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Archive for the Online Resources category
Worship & You Unit 7
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 at 11:23 AM by Jason Barker
The study guide and discussion guide for Unit 7 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Worship & You: Unit 6
Posted on Friday, March 05, 2010 at 3:23 PM by Jason Barker
The study guide and discussion guide for Unit 6 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Worship & You: Unit 5
Posted on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 10:53 AM by Jason Barker
The study guide and discussion guide for Unit 5 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Worship & You: Unit 3
Posted on Friday, February 12, 2010 at 12:04 PM by Jason Barker
The study guide and discussion guide for Unit 3 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Online Resources, Youth Department
Worship & You: Unit 2
Posted on Friday, February 05, 2010 at 4:46 PM by Jason Barker
The teen study guide and discussion guide for Unit 2 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Online Resources, Youth Department
Worship & You Now Live!
Posted on Monday, February 01, 2010 at 12:34 PM by Jason Barker
Worship & You, my new multimedia study with Ancient Faith Radio, is now live! The study examines how you can carry the transforming power of Orthodox worship into daily life.
The study offers free downloadable study guides, discussion guides, and podcasts in two versions: one for teens, and another for adults.
Unit 1 is currently available; new units will be added weekly until the study concludes.
The Department of Youth Ministry is also partnering in the project to create the teen version of the study.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources, Orthodox News, Youth Department
Worship & You Starts in One Week!
Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 at 12:26 PM by Jason Barker
Worship & You, the new multimedia study on carrying the transforming power of Orthodox worship into daily life, begins February 1st!
Worship & You will feature free downloadable study guides, discussion guides, and podcast in two versions: one for adults, and another for teens.
Worship & You is a production of Orthodox Resource, Ancient Faith Radio and the Department of Youth Ministry - Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Worship & You
Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 9:47 AM by Jason Barker
Starting February 1, 2010
WORSHIP & YOU: Carrying the Transforming Power of Orthodox Worship into Daily Life
Do you want to deepen your worship of God, and take the transforming power of that experience with you into your daily life? If so, you’ll want to participate in WORSHIP & YOU, the exciting new multimedia study for Orthodox Christian adults and teens from Jason Barker (host of the re/CALL podcast) and Ancient Faith Radio.
WORSHIP & YOU will focus on the main services of the Orthodox Church and personal prayer, looking at the meaning of what we say and do during this worship and how we can take this with us into our daily lives. Each week you can download a study guide discussing how you can grow in your worship of God, as well as a discussion guide with questions to help you better understand the material. These free resources will be available in two versions: one for adults, and another for teens.
You can also download the related episode of either the Worship & You (for adults) or re/CALL (for teens) podcast to listen to the study when you’re on-the-go.
Get ready: WORSHIP & YOU begins FEBRUARY 1, 2010!
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Online Resources, Orthodox News
OCN Stations on Your Website
Posted on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 7:15 AM by Jason Barker
The Orthodox Christian Network now offers the code to embed a Flash player of The Ark or The Rudder on your website or blog. Their announcement is below:
The Orthodox Christian Network now offers code for Orthodox Webmasters and bloggers to embed players for The Ark and The Rudder directly on their Websites. Both The Ark and The Rudder offer 24/7 streaming music. The Ark is a rich mix of contemporary styles from Orthodox artists and those whose work is compatible with Orthodox sensibilities. Some Western-ear friendly chant is included in the playlist as well. The Rudder offers Orthodox liturgical chant in all styles and multiple languages. The sacred music of the Rudder helps keep us all on course through the storms of modern life.
This is a great opportunity to boost traffic to your site and spread the truth of Orthodoxy. The embed code is available online by clicking here. Orthodox Webmasters can copy the code to embed flash players for The Ark or The Rudder directly on their pages, or to link to them in a popup window that leaves site users free to surf further without losing their music! Visit the code page today.
Posted in OCN, Online Resources
Orthodox Life Tips
Posted on Monday, October 05, 2009 at 11:50 AM by Jason Barker
My new daily one-minute devotional podcast, Orthodox Life Tips, launches today on the Orthodox Christian Network. The press release is below:
The Orthodox Christian Network is excited to announce its newest addition to its already dynamic and ever-evolving list of Podcast Channels – Orthodox Life Tips, launching October 5, 2009.
Orthodox Life Tips will be a one-minute program offered each weekday, reflecting on an issue we face in our daily lives and offering advice from a saint or Orthodox teacher on handling that issue and growing in our relationships with God and the world around us. Rev. Dr. Christopher Metropulos, Executive Director of the SCOBA agency, says, “Our faith offers a wealth of guidance for handling and growing through the issues we face in our busy lives. We are excited to offer this resource to help listeners experience the lifetime impact that can develop from just one minute each day.”
Jason Barker, the host of Orthodox Life Tips, is also host of the OCN’s popular podcast Get Wisdom, a weekly Bible study program for Orthodox Christian teens and adults. Jason brings to his programs both enthusiasm for Orthodox Christianity and years of experience writing and teaching about how to live the Orthodox faith in the modern world. Among his many productions and publications are the annual Bible studies for the Department of Youth Ministry of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.
To learn more about Orthodox Life Tips and Jason’s other resources visit http://www.orthodoxresource.com, and listen to the Get Wisdom podcast at http://www.myocn.net.
Posted in Jason Barker, OCN, Online Resources, Orthodox News
AFR iPhone App
Posted on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 8:25 PM by Jason Barker
Ancient Faith Radio has announced a new AFR app for the iPhone / iPod Touch that allows you to listen to their two stations:
Ancient Faith Radio is happy to announce a native iPhone App, developed by Axios Digital Solutions, which allows you to easily play our two radio stations at home or on the go. Just visit the App store in iTunes or on your iPhone and search for “Ancient Faith” to download.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Online Resources
Conference on the Future of Orthodoxy in America
Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 11:28 PM by Jason Barker
St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary will be hosting a conference, The Council and the Tomos: 20th Century Landmarks Toward a 21st Century Church, on June 18-20. St. Andrew House will offer a video stream of the conference, and Ancient Faith Radio will offer audio podcasts of the presentations.
The conference program is available here.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources, Orthodox News
Feast of Feasts
Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 at 6:03 PM by Jason Barker
The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America and the Orthodox Church in America have teamed up to create Feast of Feasts: An Orthodox Christian Celebration of Holy Pascha and the Resurrection of Christ.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Resources for Holy Week
Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at 10:57 AM by Jason Barker
The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America has a special section for Great Lent.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America also has a very good subsite dedicated to Great Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha. Newcomers to Orthodoxy might find their free Journey to Pascha guide to the services of Holy Week to be particularly useful.
The Orthodox Church in America features their Preparing for Pascha curriculum for different age groups.
Edited on: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 11:02 AMPosted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
OCN on the iPhone
Posted on Friday, February 20, 2009 at 10:15 AM by Jason Barker
You can now listen to the Orthodox Christian Network's Internet radio stations, The Ark and The Rudder, on the iPhone / iPod Touch without purchasing WunderRadio (as I talked about in an earlier post).
The MP3 streams of these stations can be accessed by using the following URLs:
The Ark: http://63.247.193.10:8092/listen.pls
The Rudder: http://63.247.193.10:8102/listen.pls
I'm not sure what process the OCN has in mind for playing these streams on the iPhone / iPod (since they won't open in Safari), but I've gotten them to play by entering the URLs into my favorites in the free FStream app (which is the iPhone version of the same free app I use on my iMac).
ADDED: I should also note that I use FStream to listen to Ancient Faith's music stream (I seldom listen to the talk stream, since I already subscribe to quite a few podcasts). Simply add the following URLs to your favorites:
Ancient Faith Music: http://ancientfaith.com/streams/music128k.pls
Ancient Faith Talk: http://ancientfaith.com/streams/talk64k.pls
Edited on: Friday, February 20, 2009 10:31 AMPosted in Ancient Faith, OCN, Online Resources
Orthodox Planner
Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 at 8:42 AM by Jason Barker
I just discovered the Orthodox Planner from the Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries in the Greek Archdiocese. This free planner adds the daily New Testament readings and feasts to a number of calendars/PIMs (Outlook, iCal, Google calendar, Entourage, and Palm).
There is also a printed version you can order (but which also costs $14 dollars).
