New Sources of Funding for Theology on the Web

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Funding

I recently posted a poll in the Theology on the Web Facebook Group asking for suggestions as to how I could secure regular funding to continue to develop Theology on the Web. This is because Income from affiliate links, Google ads and one-off donations have fallen, while server costs will rise in September this year as I add more web space to the server. Before I begin I wanted to thank those who contributed their ideas to the post and to give some feedback in the hope of provoking further discussion. I also want to thank the couple who have now signed up to support the sites regularly.

Here are the options the Group suggested:

Open a Patreon Account

For those not familiar with it Patreon provides a superb service intended to offer support for artists and creators by offering regular supporters special deals, such as early access to new products, etc. 14 people voted for this option.

There are several reasons why I cannot take up this option, but for brevity I will mention only one. As part of my agreement with the publishers and authors who contribute content I undertake not to sell their work, but to make it available to everyone free of charge. I think that offering such content for payment, even for only a short period, conflicts with this obligation.

Add a PayPal Donate Button

8 people voted for this. To be honest I was a little bemused by this suggestion, as every page on my websites (over 2,000 of them), already has a PayPal donate button at the very top of the left-hand sidebar. I wondered if it was not obvious enough?

Approach your Church to Make it a Ministry of the Church

2 people voted for this. I know from experience that getting for support for providing theological resources is difficult even from those who are using the websites regularly. Promoting to those who have never heard of it is not likely to succeed.

Initiate a GoFundMe – Education Fundraiser

4 people voted for this. A few years ago my supporters responded very generously to my GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a new laptop. GoFundMe is great for one-off requests, but I would not be comfortable about making the same request each year. However, if I reach a funding crisis, I may have to take up this option in the short-term to keep the sites running.

Advertise my Bible College / Seminary on the websites

11 people voted for this option. As I mentioned above that income from Google ads has now fallen to such a low level. SO low, in fact, that I have today removed all the Google banner ads from the websites. This will give me enough space for two more seminaries / Bible Colleges to place vertical banner ads.

This is my preferred option. Please pass on this offer of advertising on to those in charge at your institutions to see if they are interested or sponsoring the websites in some other way. My contact details are here. If you would like to support the websites as an individual please visit the support page for suggestions of how you can best do so.

Commentaries on Philippians, Colossians and Philemon by Charles J. Ellicott

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Charles John Ellicott [1819-1905]
Charles J. Ellicott By Herbert R. Barraud (died 1896), Public Domain. Source: Wikipedia Commons,
Charles J. Ellicott [1819-1905] was Professor of Divinity at King’s College London, Hulsean Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University and Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol [See Wikipedia article]

These are detailed commentaries on the Greek text of Paul’s letters to the Philippians, Colossians and to Philemon. Despite their age Charles Ellicott’s commentaries are still being reprinted. This title is in the public domain.

Charles John Ellicott [1819-1905], A Critical and Grammatical Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistles to the Philippians, Colossians and to Philemon with a Revised Translation. London: John W. Parker & Son, 1857. Hbk. pp.268. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  • Preface
  • The Epistle to the Philippians
  • The Epistle to the Colossians
  • The Epistle to Philemon

Preface

The present volume forms the fourth portion of my Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistles, and contains an exposition of the important Epistles to the Philippians and Colossians, and of the graceful and touching Epistle to Philemon.

The notes will be found to reflect the same critical and grammatical characteristics, and to recognise the same principles of interpretation as those which I endeavoured to follow in the earlier portions of this work, and on which the experiences slowly and laboriously acquired during this undertaking have taught me year by year more confidently to rely. There is, however, a slight amount of additional matter which it is perhaps desirable to briefly specify.

In the first place, I have been enabled to carry out more fully and completely a system of reference to the great Versions of antiquity, and have spared no pains to approach a little more nearly to those fresh and clear, yet somewhat remote, well-heads of Christian interpretation…

Charles J. Ellicott’s Commentary on the Letters to the Thessalonians

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Charles John Ellicott [1819-1905]
Portrait of Bishop Charles Ellicott By Herbert R. Barraud (died 1896) – Public Domain. Source: Wikipedia
This is a detailed commentary on the Greek text of Paul’s Letters to the Thessalonians by Biship Charles Ellicott. As such those with a good knowledge of Greek will benefit most from it. This title is in the public domain.

Charles John Ellicott [1819-1905], St. Paul’s Epistles to the Thessalonians: With a critical and Grammatical commentary and a revised translation, 4th edn. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, 1880. Hbk. pp.167. [Click here to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  • Preface to the Third Edition
  • Preface to the Second Edition
  • Preface to the First Edition
  • 1 Thessalonians
  • 2 Thessalonians

Introduction

This calm, practical, and profoundly consolatory Epistle was written by the Apostle to his converts in the wealthy and populous city of Thessalonica not long after his first visit to Macedonia ( Acts xvi. 9), when in conjunction with Silas and Timothy he laid the foundations of the Thessalonian Church (Acts xvii. 1 sq.). See notes on ch. i. 1.

The exact time of writing the Epistle appears to have been the early months of the Apostle’s year and a half stay at Corinth (Acts xviii. 11), soon after Timothy had joined him (1 Thess. iii. 6) and reported the spiritual state of their converts, into which he had been sent to enquire (eh. iii. 2), probably from Athens; see notes on eh. iii. 1. We may thus consider the close of A.D. 52, or the beginning of A.D. 53, as the probable date, and, if this be correct, must place the Epistle first on the chronological list of the Apostle’s writings….