Online Systematic Theology
and the Chafer Theological Seminary Website
by Tom Wright
Introduction
In 1996, Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum wrote in Chafer Theological Seminary’ Journal, ―It
has been my observation that over the last 10-15 years, more and more believers are
becoming biblically illiterate; such illiteracy leads to seeking new spiritual experiences,
no matter where they may come from, and to a lack of knowledge of Scripture to evaluate
these experiences biblically. The church has, indeed, entered a sad state and one author's
book, Christianity in Crisis, is very aptly named.‖
Since his writing in 1996, we have continued to watch the historic theological positions
being eroded from within evangelical Christianity, including the advances of progressive
dispensationalism, replacement theology, Lordship salvation, preterism, etc.
During the same period, and up to this moment, another phenomenon—the Internet—has
been burgeoning. Today, we are in a cultural war, and one major battlefield is the
Internet. On the Internet battlefield, the forces of secular humanism are militantly fighting
against our Judeo-Christian heritage. The Council for Secular Humanism, at their Internet
home, declares that they are ―serving secular humanists, atheists, agnostics, freethinkers,
rationalists, materialists, skeptics, and all those interested in ethical living free of
religion.‖ Theirs is only one of hundreds of websites dedicated to providing intellectual
support for their army.
However, as our decaying Judeo-Christian heritage is being attacked by the forces of
secular humanism, I am encouraged regarding the timeliness of the CTS project, which I
wish to present to you, today. Our project is dedicated to using the Internet to provide
theological support for Christian soldiers on the field of battle.
The project embraces an Online Systematic Theology, primarily for use by growing
Christians, whether they are laymen, Sunday School teachers, missionaries, evangelists,
or pastors. Additionally, anonymous Internet users, including unbelievers, may find a
clear presentation of the Gospel, as well as doctrinal materials that are oriented toward
answering the question, ―After salvation, what?‖
The Online systematic Theology is organized in a manner similar to that of traditional
Systematic Theologies. It has multiple volumes, each of which being oriented to a
specific category of theology, and each having its own Table of Contents. There is a
Master Index, alphabetized for every keyword found in all ten Tables of Contents. The
layout for the Master Index is that of a KeyWord In Context (KWIC) Index, including a
useful amount of left and right context for each keyword. And, within the Online
Systematic Theology are documents containing theological content, including point-by-
point Bible Doctrines, Maps, Charts, Images, Power Point Presentations, Internet Links,
and virtually any machine readable objects. Verse-by-verse Bible studies, while not the
primary subject matter of a Systematic Theology, may also be linked within this
structure.
You have spent the first two days of this conference learning about a software tool to help
you become more efficient in your personal bible study and in the preparation of
materials for your teaching ministries. And in many ways, your becoming more efficient
will assist us in this cultural war, of which I spoke earlier. In this presentation, I will
introduce an Internet tool, whose purpose also includes helping teachers and serious
Bible students become more efficient in their study of theological concepts.
An Online Systematic Theology
For the past year, Jim Myers, Robby Dean, and Tod Kennedy have been working with me
on a project to add additional Biblical content to the Chafer Theological Seminary
website. Today, I am happy to report to you on our progress.
I will begin by listing some of the project goals. Then, I would like to introduce to you a
demonstration website. After you have gotten a feel for what the project is about, I will
talk some about content, operations, and will ask for your active participation.
Purpose of the Online Systematic Theology Project
Our purpose is, first and foremost, to honor our Lord Jesus Christ by sharing His Word
with the millions of anonymous users of the Internet. To accomplish this, we will provide
additional categorical dispensational Bible study content to the present CTS website.
In his book, A Pastor’s Manual on Doing Church, Dr. Mal Couch wrote a section on
websites for local churches, which I heartily recommend for your reading. In that section,
Dr. Couch wrote, ―…the Internet potentially extends the reach of your church
worldwide.‖ We want to reach the millions of Internet users, who use search engines to
find Biblical content for application in their lives, helping them to answer the question,
―After salvation what?‖ Our goal is to help them to grow spiritually through the intake of
sound doctrine.