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
New Bible Study Podcast
Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 3:31 PM by Jason Barker
Fr. James Early has a new podcast, Thy Word, a verse-by-verse Bible study from his adult education class at St. Joseph Antiochian Orthodox Church in Houston, TX. The podcast is produced with the Icon New Media Network.
The current episode is on John 13 - it may be useful to youth group leaders helping their teens study the Holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian for this year's Antiochian Bible Bowl.
Posted in Online Resources
The Ark on the iPhone / iPod Touch
Posted on Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 6:50 PM by Jason Barker
You can now listen to The Ark's mix of Orthodox music and teaching (including the Get Wisdom Bible study program for teens) on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
You will need the WunderRadio app, which converts the Windows audio stream used by The Ark's media player into a format that will play on the Apple devices.
Simply search for "The Ark" in the application's station directory, or look under the list of stations broadcasting from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Posted in Miscellaneous, OCN, Online Resources
What's in Your Bible?
Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 12:33 PM by Jason Barker
Via Fr. Gregory Jensen, I learned about an interactive chart detailing the different books in the scriptural canon of different Christian traditions. The chart may be useful for those who have never looked into it before.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Grateful for Free Software
Posted on Monday, November 24, 2008 at 11:24 AM by Jason Barker
Gina Trapani at Lifehacker has asked an interesting question: for what free software are you grateful? I've posted on numerous occasions about the free and open source software that makes my work possible (or at least easier). Such software is a necessity for me - with no outside money provided for this work, I need to keep my expenses to nearly the absolute minimum. To this end, I make heavy use of the following free applications (I'll note where the applications are cross-platform, and where they're Mac-only):
CROSS-PLATFORM APPLICATIONS
Thingamablog - A Java blogging application that maintains the database (or, in my case, databases) for your blog on your computer; I use it for all three blogs (OCBS Blog, Get Wisdom and re/CALL) on this site. Very handy when you do not have permission to install a CMS or blogging platform like WordPress (which I didn't when this site was hosted on the Archdiocese's server).
PasswordSafeSWT - A Java version of the Windows-only Password Safe, which saves your usernames and passwords. I used Password Safe for years when I was on PCs, and am glad that the Java version let me simply move that database over to my Mac.
Tux Paint - A great painting application for kids - my five year-old son loves it.
Skype - There are numerous apps that can now do video chat, but my family still uses Skype to talk regularly with a family member who lives on another continent.
Jreepad - A Java tree structure text editor/database that works with the commercial Treepad format. I use it to save scripts and codes I use in my work (and used to use it to save Orthodox quotes until I obtained a free copy of the commercial app DevonNote and now use that for collecting quotes).
APPLICATIONS FOR OS X ONLY
Adium - A multi-protocol instant messaging client I use for both my AOL Instant Messenger and Jabber accounts. When on PCs I used GAIM (which is now Pidgin).
Caffeine - Prevents your Mac from going to sleep. Very useful when doing things like transferring large files.
Cyberduck - A simple app for using FTP and SFTP (as well as a few other things). All my podcasts and graphics are uploaded using Cyberduck. When on PCs I used FileZilla.
Camino - I switched to Camino when I was having a lot of problems with Firefox 2.0. Firefox 3 is much more powerful, but I still prefer Camino as my primary browser for fast, simple browsing.
Smultron - A text editor for programmers. I use an earlier version (since I'm still running Tiger), but I'll update if I upgrade to OS 10.7 Snow Leopard. When on PCs I used Notepad++.
iPalette - Converts colors to HEX and RGB values. Very handy for determining the specific color I see in a graphic or web page.
FStream - A lightweight program for listening to Internet radio. A recent update seems to have broken the ability to manually add URLs, which may necessitate dropping this program if the problem isn't fixed.
TwitterPost - Not the most powerful Twitter client (or even the most current, since it hasn't been updated since 2/07), but I like the very simple layout for posting Tweets (if I followed other Twitterers, I would need something more powerful and up-to-date).
FOSS I STILL RECOMMEND (but no longer use myself)
In earlier posts I recommended NeoOffice for the Mac (and Bean for simple writing). They are still great programs - although now I would probably use OpenOffice instead of NeoOffice, since OpenOffice is now Mac-native and enables you to use the current version of OpenOffice (rather than being a version behind with NeoOffice). Last year, however, on Black Friday I was able to get Microsoft Office 2004 - with an upgrade to 2008 - for a total of $32 dollars. As much as I like OpenOffice/NeoOffice, and as unwilling as I was to spend $150 dollars for Office, the full compatibility with all the Office files people send me made spending a mere $32 dollars for Office a no-brainer. If I couldn't have gotten such a deal, however, I would still be happily using OpenOffice.
For a number of years I used Thunderbird as my email client. I now use Entourage 2008 (which comes with Office) to have the fully included calendar, task list and project management, as well as - most importantly - synching with OS X's address book. If had not gotten Entourage with the cheap copy of Office, however, I would still be using Thunderbird.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Google Earth Adds Ancient Rome
Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 1:39 PM by Jason Barker
Via Appscout, I learned that Google Earth has added Ancient Rome to the areas you can explore. There are over 6,700 buildings, including eleven (such as the Coliseum) that feature detailed interiors.
The date for the simulation is 320 AD, so it wouldn't fit into biblical studies, but it might be very useful for supplementing studies of the early Church.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Free Downloads from CodeWeavers (OS X and Linux)
Posted on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 9:04 AM by Jason Barker
CodeWeavers, which creates CrossOver software that enables you to run Windows applications in OS X and Linux, is giving away free registration codes to their applications. The deal is for today (10/28/08) only.
Their site is currently down due to the high traffic caused by the deal, so they are -- as of this writing (at 9:02 CST) -- making the downloads available here, and promising to publish the free registration codes later today.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Coffee Cup Commentaries
Posted on Thursday, October 09, 2008 at 10:16 PM by Jason Barker
Beginning Monday, October 20th, Ancient Faith Radio will begin offering the Coffee Cup Commentaries, a daily Bible study podcast with Fr. Lawrence Farley. Fr. Lawrence, author of The Orthodox Bible Study Companion series by Conciliar Press, will host the daily program examining the epistles of the Holy Apostle Paul.
Click here to listen to a promo for the podcast.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Online Resources
Prayers by the Lake
Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 1:24 PM by Jason Barker
Via Fr. Stephen Freeman, I learned that St. Nikolai Velimirovich's Prayers by the Lake are available online.
Posted in Online Resources
St. Brendan the Navigator
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 7:46 PM by Jason Barker
Fr. Christopher Metropulos has an interesting interview with Terry Mattingly about St. Brendan the Navigator. I mention this not only because it is an interesting conversation, but also because St. Brendan - whose feast day is May 16th - is my son's name saint.
You can learn more about St. Brendan, and order an icon, from Come & See Icons.
Posted in OCN, Online Resources
Free Course in Creating Interactive Multimedia
Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 at 10:04 AM by Jason Barker
Regular readers know that I occasionally encourage Orthodox Christians to develop multimedia educational materials. While most of my posts along these lines have involved either theories of education or free software for multimedia design (see here for an example of the latter), I just learned about a free online course from the University of Southern Queensland in creating interactive multimedia.
They describe the course:
Synopsis
This course will introduce students to some technologies, tools and techniques associated with the creation of interactive multimedia. The focus of the course will be on developing the capacity of professional educators to communicate effectively with professionals who contribute to the design and development of interactive multimedia. Students will be introduced to the characteristics of the elements of multimedia and to some tools and techniques commonly used in creation of multimedia. They will develop skills for creating simple examples of interactive multimedia suitable for delivery within a web browser.
Course objectives
The course objectives define the student learning outcomes for a course. The assessment item(s) that may be used to assess student achievement of an objective are shown in parenthesis. On successful completion of this course students will be able to:
Identify and describe significant characteristics of the elements of multimedia (Criteria for Educational Multimedia)
Demonstrate awareness of the variety of authoring tools and techniques used in the creation and delivery of interactive multimedia (Elements of Mulitmedia Portfolio)
Communicate effectively with multimedia professionals about the design, development and delivery of interactive multimedia for educational purposes (Criteria for Educational Multimedia, Elements of Multimedia Portfolio)
Evaluate the suitability of specific examples of multimedia for educational applications (Criteria for Educational Multimedia, Elements)
Plan, create and deploy simple examples of interactive multimedia in web browser environments. (Elements of Multimedia Portfolio, Flash Portfolio)
I haven't taken the course, and therefore cannot vouch for its effectiveness, but it sounds like it is worth investigating for someone who would like to develop interactive multimedia like my online Bible studies, but doesn't know where to begin.
