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Do not spend more than 30 minutes on this assignment.
| A Christian ThinkTank | Bartlett, James I | The "A Christian Thinktank" web site is operated by one person, "Glenn M. Miller, committed evangelical disciple of Jesus Christ" and "a freelance researcher/writer/consultant/speaker." Mr. Miller uses the web site to answer questions that he has been asked that deal with the Christian faith, on many different topics, and answers the questions in a way that might convince the reader of the truth and validity of the Christian faith as he perceives it to be. The only outside link to the website was to Mr. Millers business sites. |
| e-church community weblog | Beauregard, Suzanne M | The author claims this website was created to serve people interested in online ministry. It is very organized. There are explanations of the history of the website, biography of the webmaster and purpose of the site. The future vision, goals and objectives are clearly stated by the author. Viewers are able to read opinions submitted by other viewers regarding social, political and economic issues pertinent to our times and the religious, moral and ethical questions that these issues pose. After reading several posted comments I concluded that a lot of the information was inflammatory and designed to get a strong reaction from the reader. There is a conservative/fundamentalist slant to the writings. It is very easy to surf from link to link with no annoying pop-ups. The downside was that it does not indicate if the material honors a specific religious tradition and/or denomination. Also, towards the end the author does solicit donations from viewers to help reduce the out of pocket expense of $578.00 needed annually to maintain the site. |
| faithmaps | Beissel, Brian E | Faithmaps is a website designed to look at a wide variety of issues through the eyes of postmodernism, from theological issues (including a 9/11 section) and church history. Founded by a pastor of a Community Church whose denomination is not named, it seems to be particularly focused on protestant viewpoints, having church history articles that mostly are about protestant movements, specifically baptist ones. Such things as a leadership section could prove to be of good use for pastors and church leadership in general. I did not find a link that did not work, and this site is one that is fairly easy to navigate around. There are also many opportunities to discuss any of the various topics on this site, from the blog to the yahoo discussion group. |
| Religious Tolerance.org | Catlett, Delancy L | ReligiousTolerance.com is a very attractive site at first look but one should be careful in the use of the information. One should visit their “first visit page” as it explains about the authors and their general views on things. They are five people representing five different faiths (Agnostic, Atheist, Christianity, Wicca, and Zen Buddhism). They say they have a generally favorable view toward religion but two of them generally lack religion. They say they editorialize in their writing. Their facts are often referenced but I find their facts do not necessarily support their conclusions. I did check one of the references to the “Didache” about abortion and found it not to have been quoted correctly. This site has some good information but it should be verified by other sources. |
| Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences | Costlow, Beth J | This website's self-proclaimed mission is, "to promote the creative mutual interaction between theology and the natural sciences." The site also identifies the Center as being aimed at clergy and scientists--scholars. Based on the links I followed and the articles I was led to, I would say that their self-identification is accurate. The "Genetics and Ethics" link led to some in-depth discussion from both the scientific and ethical perspectives. |
| ChristianityToday.com | Craley, Joshua D | The Christinanitytoday.com is a massive web site geared toward being an information hub for Christians. The website itself is the internet arm of the magazine Christianity Today. At first glance the main page reminds me of a search engine page with links to different communities and message boards and hot topics of the day. The site is very easy to navigate with helpful links to make sure you do not get lost in the myriad of information. Christianitytoday.com never comes out and says that it is affiliated with any denomination but sections like "ask Billy Gram for spiritual help" and "find a seminary" with only certain types of seminary listed helps to tip a person off. |
| Congregational Resource Guide | Davis, Jonathan | The Congregational Resource Guide is an Excellent Resource Guide. This site was very user friendly and was very informative. The structure and content was very organized. The resources were clearly listed. |
| eQuipped ForMinistry | Deeben, Wendy S | The eQuipped for Ministry Website is a website geared toward people who are interested in online ministry. This website offers a variety of ways to help one with a webpage as well as current issues that are on people's minds. It is straightforward and states its purpose at the top of the webpage and takes its audience to their desired link without any pop-up ads. I feel that it is a straightforward site with good information. |
| Faith, Science, and Technology | Fraser, John T | The Faith, Science, and Technology website is designed by the ELCA for any interested viewer, and the goal of the website is primarily to inform the viewer of the official positions of the ELCA on certain "hot topics" in the realm of science and technology. The site is very easy to use and all the links are accurate (even though most of them simply take you to another part of the ELCA website) and I feel it is wise that the ELCA has a dedicated page informing the viewer anytime they chooses a link which will take them off the ELCA website. |
