Some Liturgical & Biblical Websites - Draft One - December 2002

Some Liturgical & Biblical Websites - Draft One - December 2002

Here is a list of sites that I have found useful:

RCL Lectionary Texts for Reference & Reflection:

http://divinity.lib.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/totable.html

RCL Commentary & Notes:

http://www.montreal.anglican.org/comment/thisweek.htm

Gathering - A Packet of Worship Resources:

http://www.uccan.org/gathering/

Lectionary-Based Liturgies (Moira Laidlaw):

http://www.thecitadel.com/liturgies/index.html

RCL Worship Services (David Beswick)

http://people.enternet.com.au/~beswick/rclresources/

Lift Up Your Hearts (Worship Resources):

http://www.golden.net/worship/

Suggested Hymns for the Revised Common Lectionary

http://www.hymnsite.com/lection/

Worship That Works:

http://www.dfms.org/worship-that-works/

Deacon Sil's Homiletical Resource Page:

http://www.deaconsil.com/

The Lectionary Page (Anglican-Episcopal Readings)

http://www.io.com/~kellywp/

RCL for Mennonite Bulletins:

http://www.mph.lm.com/rcl.html

The Lectionary (American Baptist Churches)

http://www.abc-usa.org/lection/lection.htm

The Inviting Word:

http://www.ucc.org/worship/seeds.htm

Scripture & Memory (UCC RCL Aids):

http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/

Soul Food:

http://www.umr.org/UMRweb3.htm

Pastor's Pointers:

http://www.mumac.org/links.html

Desperate Preacher's WebSite

http://www.iw1.net/revbuster/preacher.htm

Anglican Homilies (Australia):

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2125/

The Pastor's Helper

http://members.xoom.com/Barry/

The Encyclopedia of NT Criticism

http://www.skypoint.com/~waltzmn/

Calendar of Christian Historical Biographies:

http://www.louisville.edu./~bscurr01/christia/chrcal.htm

Carol Jackson's Artwork to use in connection with Sermons or Handouts:

http://sunsite.unc.edu/cjackson/

http://mujweb.atlas.cz/www/Liturgica/

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/commonworship/

http://www.worship.ca/index.html

http://www.jesuit.ie/prayer/

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/worship-that-works/

http://www.rscm.com/

http://www.praxisworship.org.uk/

http://www.lamp.ac.uk/celtic/

http://www.liturgy-ireland.ie/

http://www.naal-liturgy.org/

http://www.commontexts.org/

http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/contents.htm

New Zealand Sites

http://www.methodist.org.nz/

http://www.presbyterian.org.nz/

Other Churches

http://www.wcc-coe.org/

http://www.vatican.va/

http://www.jesuit.org/

http://www.imnz.org.nz/

http://www.melbcopts.org.au/

http://www.cca.org.hk/

http://www.iol.ie/~duacon/basic.htm

http://www.esbvm.org.uk/

http://www.maynoothcollege.ie/

http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

Some comments from various editions of Biblical Studies Bulletin published quarterly by Grove Books

* Ken Hamel’s Online Bible (Mac & PC) is still perhaps the best value for money Bible software available, and it’s now been updated. The deluxe edition for the Mac comes with over 130 resources including nrsv, niv, nlt and many other versions, plus a printed User’s Manual for US$89.95 (Windows version US$79.95), plus $5 shipping. www.online-bible.com/maconlinebible.html

* Version 5.0 of BibleWorks from Hermeneutika is now available. www.BibleWorks.com/reviews.htm

* Eikon http://eikon.divinity.yale.edu/eikon.taf is an ongoing joint project of faculty and librarians at Yale Divinity School, seeking to provide nearly 700 teaching and research images from the field of biblical studies.

Tyndale House website (http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk)

 Sue Groom draws our attention to two mailing lists of possible interest to readers. Preachers and others preparing lessons based on Scripture may want to join the list at the following email address: This list discusses the Revised Common Lectionary for the main Sunday service, sometimes with completed sermons, more often with retrospective comments or sermon suggestions.

Another list which features discussion of Common worship services and resources is

 The Research Report is an online newsletter published by The Resource Center for Theological Research (RCTR), an evangelical ministry in Pennsylvania specialising in theological and apologetic resources. Several issues of the Report have been posted at the website: http://mh102.infi.net/-apologia The website has some interesting material, including links to Real Audio debates between scholars on various issues. To find out when new editions of the Research Report are posted, e-mail

 Simon Kershaw writes:

‘Oremus Bible Study is a forum for members to share informal reflections on a daily text, particularly with regard to practical application of the biblical message. The texts are chosen based on the Oremus daily office lectionary [a three-year office lectionary meant to complement the Revised Common Lectionary, ie. to fill out those passages which are omitted from week to week]. Members are encouraged to engage the texts and post at least one reflection a week.’ For details of how to subscribe, follow the link to Bible Society at http://www.oremus.org

 Users of Apple Mac computers may be in the minority, but they can find some helpful information about Christian software available at http://www.cmug.org

 Babelfish, the website for translating phrases to and from English, has moved to http://babelfish.altavista.com/translate.dyn

* For an excellent introduction to the Internet for theologians have a look at http://www.humbul.ac.uk/vts/theology/index.htm

* Those interested in art related to the Bible, may benefit from

http://cedar.evansville.edu/~ecoleweb/images.html The Ecole initiative also contains other useful documents and links.

