Raphael The Religion and Philosophy Web Site at the ACA Virtual Center

Raphael
Newsletter of the Religion and Philosophy Web Site at the ACA Virtual Center

Volume 2
Number 3
October 2002

Highlights of this issue:

Last Call to Register for ACA Tech Summit

It's still not too late to register for the ACA Tech Summit 2002! Register now for the ACA Tech Summit, to be held October 24-26, 2002 at the Adelphia Centre at Millennium Park in Johnson City, Tennessee. The annual ACA Tech Summit seeks to support the work of ACA faculty through:

supporting and highlighting innovative strategies for teaching and learning
providing opportunities for collaboration within and across disciplines
acquainting faculty with the most recent technologies and new uses for old technologies for higher education.

Now in its 5th year, the ACA Technology Summit continues this tradition of bringing faculty together to demonstrate their creativity and share their enthusiasm. Features this year include: Birds of a Feather Luncheon and meetings, Strands, several NEW Faculty Awards, Pre-Conference Discipline Activities, Hands-On Workshops, vendors, good food, and the best faculty in the country! You can go to the ACA Tech Summit web site to find out more about this great professional development opportunity.

You'll want to register for the ACA Tech Summit right away. Register online at http://www.acaweb.org/TechSummit/currentregistration.asp.

"The Future of ACA Collaborative Grants in Religion"

Pre-Summit Meeting for Religion and Philosophy Faculty

ACA religion and philosophy faculty will be meeting immediately prior to this year's Tech Summit to discuss possible future grants in the areas of religion and philosophy. The meeting will take place on Thursday, October 24, from 1:00-2:50 p.m. in Room 115 of the Adelphia Centre..

This informal meeting will begin with a quick review of accomplishments of recent ACA collaborative grants in religion. Following these reviews, the group will explore new possibilities for collaborative work. Ideas currently under discussion include the possibility of multi-institutional online courses in biblical languages, Appalachian religion, and other topics relevant for religious studies departments at ACA schools.

Featured Web Sites: Non-canonical Gospels on the Web

If you teach biblical studies, then you probably look forward to that particular lecture every year: your overview of non-canonical materials related to Jesus of Nazareth. You love that lecture because it always piques the interest of your students. Just when students think they can settle into the routine of Bible, Bible, and more Bible, there they are: those obscure stories about boy Jesus turning mud pies into birds and striking other children dead. Even jaded students are eager to read more! Yet some of our campus libraries might be a little short on written accounts of this non-canonical material. Schneemelcher's New Testament Apocrypha or Ron Cameron's The Other Gospels have been some of students' only options over the years. Much worse is the often-read and overrated book, The Lost Books of the Bible, since it lacks serious, critical introductory material on these important works.

The advent of the web has given our students much greater access to non-canonical Christian documents. There are a number of good web sites dealing with non-canonical gospel material. The first stop of your students should be the Noncanonical Homepage. This resource includes major sections devoted to the Old Testament Apocrypha and pseudepigraphical books, New Testament apocrypha, and the Nag Hammadi works. It also includes major portions of the Church Fathers and links to other popular sources that include this public-domain material.

The Gnostic Society Library includes a series of pages with texts from early Christian Apocrypha. These include simple introductions to non-canonical gospel texts as well as translations that have passed into the public domain.

Students wanting more information on the Gospel of Thomas specifically will want to check out The Gospel of Thomas Homepage. It features a whole set of web links dealing with various translations of GThomas, links to books at Amazon.com that deal with GThomas, artwork inspired by the document, and links to essays both popular and critical in content.

Jesus of Nazareth in Early Christian Gospels is another outstanding resource for non-canonical gospel material. This site includes text of ancient gospels written before the end of the second century. It includes English translations and in some cases Greek versions of both canonical and non-canonical gospels from this period.

The Early Christian Writings web site includes introductions, translations, and numerous links for a great many canonical and non-canonical Christian writings. This is an excellent site for students who want to know more about the two-source hypothesis of gospel origins and the place of Q in gospel studies.

Speaking of Q, if your students want to see Q parallels in the context of the canonical gospels as well as the Gospel of Thomas, then send them to The Five Gospels Parallels web site. This site uses frames to place the synoptic gospels, Q parallels, and the Gospel of Thomas in parallel columns. It's a bit cumbersome to use at present, but the tool holds great promise.

Call for Contributors and Ideas

The religion and philosophy section of the Virtual Center needs your ideas and contributions. You can help by:

making suggestions regarding the types of materials you would like to see on site
submitting materials for posting on one of the sections of the site
send the site manager information about special events on your campus related to the study of religion or philosophy (lectureships, grants and awards, faculty publications)
submit links to be published on the webliography maintained on the site
information for feature articles relevant to the stated purposes of the site as listed below.

You can submit materials for the Religion and Philosophy Virtual Center by emailing the editor to submit materials.

What Is the Religion and Philosophy Virtual Center?

The Virtual Center, sponsored by the Appalachian College Association, is a set of webs designed to serve as teaching tools for faculty in the various ACA colleges and universities.

The purposes of the religion and philosophy section of the Virtual Center are:

to serve as a teaching resource for teachers of religious studies and philosophy
to provide opportunities for collaborative work in pedagogy in religion and philosophy