| Equipping Saints Ministries Web Site | McCarthy, Susan J | This website is produced by a pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention. He used to run a site called "Sermon Source," but changed it to expand his own calling from God into "Equipping Saints Ministries." The site offers free sermon outlines, free sermons, and contacts to set up workshops with Equipping Saints for training individuals to preach God's Word and to minister to others... all with a Baptist flair. In addition, the site contains several links to "Lifeway.com," a comprehensive SBC site with sections for everyone, lay or clergy. |
| First Church of Cyberspace | Montgomery, Darnell L | The site is being be billed as the first church of the web. The sites founder is Charles Henderson, not sure of his background or affiliation. One thing is certain, the site is busy, therefore not attracting my attention. |
| World Prayers - Prayer Collective | Palmer, Brian M | Worldprayers.org is a web site designed to give the user access to a database of prayers. The makers of the site do not appear predisposed toward any particular religious tradition and, if anything, are choosing to affirm all religions. The prayer database is indexed in a way that allows the user to search for prayers based on religious tradition, author or theme/keyword. Persons who are unsure of what they are looking for can request random prayers. Prayers can also be submitted to be added to the database. The site is very well designed and quite attractive. The site is quite up front about why it exists and the service that it is trying to provide. All the prayers I saw included the name of the source. |
| ginkworld | Pittsnogle, L. Keith | Despite the wierd name, this site looks to be well done. It emphasizes community centered around Jesus and reaching out to "not-yet-believers". It focuses on the differences between modern and post-modern. It appears well organized and the information seems accurate. The graphics are also well done. |
| Chips from a Cyborg Work Shop | Robinson, C. Scott | The site is a part of The Strip, a Website put up by a Religious Studies Class as University of Colorado. "Chips" are writings by the class professor, Dr. Sam Gill. They come from a perspective similar to Schultze's. Interesting take on educational philosophy/practice. |
| Internet Evangelism Coalition | Schultz, Paul A | The Internet Evangelism Coalition (IEC) is a site dedicated to the promotion of resources and collaborations among Christian ministries to spread the Gospel of Christ. It is currently managed by the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. Formed in 1997, the IEC has as members many different ecumenical partners and ministries. The site itself is very easy to navigate, containing general FAQs about Christianity and Jesus Christ, as well as specific links to ministries which are members of the IEC. The beloved author of our text for this course, Quentin Schultze, has been a speaker for the IEC convention. This site appears to be a reputable site, but seems to lead toward a fundamentalist and/or Pentecostal view. |
| Hope Lutheran Church, Fargo, ND | Wilmer, Roger W | Hope Lutheran Church's web site does a good job in communicating and creating a tool for evangelism. This site have one of the clearest mission statement I have ever read. Every user friendly site with on-line chat area for its members. |
| Internet for Christians | Wirtley, Jerry M | The Internet for Christians is a biweekly newsletter published via email and the website by the Gospel Communication Network. It was founded by Quentin J. Schultze who also serves as a special consultant and who wrote the book Internet for Christians. This seems to be a sight of good links, and useful information. |
| The Monastery of Christ in the Desert | Wise, James H | The website for "The Monastery of Christ in the Desert" is well executed and informative. The Monastery of Christ in the Desert, Abiquiu, New Mexico, U.S.A., was founded in 1964 by Fr. Aelred Wall, OSB. From its beginning the monastery has followed the Benedictine life with no external apostolates, but maintains a guesthouse for private retreats where men and women can share the Divine Office and Mass in the abbey church with the monks. Besides maintaining the guesthouse, the monks engage in agriculture, craft, maintenance and computer work at the monastery. A gift shop is also part of the monastery's income, which includes a mail-order department of books and other religious items in the gift shop. The chief architect of the original monastery was George Nakashima, famous Japanese-American woodworker and architect. The electricity and water-pumping at the monastery is solar-powered, as sunshine is plentiful throughout the year. At Christ in the Desert they follow St Benedict's Rule, in which it is prescribed that the monks should meet together in the monastery church for prayer seven times each day and once in the night. It is interesting to reflect on a group of Benedictine monks living in silence, using renewal resources, having a website and offering website development services in one of their stores. |
| Who is Jesus | Wutka, Adam D | www.whoisjesus-really.com is a website which describes just that, who Jesus is, using mostly biblical sources. Occasionally, other literary sources are mentioned, such as C.S. Lewis. Although it is not mentioned very prominently within the site, with a little looking, one will discover that this website is run by the folks at Campus Crusade for Christ, a global "non-denominational" campus ministry begun by Bill and Vonette Bright in the early 1950s. This website seems to be very well-contained and organized and does a thorough job in living up to its title of describing Jesus, albeit through the perception of Dr. Bright and the CCC. |