the list I need to caution students that these articles are not from peer-reviewed journals - so be very careful if you are citing them for class! 

Myriam Klinker-De Klerck on the Pastoral Epistles: authentic Pauline writings

The following article is now available in PDF thanks to the kind permission of the author:


Myriam Klinker-De Klerck, "The Pastoral Epistles: authentic Pauline writings," European Journal of Theology 17.2 (2008): 101-108.

Visit the latest additions page for the link.

P.H.R. van Houwelingen on the Authenticity of 2 Peter: Problems and Possible Solutions

Professor Houwelingen recently contacted me and asked me to place the following article on-line on his behalf:

P.H.R. van Houwelingen, "The Authenticity of 2 Peter: Problems and Possible Solutions," European Journal of Theology 19.2 (2010): 119-129.

Visit the latest additions page for the link.

Theology on the Web Year End Round-Up 2011

2011 has been a busy year that has seen a number of milestone developments in the websites.

For many years I have worked on The Evangelical Quarterly in a piecemeal manner, adding a few articles at a time as originals became available to scan. This year I decided to make concerted effort to digitise at least the last 60 years and to contact the authors for permission to place them on-line. There are still a few gaps as a small number of authors declined permission and some did not respond but nevertheless a substantial proportion of the back-issues are now freely available. An unexpected bonus from the process of contacting authors was an introduction to a new journal - Scottish Reformation Society Historical Journal. I contacted the editor and now have a number of its articles on-line.

The digitisation of the Indian Journal of Theology is now complete as far as I can take it, the remaining issues being unavailable for scanning at this point in time. If anyone can help to fill the gaps, please let me know.

One project which proved extremely popular was the digitisation of the works of the late H.L. Ellison, thanks to the kind permission of The Paternoster Press. Ellison wrote a number of studies on OT history and prophecy, such as From Babylon to Bethlehem. The People of God from the Exile to the Messiah which have all received a significant number of downloads.

I became a Christian at university and so owe a debt of gratitude to the work of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF). UCCF began in the UK as Inter-Varsity Fellowship and published a vast number of magazines for students from the 1920s (if not earlier) onwards. Its work, particularly among theology students through its specialist organisation Religious and Theological Students' Fellowship (RTSF),  had a significant influence on the development and spread of evangelicalism in the UK. Many of the key Christian leaders of the 20th Century were impacted  by it, including John R.W. Stott, Jim Packer, Michael Green, David C.K. Watson and Roger Foster. The early publications such as, Inter-Varsity Magazine and  Christian Graduate later gave way to Themelios and the Tyndale Bulletin, which are still in production today. Although RTSF passed away a few years ago, its archive contains much significant material which is in the process of being sorted and catalogued. I have already begun to make some of it on-line, including some of the RTSF Monographs and TSF Bulletin, but hope to do more in this next year.

Perhaps the highlight of the year came about through the digitisation of the Transactions of the Baptist Historical Society / The Baptist Quarterly. The opportunity to do this arose from my ongoing work in partnership with the Keston Institute placing Religion in Communist Lands and Religion, State and Society on-line and resulted in an article in The Baptist Times on the 5th August. Since completing the journal I have been asked to take on the digitisation of a similar journal published by another denomination - more details on this early next year.

All in all the tenth year of the "Theology on the Web" project has been extremely productive and I look forward to seeing what 2012 will bring. A big thank you to all of you for your ongoing support, prayer and encouragement.

Top Fifteen Article Downloads in November on BiblicalStudies.org.uk

Site statistics are fascinating and give an insight into what people are studying this month. Here are the top articles on www.BiblicalStudies.org.uk. The top article has been downloaded almost 2,500 times and No. 15, 700 times.

