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.