A GUIDE TO RELIGIOUS STUDIES RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET
by John L Gresham MLS PhD
About this Guide:
Contents: This guide provides a selective listing of the best Internet resources of interest to religious studies scholars and students of religion. Rather than attempt a comprehensive listing of religious information on the Internet, this guide selectively points to the best gateways to specific types of religious information. This guide is especially designed to provide both novice and advanced Internet researchers with a helpful starting point for online religious research.
History: The guide has its origins in a presentation I gave at a regional conference of Religious Studies Scholars in Dallas, Texas in 1994. After the conference I made a list of religious Internet sites available as a text file on a gopher site. Later, Michael Fraser created the first html version of the guide and made it available on a web server in England (first at Durham and then at Oxford). At some point, I finally learned a little html and started maintaining the web version of the guide.
Availability: This most up-to-date edition of this guide will be found at http://sim74.kenrickparish.com/
Recognition: Current and/or previous editions of this guide have been selected for inclusion in the Argus Clearinghouse of Subject-Oriented Internet Guides, Point Communication's Top 5% of the Web, Iway's Top 500 Web Sites, and as a chapter in Internet Compendium (Neal-Schuman, 1995).The guide has been recognized as a Third-Age Essential Web Site, a SelectSurf Best of the Web site and was recommended by the Britannica Internet Guide. The Chronicle of Higher Education (March 5, 1999) recommended the site in its Information Technology Resources column. In July 1999, the site was recommended by the Internet Scout Report for the Social Sciences and in September 2001, by Syllabus Magazine. In a review published in the February 2000 issue of CHOICE, reviewer C.R. Piar wrote, "This site is a one-stop, no-nonsense, all-in-one "cybermall" especially suited for academic professionals and other serious students of religion." The Guide to Religion on the Internet (Prentice Hall) described Finding God in Cyberspace as "arguably the single best site for researching religion on the Internet." In College and Research Libraries News June 2002, John Jaeger described this site as "one of the best Web sites on the Internet for finding information on religion".
Permission to use: This information may be freely reproduced and distributed for non-profit educational purposes. Links to this guide are also welcome.
Updates: Periodically (infrequently) updated.
Corrections and additions: Please send any comments to the author at gresham@kenrick.edu
About the Author:
Following undergraduate and masters degrees in Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College I went on to complete a PhD in Religious Studies at Baylor University and a Master of Library Science from University of North Texas.
I have given presentations on using the Internet for religious studies to regional and/or national meetings of the Association for the Scientific Study of Religion, the American Theological Library Association and the Association of College and Research Libraries.
I have worked in the libraries of Baylor University in Texas, Sterling College in Kansas, and Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio and Fontbonne University in St. Louis. I also taught part-time in the Theology Department at Steubenville and taught some Religious Studies courses part-time for Fontbonne University.
I recently left the library field and now teach Theology full-time for Paul VI Institute , Kenrick-Glennon Seminary and the St Louis Archdiocesan Formation Program for Permanent Deacons.
I have published articles on Christology, Trinitarian theology and spirituality and sociology of religion as well as a book on American revivalist Charles Finney. I also regularly review Religion books for CHOICE. Some of my publications in the area of religious information include:
- "The Place of Religion in the Universe of Knowledge according to Various Systems of Bibliographic Classification." (abstract available)Journal of Religious & Theological Information 2(1) 1994.
- " From Invisible College to Cyberspace College: Computer Conferencing and the Transformation of Informal Scholarly Communication Networks." Interpersonal Computing & Technology: 2(4) 1994.
For more information see my resume.
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This page updated 10/18/06