* Not specifically on theology, but a fascinating site on learning, memorising etc is

http://www.mindtools.com

# The best software for bible study just got better. Version 5.0 of Accordance for the Apple Mac is now out, and a new feature is the ability to create your own user tools by importing any text; the text is then indexed for easy, very fast searches. Given the increasing range of texts now out in the public domain, this represents a major upgrade. For more information go to http://www.oaksoft.com

A source for downloadable user tools (including the Common Worship Sunday Lectionary [very similar to RCL] is http://homepage.mac.com/accordanceexchange

# Rev’d Dr Philip Jenson (Lecturer in Old Testament at Trinity, Bristol) writes, ‘One of the fascinating possibilities that the web now makes possible is the ability to explore the history of biblical interpretation, both through literature and through commentaries and other Jewish and Christian writings. But perhaps I should first mention a book. DL Jeffrey, ed, A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993) lists where biblical figures and books occur in the literary tradition, both ancient and modern. Many of these citations can be found in the classic texts available at http://www.promo.net/pg/index.html The Gutenberg project provides ‘plain vanilla’ ascii files that are out of copyright and may be downloaded. Note particularly Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews. Other valuable sites include: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall, a massive collection of texts, with links to many others, and http://www.ccel.org, a large Christian library, including the full downloadable text of Matthew Henry’s commentary.

# Victor Perry observes that the British Library catalogue is accessible via the Cambridge university Library site (http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk). He also commends Still Waters Revival Books (http://www.swrb.com).

# The text of the UK Christian Handbook is now available online (http://www.ukch.org.uk)

I was also most interested in a Computer Programme available alongside the Common Worship material entitled “Visual Liturgy” where suitable music, readings and prayers can be selected for each Sunday.

I also enjoyed a visit to their website. www.vislit.com

 Type “Liturgy” into any search engine and you will be staggered at the number and variety of responses found: 114,730 on Alta Vista alone. An excellent starting point for weekly liturgists is the Anglicans Online e-zine which may be found at <http://anglicansonline.org/> you will find a real breadth of information contained in the links from that page. Not surprisingly, the Catholic Church worldwide has large numbers of pages on the web – one that deals with the common lectionary with liturgical and music resources is: <www.rpinet.com/ml/index.htm>.

 Another (more sectarian) example may be found on a site at:

<www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html>

 An example of a prayer-book and resources on site may be found at <www.vislit.com/mw.html> This is a Methodist resource and demonstrates what is possible for a church in providing liturgical resources online for its parish liturgists. The page includes a “do-it-yourself” liturgy assembly kit.

Biblical [from Biblical Studies Bulletin Issue 15: March 2000, Grove Books]

 Dr Chris Forbes (lecturer at Macquarrie University in Australia) has made available materials from his course “The New Testament in its Times” at his webpage <http://www.anchist.mq.edu.au/cforbes/default.htm>. You may find the bibliographies particularly useful.

 Dr David Brewer at Tyndale House now offers to send email updates from time to time on helpful computing resources for biblical study. Those who would like to receive these updates may request them through an email addressed to David <>. Occasionally David includes tips on web sites of wider interest.

For some time David has been working on a book on divorce and remarriage, and now he has made his progress thus far available to be read at his webpage <http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Brewer/divorce.htm>. Specialists will be particularly grateful for his putting on his webpage a database of over 170 documents which represent every published Greek, Roman, and Jewish marriage contract and divorce deed, from the 4thc BC to the 4thc AD. David concludes that New Testament teaching allows divorce and remarriage after abuse, neglect, or adultery.

I have been using Religious Clip Art from McCrimmons to insert in my monthly Comment small graphics relating to the readings of the various sundays including “Sundays in Ordinary Time - Year B”. Anyone in the diocese is free to copy them [the licence agreement “. . . gives you permission to copy and/or modify these images for use in a parish, school, community or other institution . . .”].

Computer Corner - Grove Biblical Studies Bulletin 17: Sept 2000

* Mike Crowl points us to a useful site offering more surveys of commentaries. Have a look at http://www.disciples.org/biblea.htm

* Readers of old will remember that we printed edited fragments of a hilarious piece of humour in the style of Leviticus in BSB issues 10 and 11. At the time, we did not know that the material was copyright; we now know that the original, fuller version appeared in the Atlantic Monthly magazine. Without permission of the author we can’t print the concluding paragraphs which are just as funny as the rest. But you can find it on the Web! Those wishes to read a fuller version of Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father should go to http://www.sbl-site.org/Newsletter/09_2000/Laws1.htm

A recent Church Times reviewed 100 Christian and 150 Jewish software products. These included Word Biblical Commentary 54 volumes on CD-ROM at £700 instead of £1000 for the printed set of books, and The Master Christian Library version 8 for £63 [but note that Grove Biblical Bulletin 17 says that the Timperley Evangelical Trust will supply Version 7 for £35, for more information go to http://www.tetsystems.co.uk/

George Connor

for TPLWG/CLLC December 2002

Note: Anyone who would like to suggest additional sites please write, preferably with one sentence of explanation, to