Religion Online is moderated by William F. Fore.
It came about when Fore taught at the United Theological College in
Bangalore, India, during 1997. He discovered that books were almost impossible
for students and professors to obtain.
For example, a single copy printed in the USA cost about one-third of a
professor's monthly salary. When Fore checked out religious resources on
the Internet, he found that most sites only refer people to other
sites. There were very few sites
providing actual texts, and even fewer with scholarly material written
by recognized scholars. So Religion Online was born on August 25, 1997.
On October 21, 2011, Dr. Fore donated Religion Online to
the Claremont School of Theology. In receiving the gift, the school agreed
to assume oversight of Religion Online and responsibility for ongoing web site maintenance, development,
and user and other queries; to create a physical manifestation of Religion Online on campus
in the form of signage indicating "Home of the William Fore Religion Online Project"; to provide staffing,
funding and workspace for the management of the resource; to be responsible for ongoing web site hosting
costs; and as resources permit, to enrich the content of Religion Online. The school has created a
faculty and staff committee to oversee the maintenance and future development of the web site.
Religion Online is designed to
assist teachers, scholars and general "seekers" who are interested in
exploring religious issues. The aim is
to develop an extensive library of resources, representing many different
points of view, but all written from the perspective of sound scholarship. While the initial orientation has been to
seek material written primarily from a Christian perspective, the ultimate aim
is to broaden the scope to include material on all the world's major religions.
At present there are more than
6.000 chapters, monographs, speeches and articles on line. Each year more than 1.7 million visitors download more than 7 million documents from this site, including requests from more than 400 colleges, universities and schools of theology in the United States, and another 200 throughout the world.
Religion Online is made possible
by the voluntary services of its editors.
William F. Fore is Senior Editor and maintains the web site. Support for the Internet Service Provider
and other operational costs is provided by a grant from the Claremont School of
Theology, located in Claremont, California.
Otherwise, no money changes hands, either for services or for the use of
documents. Since the site began, ten people have worked as volunteer editors, including three husband and wife teams:
Rev.
Harry and Grace Adams
Rev. Ted
and Winnie Brock
Rev.
William E. Chapman
Rev. Dick
and Sue Kendall
Rev. Herbert F. Lowe
Mr. Paul
Mobley
Rev. John
C. Purdy
For each entry, use permission has
been obtained or the book is out of print or copyright is believed to have
expired. You may download the material, print or quote it for educational
purposes, but may not use it for profit.
Quotations should be cited.
In most cases the print origin of the piece is indicated in the heading.
If the document is original to this site, then Religion Online should be cited.
Where possible, a brief bio sketch
of the author is carried in the heading.
In some cases a list of books written by the author and links to other
sites are included for those who wish further exploration.
Some individuals have expressed interest in translating essays
and books from Religion Online into languages other than English, and then making them available through
their own web sites. Permission is hereby granted for such translation, provided 1) that access to their site and use of the material is entirely free; 2) that the site provides a link to www.religion-online.org; and 3) that the Religion Online webmaster is notified about the existence of the web site. Our philosophy is that more is better!
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This site was last updated July 1, 2012. Return to Religion Online Non-English Translations