We want to present Biblical content in a format that is friendly to Christians, who are
hungry for understanding the theology that underlies the narrative of the Scriptures. That
is, this part of our website’s content will not be required to meet the rigorous scholarship
standards of the CTS Journal, or that level of academic scholarship required of seminary
students. However, its content must be suited to the general use of seminary students,
pastor-teachers, serious Bible students, and any other anonymous visitors to the website.
We will present theological content in a web-based structure that is similar to that of a
traditional Systematic Theology. Thus, its parts would include those found in traditional
hardcopy systematic theologies: Table of Contents, Index, Glossary of Biblical
Terminology, and Theological Content.
Our goals include enabling some Bible students to organize and to locate their personal
machine readable and hardcopy Bible study notes. Some pastors and serious students,
who have collected many years of Bible notes, may wish to download the entire database
structure of this website, and to link their personal Bible study notes into it, thereby
building a Personal Systematic Theology.
Our purpose is to be a public source for Biblical theology, rather than a forum for
theological debate. Of course, it is essential that any theological content placed on a CTS
website agrees with the CTS Doctrinal Statement, being subject to peer review by CTS
theologians. Again, Dr. Couch wrote, ―Make sure you, or another doctrinally astute
leader, has direct editorial control or at least oversight. A website is like a pulpit on
steroids. It is a megaphone to the world.‖
While the content will be suitable for the general presentation of categorical Bible
studies, the project, at the present, does not embrace the goals of the CTS Distant
Learning project. And, the first goal bears repeating: We must maintain our perspective,
that the Online Systematic Theology is not an end in itself, but rather a venue for helping
Christians bring honor and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ through a better understanding
of His Word and its relevance to their daily lives.
Online Systematic Theology—Structure of Demo Website
Tables of Contents Index
( Key Word In Context )
1. Theology Adam to Abraham
Glossary Abrahamic Covenant
2. Christology d Testament Anticipation of His
The Virgin Birth of Christ
3. Pneumatology Session of Christ, Necessity o
tributes Of Deity ~ Holy Spirit
4. Bibliology is Works in Eternity Past ~ Fat
5. Angelology Summary And ions in the First Century
Hebrew and Greek Words for Sou
6. Anthropology Master E-Links cerning the Hypostatic Union, E
fillment of Israel’s Unconditio
7. Soteriology The Date of Jesus’ Birth ~ Virg
To be the Kinsman Redeemer
8. Israelology iage of the Lamb
His Messianic Conscious
9. Ecclesiology Purpose and Necessity of the Re
Trespass Offering ~ Non-Swee
10.Eschatology Verbal, Plenary Inspiration
A Universal Priesthood
Doctrines ibulational Rapture ~ Rapture V
Maps The Second Resurrection
Paul’s Third Missionary Jo
Charts ustainer of Universe ~ Christ’s
PPTs Verbal, Plenary Ins
Links er, Calvin, Zwingli ~ Reform Th
The above graphic is an overview of the components of the project. The KWIC Index is a
single web page, as are each of the ten Tables of Contents, the Glossary, and all of the
content pages.
The Online Systematic Theology is organized similar to a published text Systematic
Theology. It has multiple volumes, each of which has its own Table of Contents. There is
a master Index, alphabetized for every keyword found in the Tables of Contents. The
layout for its Index is that of a KeyWord In Context (KWIC) Index, including a useful
amount of left and right context for each Keyword. And, within the Online Systematic
Theology are documents containing theological content, including point-by-point Bible
Doctrines, Maps, Charts, Images, Power Point Presentations, Links, and virtually any
machine readable objects.
Additionally, there are intermediate documents, called SAMs (Summary And Master
User E-Links). The purpose of the SAMs is to be a central linkage document—a Grand
Central Station—for helping the user navigate the content of the Online Systematic
Theology, allowing discrimination between the various connotations of the keywords.
How many times does one search every page number in an Index, in an attempt to find
desired subject matter?