Posted in Online Resources
Ancient Faith Radio Stations
Posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008 at 10:00 AM by Jason Barker
Ancient Faith Radio now offers two Internet radio stations: Ancient Faith Music, which streams Orthodox liturgical music interspersed with short quotes from the saints, modern Orthodox writers, and liturgical services, and Ancient Faith Talk, which offers content from AFR's podcasts in addition to Orthodox music.
Posted in Online Resources, Orthodox News
DLO OpenFM
Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 10:25 AM by Jason Barker
If you're like me, you listen to MP3s - and, in my case, particularly podcasts like those from Ancient Faith Radio and the Orthodox Christian Network - while driving. Using an MP3 player in an automobile - at least, for all but the few new autos with built in MP3 player-enabled stereos - requires using an FM transmitter to send the audio from your MP3 player to your stereo.
The problem, as those of you who use FM transmitters already know, is that you need to find an open FM frequency on which to "broadcast" the signal from your MP3 player. Via O'Reilly Mac DevCenter, I've learned about DLO's OpenFM, which enables you to search for open FM frequencies by ZIP code or city & state. The results come up with "best bet" and "good" signals to try.
While listening to Orthodox podcasts, don't forget to listen to GET WISDOM!
Posted in Online Resources
Icon New Media Network
Posted on Wednesday, December 05, 2007 at 11:23 AM by Jason Barker
A relatively new podcast network, Icon New Media Network, is offering podcasts for what appears to be an audience of largely 20-30 year olds. The primary voices are Jacob Lee and Steven McMeans, along with clergy and members of St. John the Theologian Orthodox Church in San Juan Capistrano, CA, and St. Barnabas Orthodox Church in Costa Mesa, CA.
Posted in Online Resources
NEW BIBLE STUDY BOOKLET
Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 9:45 AM by Jason Barker
You can now download my free, eight page, full-color booklet on Bible study, You Can Read the Bible: An Orthodox Guide to Bible Study.
The booklet gives a brief overview of why you should read the Bible, the role of Orthodox Tradition in Bible study, and three methods for engaging in transforming Bible study.
The first two episodes of GET WISDOM - and their study guides - were based on this booklet.
Download your free copy today!
Posted in Bible Studies, Get Wisdom!, OCN, Online Resources, Youth Department
Listening to The ARK and The RUDDER on OS X and Linux
Posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 at 1:05 PM by Jason Barker
As I've written before, listening to the Orthodox Christian Network's Internet radio stations can be difficult for users of OS X and Linux, because the player pages for those stations use Direct X to embed the Windows Media Player into a webpage. Since OS X and Linux do not use Direct X, the player cannot embed and play in those systems (plus, Microsoft stopped development of the Windows Media Player at version 9 for OSX, and it doesn't exist at all for Linux).
OS X users can use Flip4Mac to substitute QuickTime for Windows Media Player, although I've never been satisfied with the performance of this workaround.
I've therefore looked at the code for the player pages for The ARK and The RUDDER, and have found the URLs for the direct Windows media streams for these stations (I do this every few months when I notice that the stations have updated their streams, and thus the old URLs I've posted before no longer work). Simply paste the URL of your choice into your WMA-capable media player, and you'll be able to listen to the station on OS X or Linux:
THE ARK
128k Stream: http://stream.nwrnetwork.com:7475/SAM_WMA_3A-128
32k Stream: http://stream.nwrnetwork.com:7475/SAM_WMA_3A
THE RUDDER
128k Stream: http://stream.nwrnetwork.com:7475/SAM_WMA_1P-128
32k Stream: http://stream.nwrnetwork.com:7475/SAM_WMA_1P (Note: At this time I wasn't able to open this stream, but it is the one given in the code for the low-speed stream)
You will still want to go to The ARK and The RUDDER's player pages when you're listening to see the artist and song information.
Posted in OCN, Online Resources
Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 at 1:46 PM by Jason Barker
To give more insight into the processes involved with creating Orthodox multimedia materials (believe it or not, these processes are not always riveting), and to give you the latest updates about the specific resources on which I'm working, I'm now posting Twitter tweets on this blog. I'll regularly post updates of exactly what I'm working on at that time, enabling you to stay "up-to-the-minute" on the materials I create for the Department of Youth Ministry and the Orthodox Christian Network.
You can view the archive of my tweets, as well as follow them, by going to my Twitter profile.
Posted in Online Resources
GoodSearch
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 12:48 PM by Jason Barker
I learned from AppScout about a Yahoo-based search engine called GoodSearch, which donates approximately one penny to a designated charity for each search performed. There have been complaints about the fact that GoodSearch is only donating one-half of its ad-based revenue to charity, but this is nonetheless a good opportunity for churches and ministries to receive at least a little extra income.
When I looked yesterday, I saw that the Greek Archdiocese of America and the Orthodox Church in America, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, International Orthodox Christian Charities, and a number of individual parishes were already participating in the program (I just learned about GoodSearch yesterday, but it has apparently been around for awhile).
You can read about supporting your favorite charity, or registering your parish, at GoodSearch's website.
Posted in Online Resources
The Free Mac Classroom
Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 9:40 AM by Jason Barker
I've mentioned numerous times before (such as here) my heavy use of free and open source software. I recently learned about a site listing FOSS for OS X that is of particular interest to students and educators: The Free Mac Classroom. I use a number of the applications listed there, and recommend it as a resource for people on a tight budget who are preparing to start the new school year.
Posted in Online Resources
Photo Slideshow of Celtic Christian Sites
Posted on Thursday, July 19, 2007 at 7:04 AM by Jason Barker
Christianity Today has a fascinating slideshow of photos from an individual's pilgrimages to early Christian sites in Ireland.
Posted in Online Resources
OSB on "Come Receive the Light"
Posted on Saturday, July 07, 2007 at 7:48 AM by Jason Barker
This week's episode of Come Receive the Light features Fr. Bob Stanford talking about the forthcoming complete Orthodox Study Bible, scheduled to be published by Thomas Nelson in February 2008.
Click here to listen online or download an MP3 version.
Posted in Online Resources
Fr. Lawrence Farley on Reading the Scriptures
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 at 7:20 PM by Jason Barker
The Orthodox Christian Network is featuring an article by Fr. Lawrence Farley on reading the Scriptures. To summarize the article:
- We read the Scriptures on our knees.
- We read the Scriptures to become more holy.
- We read the Scriptures as part of the larger Tradition.
- We read the Old Testament as Christians.
Click here to read the entire article.
If you would like to get a head start on studying the First Epistle to the Corinthians - the subject for our Bible study launching in November - you can read Fr. Lawrence's commentary, First and Second Corinthians: Straight from the Heart.
Posted in Online Resources
The Rudder
Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 at 9:25 PM by Jason Barker
The Orthodox Christian Network has launched their new Internet radio station, The Rudder. The Rudder plays Orthodox hymns and liturgical music, and joins the OCN's other station, The Ark, in offering 24-hour Orthodox online radio.
I've written before about problems that Mac and Linux users may encounter in listening to the OCN's radio stations: because the player for these stations embeds Windows Media Player - the embedding requires ActiveX - into a web page, users of these systems may experience difficulty listening to the stations (Mac users will need to use Flip4Mac to substitute QuickTime for Windows Media Player, while Linux users simply cannot use the embedded player at all).
Users of these systems who want to listen to these stations without the embedded player can open the following URLs in your WMA-capable media player:
The Rudder - http://63.247.194.178:7475/SAM_WMA_1P-128
The Ark - http://63.247.194.178:7475/SAM_WMA_3A-128
Readers who use these direct URLs will still want to open the player pages in your browser in order to see artist and song information.
Posted in Online Resources
New English Translation of the Septuagint Available Online
Posted on Monday, July 02, 2007 at 10:30 AM by Jason Barker
Via Rick Brannan, I learned that the New English Translation of the Septuagint - to be published by Oxford University Press - is available online in PDF.