1) The Unity of the Bible (F.E. Gaebelein)
2) Applying the Old Testament Law Today (J. Daniel Hays)
3) Special Revelation as Historical and Personal (Paul K. Jewett)
4) The Purposes Behind Paul’s First Epistle to the Thessalonians (Rob Bradshaw)
5) From Babylon to Bethlehem. The Jewish People from the Exile to the Messiah (H.L. Ellison)
6) The Ancient Near Eastern Treaties and the Old Testament (J.A. Thompson)
7) Gog and Magog: The History of a Symbol (Nicholas Railton)
8) Elijah (Rob Bradshaw)
9) The Cross of Christ (Rob Bradshaw)
10) The Trinitarian Ontology of John Zizioulas (John G.F. Wilks)
11) Semantics  and  New  Testament Interpretation (Anthony  C.  Thiselton)
12) Exegesis in Practice:  Two  Samples (R.T. France)
13) Pentateuchal Criticism and Interpretation (Kenneth A. Kitchen)
14) The  Temptation Narrative of  Genesis 3: 1-6 (Martin Emmrich)
15) The History of New Testament Study (F.F. Bruce)

Thanks to those who installed DropBox

I wanted to post a quick note tot hank those who have installed DropBox using my referral link. I mentioned a while ago just how helpful the software is proving, allowing me to synchronise my work across three computers. The additional free space that referrals provide will prove extremely useful as I take on several new projects over the next year.

TSF Bulletin Digitisation Project Begins

The Theological Students' Fellowship Bulletin ran between 1951 and 1975 when it became Themelios. It was aimed at strengthening the faith of theological students in the UK  As you can see from the Table of Contents many of the contributors are well-known for their contributions to Biblical Scholarship. In order that this work is not lost I am commencing the digitisation of the series and will be seeking permission from the copyright holders (which would be the authors, or their executors if deceased, in most cases) in due course with the aim of getting as much as possible on-line. I already have permission from a number of the authors, but if you know any of the contributors personally please encourage them to contact me.

Paul Ellingworth on the Theory and Practice in Bible Translation

With thanks to Dr Ellingworth for his kind permission, the following article is now available on-line in PDF:

Paul Ellingworth, "Theory and Practice in Bible Translation," The Evangelical Quarterly 55.3 (July-Sept. 1983): 159-168.

Visit the latest additions page for the link.

More Ways to Support Theology on the Web

Download the new poster

Each month www.biblicalstudies.org.uk receives around 40,000 visitors from all around the world who downloaded (last month) 65 GB of material, mostly in the form of PDF files, free of charge. In order to cover expenses I have been adding to the ways in which visitors can support the sites here. There are now 14 different ways to do this and only three involve sending money directly. Some will even save you time and money. For example, you can download and install DropBox (this gets me - and you - an extra 500 MB of storage space), you can sign up to Top Cash Back (which gets me a £5.00 bonus), or you could download and print out my new poster (right). Visit the Support page for more suggestions.

More Free Resources for Students in the Majority World

Charles Davis has compiled the following list of free on-line resources for students in response to my request for suggestions in my earlier post on this subject which you can read here. Thanks Charles.


Judeo-Christian:
http://www.ccel.org/search
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
http://www.library.upenn.edu/cajs/etexts.html
http://www.library.yale.edu/judaica/site/researchtools/resources.php
http://www.auss.info/article.php?id=16

Historical:
http://www.livius.org/catalogue.html
http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collections
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/
http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index.html
http://www.iranicaonline.org/

Databases:
http://www.etana.org/
http://library.case.edu/digitalcase/search.aspx
http://cdli.ucla.edu/

Out of print books:
http://www.archive.org/advancedsearch.php
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

Two articles by Anthony Buzzard on the Kingdom of God

My thanks to Dr Buzzard for his kind permission to place on-line the following articles in PDF:


Anthony Buzzard, "The Kingdom of God in the Twentieth-Century Discussion and the Light of Scripture," The Evangelical Quarterly 64.2 (Apr.-June 1992): 99-115.

Anthony Buzzard, "Acts 1:1-6 and the Eclipse of the Biblical Kingdom," The Evangelical Quarterly 66.3 (July-Sept. 1994): 197-215.

Visit the latest additions page for the link.

Michael E.W. Thompson on New Life Amid the Alien Corn: The Book of Ruth

My thanks to Rev Thompson for his kind permission to place on-line the following article in PDF:

Michael E.W. Thompson, "New Life Amid the Alien Corn: The Book of Ruth," The Evangelical Quarterly 65.3 (July-Sept. 1993): 197-210.

Visit the latest additions page for the link.