The SAMs solve this hindrance to the student’s productivity. For example, the keyword
―death‖ is associated with several different Bible Doctrines, occurring in different major
categories of Systematic Theology. It may not always be clear to the user which link in
the Index to follow. The Index entries associated with ―Death‖ all link to a common
SAM. Within that SAM the user will find excerpts from the appropriate Tables of
Contents displaying the several theological contexts from which to choose:
(1) Anthropology—Spiritual Death resulting from the Fall of Man; (2) Anthropology—
Physical Death resulting from Spiritual Death; (3) Hamartiology—Sin Unto Death; (4)
Ecclesiology—Christian Death; (5) Eschatology—Second Death. At the beginning of
each SAM is a definition of the keyword.
In addition to the definitions for keywords within the SAMs, there is a separate Glossary
of Biblical Theology, containing hypertext links to definitions of terms used, as well as
the major Bible verses that support the theological definitions.
Let’s look at the actual Demonstration Website, which you have on a CD-ROM. It will
respond somewhat faster if you will copy the folder, named ―NOTEBOOK_HTML,‖ to
your C: drive. Then open the path C: NOTEBOOK_HTML\BaseT\ and double click on
the filename, ―Site_Map.htm.‖
From the Site Map, you can link to any of the TOCs by clicking on the volume name
(e.g. ―Christology‖).
The Christian Way of Life will be a major Section at the CTS site. We need someone to
grab the reins and help out, both with organization and content. You may see where we
are (under construction) by clicking on the ―Christian Way of Life‖ link within the
representation of the Index at the Site Map.
Demonstration Website — Caveats
At this point, I should mention that at the CTS website, there will be a set of caveats
published, communicating the following:
1. The materials are not intended to meet the scholarly standards of the seminary’s
Journal;
2. The materials are not intended to meet the level of academic rigor and scholarship
standards required of CTS staff and students;
3. Rather, the materials are intended to be helpful to ordinary folks who want to learn
the doctrines in the Bible and how they may be applied in their lives;
4. The content does not embrace line-by-line exegesis of a particular passage of
Scripture, but rather the topical types of Bible study notes one writes down while
studying such passages, for example, sixteen points on ―Some Reasons for
Unanswered Prayer‖ , and so forth.
5. A link to a single web page on another website does NOT imply any endorsement
whatsoever of that website, but merely points to another source for relevant
Doctrinal content on the web page so linked.
Now, let us turn to the ―Content‖ that an anonymous visitor may find at the Chafer
Theological Seminary website. I will discuss the likely sources for good Bible study
materials, how it will be controlled, who will maintain ownership of that content, and
some features that would be nice to add, some day.
The doctrinal content for the site will be accepted for peer review from the following
sources:
1. Seminary Faculty
2. CTS Journal Articles (links to)
3. Pastor-Teachers
4. Seminary Students
5. Serious Bible Students
6. Websites with Doctrinal Statements that do not conflict with that of CTS and
having content that conforms to the CTS Doctrinal Statement.
Links to Content on Other Websites:
At the CTS site, there will be a set of caveats. One of them will explain that a link to a
single web page on another website does NOT imply any endorsement whatsoever of the
website, but merely points to another source for pertinent Doctrinal content on that web
page so linked.
There are many possibilities. The following list is not exhaustive, and may even include
links that cannot be used, for any of several reasons:
• Ariel Ministries
• Chafer Theological Seminary Journal
• Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• Conservative Theological Society (Journal & Articles)
• Institute for Creation Research
• Local Churches (Preston City, Spokane, Your Church, etc.)
• Scriptureman.com
• www.e-grace.net
www.pre-trib.org
...
Online Systematic Theology
Doctrinal Content
Control Over the Content:
An Editorial Board will be organized. It will adopt its own set of guidelines.
Here are some typical guidelines that I would expect:
1. No Peer Review would be needed for CTS Journal Articles and Articles
contributed by CTS Faculty
2. Peer Review by one other member of the Editorial Board to approve content
submitted by one member of the Editorial Board.