Posted in Online Resources
Online Strategies for Parents
Posted on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 at 10:14 AM by Jason Barker
CNet has a special article listing strategies parents can employ for, as the article is entitled, "Developing safe and smart Internet citizens." The strategies are developed according to age group. For example, concerning teens ages 13-15, the article states:
At this age, parents should assume their kids are interacting online--using IM, e-mail, text messaging--on a PC at home, at school, or at a friend's house. This is the age when online and, possibly, offline encounters with strangers are the biggest problem; kids in this age group admit to meeting strangers offline and typically don't consider such behavior a risk. Cyberbullying also changes to sexual harassment at this age, according to Aftab.
She advises that parents work on developing their child's "filter between the ears."
The article then goes on to give specific guidelines for handling Internet activity for members of this age group. The same is done for other age groups through age 16 and above.
Posted in Online Resources
Rome Reborn
Posted on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 12:25 PM by Jason Barker
From Mike
Aqulina's blog I learned about an
article published yesterday by Reuters about Rome
Reborn, a virtual model of Rome at its peak of one million people
under St. Constantine the Great. The notional date of the model is June
21, 320 A.D. The article says,
Brainchild of the University of Virginia's Bernard Frischer, Rome Reborn (www.romereborn.virginia.edu) will eventually show its evolution from Bronze Age hut settlements to the Sack of Rome in the 5th century AD and the devastating Gothic Wars.
The simulation will be opened in a theater near the Colosseum, but information and some images are available at the website linked above.
Posted in Online Resources
Three Strengths of Orthodoxy for Teens
Posted on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 10:59 AM by Jason Barker
In the current episode of Come Receive the Light, Chuck Powell lists three strengths of Orthodox Christianity for teens. To summarize:
- The Orthodox View of God - God is an all-loving and personal God.
- The Orthodox View of Creation - God's created world is a good thing.
- The Orthodox View of Salvation - Salvation consists of communion and unity with God. Christ destroyed the obstacles that prevent communion.
Click here to download the MP3 of this episode. The episode features an interview with Ninos Oshaana, the founder of The Orthodox Circle (about which I briefly wrote in another post).
Posted in Online Resources
Online Lexicons
Posted on Monday, June 11, 2007 at 11:00 AM by Jason Barker
The current edition of David Instone-Brewer's indispensible Tyndale Tech newsletter discusses online lexicons for biblical studies. Instone-Brewer particularly recommends his own Tyndale Archive of Biblical Studies, which contains public domain lexicons of Rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic, biblical Hebrew, Coptic and Syriac. He also recommends 2LetterLookup, which links to his lexicons as well as a number of others (including an Akkadian lexicon).
Posted in Online Resources
Orthodoxy Now
Posted on Wednesday, June 06, 2007 at 1:40 PM by Jason Barker
Reading the latest issue of The Word, I learned about Orthodoxy Now, an Orthodox Christian television program in Pittsburgh. The program is hosted by Kweilin Nassar and John Righetti.
Episodes of the program are online (viewing requires the QuickTime plugin).
Posted in Online Resources
"The Ark" Song Info Fixed
Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 1:19 PM by Jason Barker
Related to my post yesterday, The Ark has fixed the script problem that resulted in the song and artist information in their player page being stuck on "Abba Father" by Kerygma.
Ironically, when I first started The Ark today, I could not immediately tell that the problem had been fixed because the song playing at the time was "Abba Father!"
Posted in Online Resources
More About Listening to "The Ark" in OS X and Linux
Posted on Monday, May 28, 2007 at 3:33 PM by Jason Barker
Shortly after The Ark launched, I wrote about listening to The Ark in OS X and Linux. The problem for OS X and Linux users is that, because The Ark embeds the Windows Media Player into a player page, it was difficult for OS X - and impossible for Linux - users to listen to The Ark. OS X users can install Flip4Mac to play the media stream in QuickTime (which then embeds into the page in place of WMP), but this still left Linux users out in the cold. In my previous post on the subject I gave a direct URL to what at that time was the 128k stream of The Ark.
I noticed yesterday that the artist and song information in the player page were not updating - the list seems to be stuck on "Abba Father" by Kerygma. While looking at the source code for the player page to see if I could locate a problem (I couldn't), I noticed that the 128k stream to which the player page links has changed again to:
http://63.247.194.178:7475/SAM_WMA_3A-128 (the 32k stream is at http://63.247.194.178:7475/SAM_WMA_3A)
These new streams contain an expanded playlist, including the new shows and segments I mentioned yesterday.
If you are using Windows, or use Flip4Mac to stream Windows Media files through QuickTime, I encourage you listen to The Ark using the OCN's player page for the station. If, however, you cannot get Flip4Mac to work on your Mac (some people have experienced difficulty with the program, and even I have trouble with it in Camino, where it plays files without showing the QuickTime interface), or you are using Linux, pasting one of the above URLs into your media player will enable you to listen to contemporary Orthodox music radio.
Edited on: Monday, May 28, 2007 3:53 PMPosted in Online Resources
New Programs on "The Ark"
Posted on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 7:54 PM by Jason Barker
The Orthodox Christian Network has announced four new radio programs airing on The Ark: the "Featured Artist's Block" with Jimmy Santis, "Theologically Thinking" with Fr. Stanley Harakas, "The Jesus Story" with Fr. Antony Gabriel, and "Special Moments" with Archbishop DMITRI of the Orthodox Church in America.
Edited on: Sunday, May 27, 2007 7:54 PMPosted in Online Resources, Orthodox News
Creating a Multimedia Application
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 11:01 PM by Jason Barker
It is a tremendous blessing to be able to create multimedia Bible studies for Orthodox youth. I am always amazed that I have the opportunity to not only provide resources that can assist in the spiritual growth of young people (which of course is of the highest importance), but also that I have available the technological resources that I - someone who has no training, and all but no ability, in programming - need to be able to create works that when I was a teen I never could have imagined being able to create, and to make them easily available to people around the globe. If you feel led to create multimedia resources for your church or community, I strongly encourage you to give it a try; there is a tremendous need
It is best, of course, if you are able to use some of the standard professional applications for creating multimedia applications: Adobe Director and/or Flash, as well as PhotoShop for editing images and InDesign or QuarkXPress for creating downloadable documents. However, if you are experimenting to see if you have the determination or ability to create such applications - or if you do not have the financial resources at this time to invest in such rather expensive software - there are a number of low-cost and free applications that will enable you to do a great deal of significant work.
For (relatively) low cost options for creating multimedia applications, I recommend the applications of Digital Workshop. For example, for $125 you can purchase a copy of Opus Presenter: I used an older version of Opus to create my first full multimedia application, What Can Orthodox Christianity Mean to Me? (you can download the web version - which does not have the audio and video of the CD version - here), and was amazed by how easy the program was to learn and use.
What, however, can you get for free? Unfortunately, while there are no true equivalents to Director, Flash, or the Opus programs, there are nonetheless some free and open source applications that will at least allow you to experiment with multimedia development.
Perhaps the most full-featured and well-developed open source application is OpenLazlo, an application that creates and Flash and DHTML applications. It lacks WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), which means that you cannot see on the screen what you are designing until you've compiled and exported the application, but it will allow you to create small rich media applications.
An application that will enable you to create applications closer to those I create - full publications containing text and images, etc. - is Sophie, an alpha program from the Institute for the Future of the Book. I've played with the program a little, and it is an easy - albeit, since it is an alpha version, somewhat buggy - way to create multimedia interactive texts. One of the primary limitations on the program at this point is the fact that there is no player for publications created with Sophie: users must also install a copy of Sophie in order to view the publication.
There are much better options for open source applications for photo editing and desktop publishing. A very popular and highly regarded photo application for Windows is Paint.Net. A more full-featured, multi-platform image manipulation application is GIMP; I occasionally use Seashore - a simplified version of GIMP for OS X - when I need to quickly do a simple edit on a graphic and do not want to boot Windows to run my Windows version of PhotoShop. The most widely used open source desktop publishing application is Scribus.
Again, I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in creating Orthodox multimedia applications to give some of these a try. As I said, there are no real equivalents for Director and Flash (or even Opus), and anyone who engages in professional graphic work will eventually need to acquire standard applications like Photoshop, but these open source applications will enable you to start your own development without a substantial financial outlay.
