USING A COMPUTER IN BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

Tyndale Seminary, Toronto
and University of Toronto, Wycliffe College

Taught by Dr. Harry Hahne

Course Description:

A practical survey of computing tools that assist research and writing in biblical and theological studies. Students will learn about computer software and techniques for studying the Bible, doing research, organizing information, formatting bibliographies and writing papers and sermons. The course will include an introduction to using biblical and theological resources on CD-ROM, the Internet and the World Wide Web. The course is open to anyone and does not require access to a personal computer.

Downloading Course Notes and Software:

You can copy the course notes to read and print on your own computer. The notes may be downloaded from http://www.balboa-software.com/hahne/scnotes.htm.

Each lesson also provides the opportunity to download public domain and shareware programs. Press here to learn how to download course software.

Computer Resources Database:

A database is being built with a growing directory of computer resources for seminary students and ministers. It includes a bibliography on computer-assisted research, Internet theological discussion groups, World Wide Web sites of interest to biblical and theological studies, FTP sites for downloading shareware and public domain software, and many other resources. New references will be added to the database periodically during the course.

To search the database in the Tyndale library computer lab, double click on the "Computer Resources Database" icon.

You may download a personal copy of the database for your own PC. When you download the database, you will also receive a read-only version of Library Master so you can browse and search the database on any IBM PC compatible computer.

Course Outline:

Click on the underlined words to view course notes on a topic.

Introduction: How a computer can help in seminary and ministry. An introduction to computers and computer-assisted research. How a computer works. Understanding computer terms. Selecting a personal computer. How to select commercial and free computer programs best suited for the needs of seminary students, pastors and missionaries. How a computer can assist research and writing in seminary and ministry. Working efficiently with a computer. Sources of information about computer-assisted biblical research.
Writing the perfect paper. An survey of useful writing tools for students and pastors. Powerful, time saving word processing features. Avoiding common mistakes when using a word processor. Multilingual word processing with Greek and Hebrew. How to organize your ideas. Software for automatic formatting of bibliographies and footnotes.
Managing your information. Database management, bibliography formatting and note-taking software. Organizing information for your studies, ministry and church.
Doing research in the information age. CD-ROM and online information sources. Using the Internet and the World Wide Web for theological research. Techniques for finding useful information online. Online discussion groups devoted to biblical and theological subjects. Using electronic editions of Bible atlases, lexicons, concordances and commentaries.
Computer-Assisted Bible Study, Part 1. Selecting software for studying the Bible. Using Bible-search software for word studies, topical studies and inductive study of a Bible passage. Using a computer to improve your knowledge of Greek and Hebrew.
Computer-Assisted Bible Study, Part 2. Techniques for accurate computer-assisted Bible study. Avoiding common methodological errors. Reasons for variations in search results. Differences in available machine-readable texts. Performing grammatical analysis of the Greek and Hebrew biblical texts. Using generic text-analysis software for biblical research.

Bibliography:

A course bibliography lists books, articles and Internet resources mentioned in the course notes as well as many others. The bibliography is available in the following forms:

Annotated Bibliography. References are grouped by type of material (e.g. book, article, World Wide Web site).
Subject Bibliography. All references are organized by subject, but with no annotations.
Both bibliographies in WordPerfect format.
A searchable database which can be used with IBM PC compatible computers. This is always the most up-to-date form of the bibliography.

The bibliographies will be expanded periodically throughout the course, so check them frequently for changes.

Go to Top of Page