Posted in Online Resources
Fr. Christopher Metropulos on Reading Scripture
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 at 4:12 PM by Jason Barker
I linked recently to an article written by Fr. Christopher Metropulos on studying to better understand the Orthodox Faith. Fr. Christopher - executive director of the Orthodox Christian Network and host of Come Receive the Light - has written an article dedicated entirely to studying Holy Scripture:
Reading and understanding the Holy Scriptures in the light and context of the wisdom preserved for you and your family in 20 centuries of Orthodox Christian teaching is literally a treasure house of spiritual medicine available to you today. So, how about taking the Bible off the shelf there at home and reading a bit of the Gospels to your family tonight before dinner. You just may light a fire of faith in the hearts of your children that will burn forever.
I encourage you to read the entire article.
Posted in Online Resources
"Hearts and Minds" Podcast
Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 5:58 PM by Jason Barker
I previously mentioned that Fr. John Oliver had an upcoming podcast, Hearts and Minds. The first episode is now online.
Posted in Online Resources
101 Fantastic Freebies
Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 8:45 AM by Jason Barker
PC World has put online their May cover article: 101 Fantastic Freebies. The list is similar to an earlier cover story by PC Magazine about which I wrote several months ago.
As I've written before, free and open source software is an excellent way for parishes and individuals to obtain good software.
Posted in Online Resources
Free Skype Calls for Mother's Day
Posted on Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 2:06 PM by Jason Barker
Skype is giving free SkypeOut calls (giving you the ability to call landline phones using Skype) for Mother's Day.
Orthodox Family Life, a now-defunct journal, has several articles on Mother's Day.
Posted in Online Resources
Another Podcast
Posted on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 12:11 PM by Jason Barker
I just noticed another podcast from Ancient Faith Radio that I had somehow missed: Close to Home by Molly Sabourin. Ms. Sabourin focuses on issues of family, faith, and community.
Posted in Online Resources
More Orthodox Podcasts from Ancient Faith Radio
Posted on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 12:04 PM by Jason Barker
Ancient Faith Radio continues to expand its available podcasts.
Khouria Frederica Mathewes-Green has a new podcast, Frederica Here and Now. It appears that the podcast will consist of Frederica's observations about life and the world around her. The podcast currently has a promotional announcement.
The Illumined Heart has a new feature: Ask Fr. Thomas Hopko. In this feature, Fr. Thomas will answer pre-submitted questions about Orthodoxy and the Bible on the last Sunday of each month. You can submit your questions to illuminedheart@ancientfaithradio.com.
Finally, Fr. John Oliver, author of Touching Heaven: Discovering Orthodox Christianity on the Island of Valaam, has a new podcast, Hearts and Minds. There are currently no episodes of Fr. John's podcast online, but it will apparently consist of an Orthodox perspective on modern culture.
Posted in Online Resources, Orthodox News
Two New Orthodox Resources
Posted on Thursday, May 03, 2007 at 11:00 AM by Jason Barker
Ancient Faith Radio has a new podcast, Pilgrims from Paradise with Matthew Gallatin (author of Thirsting for God in a Land of Shallow Wells).
Ancient Faith also has an interview with Ninos Oshaana, the founder of The Orthodox Circle, an Orthodox social networking site. I previously mentioned the need for Orthodox social networking for teens, and thus am interested in learning more about how The Orthodox Circle handles social networking.
Posted in Online Resources
New Podcast
Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 8:16 PM by Jason Barker
Ancient Faith Radio has a new weekly podcast, Faith and Philosophy - Reflections on Orthodoxy and Culture, with Clark Carlton. Episodes currently online discuss the Shroud of Turin, the significance of archaeological discoveries, and the therapeutic strategy of the Orthodox Church.
Posted in Online Resources
Latest Tyndale Tech Online
Posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 10:00 AM by Jason Barker
Related to yesterday's post, the current edition of Tyndale Tech is now online.
Posted in Online Resources
Tyndale Tech on Greek and Hebrew Fonts
Posted on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 6:02 PM by Jason Barker
David Instone-Brewer, whose Tyndale Tech newsletter I've mentioned before, has sent out a new edition focusing on computer fonts for biblical studies. He briefly discusses a number of fonts and options for word processors that enable PC and Mac users to read and write about biblical texts, and gives special attention to the problems with Hebrew fonts faced by Mac users (he recommends using NeoOffice for writing Hebrew).
Of particular note is Instone-Brewer's discussion of Unicode fonts; this is important because Unicode is becoming the global standard for computer text creation and display.
Tyndale House has a page with Greek and Hebrew fonts that can be downloaded, as well as texts with which these fonts can be used.
The current edition of Tyndale Tech is not available online, but I would be happy to forward a copy to you. You can reach me via email or IM using the contact information in the left sidebar.
Posted in Online Resources
Monachos.net
Posted on Monday, April 16, 2007 at 12:27 PM by Jason Barker
I highly recommend Monachos.net, an Orthodox website run by Matthew Steenberg with an array of resources for patristic, monastic, and liturgical study.
Posted in Online Resources
IM Me
Posted on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 8:19 PM by Jason Barker
You can now contact me via AOL Instant Messenger - as well as check to see if I'm available - by going to "IM" on the left sidebar and clicking the "Send Me an IM" link.
Posted in Online Resources
New Podcasts
Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 at 9:04 AM by Jason Barker
Ancient Faith Radio is rapidly expanding its number of podcasts. Currently available is Pastoral Ponderings, the new podcast from Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon. The podcast is an audio version of a weekly e-mail sent out by Fr. Patrick.
Coming April 14th is a podcast for children from clinical psychologist Chrissi Hart called Under the Grapevine (the title comes from her children's book, Under the Grapevine: A Miracle by Saint Kendeas of Cyprus). The podcast currently features an interview with Dr. Hart in which she reads her book.
Coming soon are podcasts by Clark Carlton, Matthew Gallatin, and Fr. Apostolos Hill.
Posted in Online Resources
Translation of the Didache
Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 at 11:48 AM by Jason Barker
Rick Brannan, who works with Logos Bible Software, has completed a translation of the Didache into English. His translation contains a phrasal breakdown of the text with an interlinear translation.
In addition to the different sections in the online series, he has also combined the series into a single PDF with an introduction.
Posted in Online Resources
New Orthodox Podcast
Posted on Friday, March 16, 2007 at 9:51 AM by Jason Barker
Ancient Faith Radio has a new podcast hosted by Fr. Joseph Huneycutt called OrthoDixie (named after Fr. Joseph's blog). The main page for the podcast currently links to two files, including an interview with Fr. Joseph by John Maddex.
The topic of the second file, The Cross, reminds me that Steven Robinson and Bill Gould have returned from their extended hiatus with a new edition of their Our Life in Christ program. Part of the current program features a discussion of the recent Christianity Today article on the sign of the cross.
Posted in Online Resources
Free Software for OS X
Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 at 10:59 AM by Jason Barker
In an earlier post I mentioned - as I've done a number of times in the past - my reliance on free and open source software (FOSS) in my work on Orthodox Christian Bible Studies. Below is a list of the FOSS applications I use on my MAC.
I should first note that, despite my dedication to FOSS, my primary tools for creating graphics and applications are not free: advanced, stable and widely used applications are a necessary expense for professional work. Thus, in OS X I currently use Director MX 2004 for creating the Shockwave applications themselves. Until my new software - Adobe Creative Suite 2 and Flash Studio 8 - arrives for my Mac, I use Creative Suite 1 and Flash MX (and Director MX for specific legacy work) in Windows. There are simply no FOSS equivalents for these applications: the closest thing to an equivalent would be replacing Photoshop with GIMP, and Photoshop is simply too powerful - and too much the standard - to replace it for professional work, although if I didn't have Photoshop GIMP would be acceptable for personal projects or small projects that do not need to be sent to outside collaborators or printers.
Nonetheless, there are a number of FOSS applications for OS X that I use heavily and recommend:
- Word Processor: I use NeoOffice, which is a Mac-specific port of OpenOffice.
- Script Editor: I use Smultron.
- Tree Information Manager: I use Jreepad for recording information - such as sprite locations, dimensions, and colors - related to each frame of the Director file. It records in plain text - rather than the more useful rich text of the Windows-only Keynote - but otherwise meets my basic needs for such records.
- FTP - I use Cyberduck.
- Clipboard Enhancement - I use iClip Lite to allow access to an array of items that I regularly need to paste (particularly Lingo scripts).
- Browser - Web browsers have been the biggest - and most surprising - disappointment for me in switching to a Mac. Opera - which is my favorite browser in Windows - is rather unstable in OS X, and has serious problems in the way it handles Flash. I debated between Camino and Firefox, and finally went with Firefox (which I used for a couple of years in Windows, from when it was called Phoenix to when I switched to Opera over a year ago): I heavily use several add-ons - particularly Copy Plain Text, MeasureIt, text/plain, and View Source Chart - for which there are not equivalent features in Camino, and I preferred to simply copy my Firefox password files from Windows instead of needing to add each password to Keychain in Camino.
- Email - As I have since it was in version 0.3, I use Thunderbird.
- Audio Recorder - I use Audacity.
- Phone - Because we cannot get a good mobile phone connection from our house, I use Skype for much of my long distance calling. The connection is sometimes problematic - a lot like a bad mobile phone signal - but it is usually usable, and free calls to friends and family who use Skype, as well as paying only $15 dollars for a year of calling landline phones in North America, was irresistable.
- Blogging - I create this blog using Thingamablog.
I use a number of other free applications for such things as media viewing and computer maintenance, but these are the FOSS applications I use in OS X that are directly related to my work for the Department of Youth Ministry.
Posted in Online Resources
Orthodoxy and Youtube
Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 1:32 PM by Jason Barker
I read an article this morning from the Rocky Mountain News about a Hassidic Jewish rabbi who uses Youtube to transmit religious messages and promote his programs. This prompted me to think about ways in which Orthodox groups could use Youtube. The Church is not entirely absent from Youtube (for example, St. Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church in Palos Hills, IL, has uploaded a number of videos about Orthodoxy to Youtube), but there is little Orthodox content created by or for teens.
A September 2006 study by Nielsen/Netratings found that teens spend an average of 26 hours and 48 minutes online each week, and a recent study by JupiterResearch states that 22 percent of online teens watch streaming video at least once per week (and, according to another study 76 percent of males regularly view online video): this means that online video provides a significant - and, as the Rocky Mountain News article shows, relatively inexpensive - way for Orthodox Christians to reach young people.
Christian teens creating Youtube videos isn't an unprecedented activity: a number of teens have participated in a Challenge Blasphemy project in response to the aggressive atheist Blasphemy Challenge. What is largely missing are distintively Orthodox Youtube videos: creating and uploading such videos could conceivably be a popular project for Orthodox youth groups, and would require little more than a video camera and broadband Internet access.
Contact me at the email address in the left sidebar if you know of any Youtube - or similar site - videos for Orthodox teens.
Posted in Online Resources
A Free Software Site
Posted on Monday, February 19, 2007 at 3:45 PM by Jason Barker
After reading my earlier post on free and open source software, Fr. Thomas Soroka (host of The Path podcast) pointed me to Software for Starving Students, which has free downloads of disc images of free and open source software for Windows and OS X.
You will need a broadband connection to download the disc images.
Posted in Online Resources
New Orthodox Podcasts
Posted on Friday, February 16, 2007 at 2:34 PM by Jason Barker
In addition to the Ancient Faith Radio's excellent The Path (which features the daily Epistle and Gospel readings, with commentary by Fr. Tom Soroka) and Our Life in Christ (an MP3 recording of Steven Robinson and Bill Gould's radio program), as well as Annunciation Cathedral's Orthodox Word podcast (featuring the daily readings, as well as biographies and hymns for the saints of the day), there are a couple of new podcast feeds that may be of interest to readers.
First, Ancient Faith Radio has a new podcast. The Illumined Heart interviews Orthodox speakers and personalities. Since one of the hosts of the podcast is Steve McMeans, director of the Orthodox Speaker's Bureau, and the first guest to be interviewed is Frederica Mathewes-Green - who is a speaker with the OSB - I assume the interviews for awhile will be with individuals affiliated with the OSB.
Second, the Orthodox Christian Network has created a new feed for Come Receive the Light.
Posted in Online Resources
Free Software
Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 at 12:57 PM by Jason Barker
I earlier mentioned my heavy use of freeware and open source software: many of the applications are of a high (or at least perfectly reasonable and useable) quality, and using such software is a good way - and, with my budget, a truly essential way - of stretching ministry resources.
PC Magazine's current issue features a list of recommended freeware and open source applications; I used many of these - such as Avast, Notepad++, FileZilla, Audacity, and Skype - on my old PC (and still use Skype on my Mac to make the majority of my long-distance calls).
Freeware and open source applications are a good way for parishes and ministries to obtain useable software.
Posted in Online Resources
Listening to The Ark in OS X and Linux
Posted on Thursday, February 01, 2007 at 5:43 PM by Jason Barker
I wrote last month about the Orthodox Christian Network launching The Ark, their new 24-hour Orthodox Internet radio station.
The streaming service used by The Ark incorporates an embedded media player, meaning that The Ark's page loads the Windows Media Player into a small webpage in your browser. This creates a problem for people using OS X or Linux rather than Windows, because embedding the Windows Media Player into a page requires Active X, which is only present in Windows. Thus, potential listeners who use OS X or Linux may have found themselves unable to listen to the station.
By looking at the code for the page for the high-speed web stream, I was able to find the direct URL for The Ark's stream:
http://63.247.194.178:7475/SAM_WMA_1O
Opening that link directly in your WMA-capable media player will enable you to listen to The Ark without having Active X. You will lose the artist and title listings - and the promotional graphics - that are part of The Ark's player page, but you will now be able to listen to the stream if you are using something other than Windows.
Posted in Online Resources
12 Byzantine Rulers
Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 at 8:51 AM by Jason Barker
Mike Aquilina notes an article in the New York Times about Lars Brownworth, a history teacher whose podcast 12 Byzantine Rulers is one of the most popular on the Internet. The podcasts give historical overviews (not, for those readers who need such a note, faith-based overviews) of some of the leaders of the Byzantine Empire. I listend to a few of the podcasts a number of months ago, and found them quite engaging.
I note this article not because of the podcasts themselves - although readers may find them interesting - but because this podcast manages to counter the general lack of listenership for podcasts. This podcast demonstrates that it is possible to create audio files on a non-mainstream subject - and one that is at least related to Orthodox Christianity - and still attract a solid listenership. This gives hope for the excellent Orthodox Word and The Path podcasts, and perhaps gives added incentive to creating a podcast for Orthodox youth.
Posted in Online Resources
The Path
Posted on Thursday, January 25, 2007 at 9:21 PM by Jason Barker
Ancient Faith Radio has just announced a new daily program featuring Bible readings. Their current newsletter describes The Path:
"The Path" will feature readings from the daily and festal epistles and gospels. Appropriate Old Testament readings will be featured during Great Lent. Thoughtful words inspired by traditional Orthodox commentary and writings will also be featured, along with references to the commemorations of the saints.
The ten minute broadcast will air Monday through Friday at 8:00 a.m. ET, 12:30 p.m. ET, and 11:00 p.m. ET. They will also be available via download on Ancient Faith Radio's web site and as a podcast via free RSS subsription for users of Itunes, Ipods and other MP3 players.
These broadcasts will be hosted by Fr. Tom Soroka, rector of Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church (OCA) in McKees Rocks, PA near Pittsburgh. In our interview with Fr. Tom announcing the new broadcast and podcast, he said, "It is very important that Orthodox Christians become familiar with the scriptures, not only with the readings they hear on Sundays, but the entire, rich lectionary of our Faith. We encourage everyone to read the word of God for their own spiritual growth, but we also acknowledge that there is a need for recorded material to bring the scriptures into the lives of busy people. I look forward to working together with Ancient Faith Radio to develop this daily broadcast.
An audio announcement and introduction of "The Path" is available by clicking HERE.
I again encourage readers to adopt the discipline of reading the Bible in a year.
Posted in Online Resources
Tyndale-Tech on Online Bible Study Tools
Posted on Thursday, January 25, 2007 at 9:47 AM by Jason Barker
David Instone-Brewer, the Technical Officer at Tyndale House, Cambridge, has an email newsletter called Tyndale Tech in which he discusses Bible and Church history resources available for the computer. Two recent newsletters contain general resources that might be helpful for engaging in Bible study on the parish level.
The November issue, Finding the Right Web Bible Tool for the Job, provides links to free general online Bible study resources. The January issue (not yet online; email me at the address in the left sidebar if you would like me to forward a copy), "Searching for Academic Research on the Web," provides links to online databases for biblical and religion research.
Posted in Online Resources
Commentary by St. Cyril of Alexandria
Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 9:45 PM by Jason Barker
Jim Davila of PaleoJudaica posted the findings of another individual that a number of 19th and early 20th century English translations of Syriac writers (among them such patristic writers as St. Ephrem the Syrian) are available for download.
Of particular interest to users of Orthodox Christian Bible Studies is the two-volume commentary by St. Cyril of Alexandria on the Gospel according to St. Luke.
Posted in Online Resources
Orthodox Christian Radio
Posted on Sunday, January 21, 2007 at 6:56 PM by Jason Barker
The Orthodox Christian Network has launched their new 24-hour Orthodox Internet radio station, The Ark. Based on what I have heard so far, the station plays a mixture of Orthodox talk (particularly, of course, Come Receive the Light) and music. The music includes some recordings of traditional Orthodox hymns, but also includes what might be called "Contemporary Orthodox Music" (the type of music recorded and distributed by St. Romanos Records). They also play some music by non-Orthodox musicians - the first song I heard was "Sing Your Praise to the Lord" by Rich Mullins.
In addition to The Ark, I encourage you to listen to Ancient Faith Radio. Ancient Faith Radio features a mixture of Orthodox talk programs (including Come Receive the Light, Our Life in Christ - to whose podcast I've previously mentioned listening - and recordings of sermons and lectures) and recordings of Orthodox hymns. I particularly like the fact that they offer a 128k MP3 stream.
Both Internet stations are engaging in creating localized content. The Ark has a program through which parishes can create localized streams that will play sermons and announcements from local parishes, and Ancient Faith Radio has a program helping parishes to create commercials that can air on AM/FM radio stations.
Posted in Online Resources, Orthodox News
Fr. Christopher Metropulos on Media Ministry
Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 at 10:57 AM by Jason Barker
Fr. Christopher Metropulos, the host of Come Receive the Light and director of the Orthodox Christian Network, has written in his current newsletter about the importance of using technology and the media in Orthodox Christian outreach and education. While his focus is on the need to support the OCN's radio ministry (particularly on January 21st, 2007, which is Share the Light Sunday), his points are equally valid for Orthodox Christian multimedia Bible study:
Our world is increasingly connected electronically. This generation will be the most technologically advanced generation in the history of humanity. What use to take vast rooms filled with printed books now can be reduced to a small compact disk. Our children and grandchildren don’t go to the library to research, they jump on a high speed internet connection and read materials cataloged on web sites all around the world. An IPod can hold 20,000 songs AND video. Communication technology has advanced so fast that the cell phone screen is now called “the Fourth Screen” joining ranks with the Television, the Computer, and the Movie screen. Program producers are now actually producing media products specifically for the cell phone screen.
People are increasingly getting their media across faster and faster data lines, and cable companies and telephone companies are fighting over who will get the most bandwidth. And technology keeps on inventing new ways to stay in touch.
It would be very easy to be overwhelmed by this march of progress, but it would also be a serious mistake. A recent survey found that almost 24% of all adults use the internet to search for religious themes and that number increases every year. Media is finding its way into our lives at every possible turn. From electronic billboards on the highways, to commercials sent directly to our cell phones, and even in the bottoms of the trays at the airport where you put your shoes before you pass through security. We are being bombarded with communication.
This is the world our children and grandchildren will consider normal. This is the world where we are all called to serve and share the timeless faith of Orthodoxy. If we foolishly believe we can afford to leave our faith locked away securely behind the walls of our church buildings, we will unwittingly sacrifice a generation who is looking for spiritual answers.
Our greatest treasure is our faith. Our greatest challenge is passing on our greatest treasure to the next generation so they can, in turn, pass it on to the next generation. Our greatest opportunity to accomplish this task is made even more possible by the communication technology that exists today.
You can read more in the newsletter, as well as obtain information about supporting the important work of the Orthodox Christian Network. You can click here to learn how you can also support the Department of Youth Ministry's efforts on behalf of Orthodox youth.
Posted in Online Resources
Recordings from November 2006 OCL Conference
Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 at 10:22 AM by Jason Barker
Orthodox Christian Laity held its annual conference last November at Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Linthicum, MD. Audio recordings from this conference are available online in MP3 format.
I listened to two presentations on my morning walk earlier this week, and was very impressed by their content:
- So What Do the Converts Want, Anyway? - Terry Mattingly explains, with extensive anecdotes from his own experience, some of the things about Orthodox Christianity that attract inquirers into Orthodoxy. He also lists ways he believes parishes can reach out to potential inquirers.
- Working with the Orthodox Church - Andrew Natsios discusses some of the ways Christians in North America can help Orthodox Christians in parts of the world in which the Church experiences suffering and persecution.
Among other presenters are V. Rev. Fr. Peter Gillquist, Fr. Kevin Scherer, and Sdn. Robert Miclean.
Posted in Online Resources, Orthodox News
Subscribe through Email
Posted on Thursday, January 04, 2007 at 10:01 AM by Jason Barker
You can now receive the articles from this blog in your email - simply enter your email address in the "Subscribe by Email" box in the right sidebar of the blog's homepage.
The subscriptions are provided through FeedBlitz: the email you receive will thus give FeedBlitz as the sender, and the subject line will include "Orthodox Christian Bible Studies Blog."
Posted in Online Resources
Read the Bible in a Year
Posted on Saturday, December 30, 2006 at 4:03 PM by Jason Barker
A great plan for 2007 - regardless of whether you make "New Year's resolutions" - is to read through the entire Bible in 365 days.
Bible Explorer - the free application I mentioned in the previous post - includes a "Bible Reading Planner" feature. The Evangelical Protestant website Crosswalk allows you to not only read several chapters of the Bible each day (including using the New King James Version), but also to chart your progress.
Orthodox Christians should also follow the daily New Testament readings of the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church in America enables you to follow the daily readings on their website. If you prefer to listen to the readings, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Akron, OH, gives the daily readings - as well as a biography of the saint(s) commemorated that day, including troparion and kontakion - in their Orthodox Word podcast.
Posted in Online Resources
Bible Explorer Available for Free
Posted on Saturday, December 30, 2006 at 1:36 PM by Jason Barker
John Fidel announced on the Bible Software Review Weblog that Bible Explorer - a Bible study application that previously retailed for around $20 dollars - is now available as a free download.
The free version of Bible Explorer contains Bible resources that are in the public domain: the King James Version, Smith's Bible Dictionary, etc. Some of these are not particularly useful to Orthodox Christians (such as Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional and Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary), and the study resources are often, of course, a bit out-of-date, but Bible Explorer is nonetheless an adequate application for users who want a free Bible study application and do not need to engage in study of the original languages.
Members of Teen SOYO and the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America should be aware that the New King James Version - the translation used in my Bible studies and the Orthodox Study Bible - is only available for Bible Explorer as a $30 dollar download.
If you are interested in using the Opera browser to directly access free online Bible study resources (including searching the NKJV), you might want to read my post on the old blog.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
InsertBible
Posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 10:56 AM by Jason Barker
I strongly recommend a free Bible study tool by Michael Stead for Microsoft Word called InsertBible. To quote the website:
InsertBible is a series of MS Word macros for biblical scholars to use to insert original language texts into a word document. It uses unicode fonts, and works best with MS Word 2003. It may also run on Word 2002 (i.e. Office XP), but may require an extra step to get Hebrew fonts displaying correctly. As yet, there is no version for Mac.
Particularly useful for Orthodox Christian Bible study is the fact that InsertBible includes the LXX.
InsertBible is free, but requires faxing a signed Center for Computer Analysis of Texts (CCAT) form as registration in order to download the tool.
Posted in Online Resources
"We are Teachers"
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 9:31 AM by Jason Barker
A post on Dynamis, a daily scriptural reading and devotional from St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Wichita, KS, provides a good conclusion to yesterday's post on developing credibility for our online Bible studies:
Let each of us, in whatever station we find ourselves, remember that we are teachers. May our lives instruct in the “wholesome words...of our Lord Jesus Christ, and...the doctrine which accords with godliness” (vs. 3). Otherwise, we betray Christ. To live the Faith is not right words and pious gestures. Rather it has to do with determining when to “flee... [all kinds of evil] and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness” (vs. 11).
In case you have not read Dynamis before, I strongly recommend subscribing. You can receive a free email subscription by sending a blank email to orthodoxdynamis-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Youth and Online Learning: Establishing Credibility
Posted on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 7:53 PM by Jason Barker
In yesterday's post I briefly discussed some of the ways in which online Bible study applications are particularly useful for youth, who are frequently (if not typically) "digital natives." The blog Spotlight: Blogging the Field of Digital Media and Learning recently pointed out a significant factor with which I also concluded yesterday's post: youth will not interact with an educational resource which they believe lacks credibility.
This raises a significant issue: how can an educational resource establish its credibility so that its target audience will utilize the resource? In other words, even though our Bible studies are credible, how can youth be convinced of their credibility if they will not engage in the studies until they are assured of the credibility of the material?
For Orthodox Christian adults, the fact that the Bible studies on which I work are a ministry of the Youth Department of the Antiochian Archdiocese is generally sufficient to establish their credibility. For youth, however, such an informal institutional imprimatur is not necessarily adequate to establish credibility with them.
Youth generally assess the credibility of a source according to its acceptance or rejection by their social networks, rather than engaging in completely independent, objective study and analysis. The problem is that these youth, both individually and collectively, usually lack the critical skills and experience needed to accurately assess the value of the material they are learning.
The solution to this situation is for knowledgeable Orthodox Christians to participate in social networks and promote Orthodox Christian Bible study.
Orthodox youth workers perform an essential role in this endeavor. Because Orthodox Bible study is never an exclusively individual and private activity, but instead is always conducted within the Orthodox community, our Bible study applications are designed to be used in conjunction with group Bible studies in local parishes (for example, the applications contain PDF handouts designed primarily for use in these group studies). By supporting and encouraging the use of these Bible studies to the youth with whom they have a personal relationship, youth workers can go a long ways toward establishing the credibility of these studies with Orthodox youth.
Orthodox youth themselves can perform a similar role with their friends, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox. By recommending these Bible studies to friends who know them and trust their judgment, Orthodox youth can establish the credibility of these studies within their social networks.
Finding ways to increase personal interactivity on our website itself is another way in which credibility can be established and enhanced. For example, one thing I am currently considering adding to the upcoming study on the Gospel according to St. Luke is a way for users to submit questions about the biblical book that would be answered on the OrthodoxYouth website (similar to the Ask Abouna feature Fr. Anthony Yazge ran on the Antiochian Archdiocese's website). This would provide at least some of the interaction that many youth believe is essential in a credible resource.
"Ask Abouna" also provides another possibility for interaction. "Ask Abouna" was at one time a chat room in which youth could ask questions that could be immediately answered and discussed. An online, chat-based Bible study could be conducted from the website, as could a Bible study listserv. Such features, while potentially quite useful, would necessitate having knowledgeable and committed Orthodox Christian adults to guide and monitor the discussions, as well as financial supporters to help provide any upgrades needed in our equipment to facilitate such resources.
Do you have any comments or suggestions? If so, you can contact me at the email address in the left sidebar.
Edited on: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 8:09 PMPosted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Youth and Online Learning:
Posted on Monday, December 11, 2006 at 4:24 PM by Jason Barker
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is sponsoring, as part of their Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning initiative, a blog called Spotlight: Blogging the Field of Digital Media and Learning.
Each week the scholars involved with the blog write about a different issue. I found particularly relevant to my work in online biblical education to be the blog's week on credibility. In one post Miriam Metzger and Andrew Flanagin note:
Contemporary youth are a particularly interesting group to consider with regard to [issues involving the credibility of online resources]. On the one hand, those who have literally grown up in an environment saturated with digital media technologies can be seen as ”digital natives,” who may be highly skilled in their use of technologies to access, consume, and generate information. This view suggests that in light of their special relationship to digital technologies, youth are especially well-positioned to navigate the complex media environment successfully.
On the other hand, youth can be viewed as inhibited, in terms of their cognitive and emotional development, life experiences, and familiarity with the media apparatus. This view suggests that although youth are talented and comfortable users of technology, they may lack crucial tools that aid them to seek and consume information effectively.
Kate Wittenberg similarly points out:
While students clearly demonstrate a desire to explore freely the vast array of content and tools available through the Web, it is becoming equally clear that in many cases they do need some level of guidance concerning how to select and evaluate the information that they find.
This is very close to a point I made in my thesis for my MA in Applied Orthodox Theology (with the stultifying title, "A Foundation for Using Multimedia Software Applications as a Medium for Bible Studies for Orthodox Christian Adolescents"):
Learners with experience in hypertextual learning environments - which most adolescents now have through home and/or school Internet usage - are able to move as fluidly within the nonlinear structure as through a traditional linear educational structure; this fluidity is identical for both male and female users. This prior experience with hypertext creates within the learner a positive control belief regarding the potential for success in learning; combined with the fluid experience itself, this can often result in the learner experiencing flow (a state of intense concentration and enjoyment) while learning.
At the same time, learners who require a high degree of extrinsic control and guided learning can experience disorientation in a nonlinear, open-task learning environment. For this reason, multimedia applications are most effective when they provide both non-linear and linear learning paths: flexible, non-linear learning paths allow experienced, confident users to follow multiple informational routes; linear learning paths, however, provide the fixed structure and instructional assistance necessary to maximize the learning experience for users who require guided learning.
To use the See the Vision study of Acts as an example, users who are comfortable with non-linear learning can study by following an array of information paths:
- Choosing from a selection of articles on each chapter's home page.
- Choosing a topic of interest from one of the subject indices available from the top navigational menu of each screen; and
- Following the hyperlinks in each article to another article of interest.
Users who require a more limited informational path (or who simply want an overview of the material), however, can choose one of the resources available in the "Fast Track" menu for each chapter (the biblical text, a handout quickly surveying the chapter, and/or a quiz on the biblical text).
I believe these Bible study applications provide an effective educational resource by enabling users to tailor their learning experience to their need for more-or-less linear informational paths. Thus, to use the terminology of Metzger and Flanagin, the Bible studies provide a useful "complex media environment" that can be successfully navigated by "digital natives."
What can be said, however, about the way in which youths perceive the credibility of these studies? Even if the content and navigational structures are in fact solid - as, of course, I say they are - how can potential users determine (at least to the initial extent that they will be willing to interact with the material) the credibility of the information found in the studies?
I'll briefly talk about that in my next post. A little preview: one way credibility can be established - at least for Orthodox youth (who are, of course, the primary audience for these studies) - by youth workers.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Patrologia Graeca Available Online
Posted on Saturday, December 09, 2006 at 6:48 PM by Jason Barker
J.P. Migne's Patrologia Graeca, a 161-volume collection of patristic texts, is available for free from Google Book Search. A list of the writer(s) of each volume is available here.
A brief discussion on Mike Aquilina's blog points out some of the difficulties you will encounter if you are inclined to download the contents of the PG.
For those of you unfamiliar with the PG, you should know that the texts, of course, are in Greek.
Posted in Online Resources
Do You Listen to Podcasts?
Posted on Friday, December 08, 2006 at 12:01 AM by Jason Barker
A feature I've considered adding to my Bible study projects each year is a podcast. The basic idea is to give a daily Bible reading from the biblical book being studied, and perhaps a brief commentary.
One reason for doing this is the prevalence of MP3 players among teens (the target demographic for the resources created by the Department of Youth Ministry). For example, a recent study of 1,000 Americans aged 13 to 18 determined that 33 percent own an iPod (and this does not count all the other brands of MP3 players).
On the other hand, however, another recent survey found that only 12 percent of Americans have ever downloaded a podcast, and a mere one percent said that they would download a podcast on a typical day. Granted, this survey was taken from a wide range of ages, and thus the percentage of teens who listen to podcasts may be higher, but it is unlikely to be radically higher.
I download podcasts daily, and listen to them as I walk in the morning. I listen to the Orthodox Word podcast each day, and the weekly MP3 recording of the Come Receive the Light radio program; I download podcasts from other radio programs if I am interested in the topic they are discussing (a frequent weekly MP3 file on my player is this WEEK in TECH - yes, the capitalization is correct - and I download Steven Robinson and Bill Gould's Our Life in Christ program when new episodes are available).
Do you listen to podcasts, and would you be interested in a podcast of Orthodox Christian Bible studies? You can tell me by using the email link on the left sidebar.
Posted in Online Resources