3. For most contributions from Non-CTS sources, Peer Review by two or more
members of the Editorial Board would be sought to keep content out of the Online
Systematic Theology that does not agree with CTS’ Doctrinal Statement. The
webmaster could link in new content after O.K.s from two members.
4. Peer Review by one member of the Editorial Board might suffice for fairly simple
study helps that should not require a pastor-teacher to produce / submit:
a. Doctrinal materials, already on the site, that have been re-worded for teaching
children.
b. Materials in the public domain originated by early church fathers
c. Charts / Overheads
d. Scripture Index (not simple, but also not controversial)
e. Minor changes to TOCs, Index, Glossary, etc., suggested by a member of the
Editorial Board to the webmaster.
Online Systematic Theology
Doctrinal Content
Ownership of the Content:
1. In general, the ownership and copyright for the website and its content should
remain with Chafer Theological Seminary.
2. Contributions may contain author’s copyright, with ―used by permission‖
acknowledgement, though contributor must allow private or pastor-teacher use of
content, subject only to the ―no distribution for price‖ restriction.
3. Any Copyright should not hinder private or pastor-teacher use of content, while
protecting CTS materials from being sold for profit (i.e. any distribution for any
price).
4. If a contributor wants more extensive copyright, then Link to contributor’s
copyrighted site.
Online Systematic Theology
Doctrinal Content
Future Improvements to the Site
1. Scripture Index—A nice feature to help users navigate to pertinent content. A
Scripture Index could grow as content is added, perhaps by the webmaster. It could
be a task that the webmaster accomplishes in between insertions of new content. In
order to facilitate this, I have contemplated a computer program that would
automatically prepare a Scripture Index for any document read by it.
2. Site Search Engine—Useful for helping users find content that is not indicated in
the title(s) for the categories.
3. Help Section—A ―Help‖ web page to:
a. Explain Purpose of the website
b. Explain Navigation of the website
c. Present the Gospel
d. Explain Copyright issues – ―Personal Limited Use Grant‖
e. Explain how to reference website in a bibliography
f. Explain Navigation of the website
g. Instruct users on downloading the entire Systematic Theology structure for use
as a personal database for personal Bible class notes? Accompany that with
instructions on ―How to link to your own notes‖ from the SAMs. Note that if
this is encouraged by CTS, then ―Ownership 4,‖ above, becomes essential.
Otherwise, the download might be violating the contributor’s copyright.
h. Libronics users of our structure and content on the CTS website may be able to
link it into Libronics and do all of the usual document searches
4. Bible verse retrieval on demand
Online Systematic Theology
How Ongoing Operations Will Proceed
1. Submission of Content — One would e-mail a document to the Editorial Board
2. Peer Review —
3. EB passes Content to Webmaster
4. Webmaster Uploads to Website
5. Webmaster Links Pertinent Content Together
6. Webmaster Appends Scripture References to Scripture Index
A “Personal” Systematic Theology
In the discussion about adding a ―Help‖ section to the Content, I suggested that users
be encouraged to download the entire Systematic Theology structure for use as a
personal database for organizing personal Bible class notes.
I would like to add instructions on ―How to link to your own notes‖ from the SAMs.
Online Systematic Theology
Your Feedback—How You Can Help
1. Explore / Audit / Scrutinize the Demo Website at:
www.appliedmarketanalytics.com/BaseT/Site_Map.htm
2. Volunteer to serve on the Editorial Board
3. Submit Content to the Editorial Board (Bible doctrines, outlines, graphs, charts,
versions for children). I know that all of you have doctrines on which you have
spent many hours, perfecting your presentations.
4. E-mail Errors Found to:
twwright@hal-pc.org
5. When CTS site becomes available, add a link on your website to the CTS website.
This will improve the ranking of the CTS results from search engines
6. Review your notes, find topics for which there are no storage places in the TOC
(database) structure, figure out where they logically fit, and tell me where to add
them.
7. Somewhere within these locations, there needs to be a set of categories for placing
notes on the various views, inter alia, Preterism, Progressive Dispensationalism,
Replacement Theology, Reconstructionism, Revisionism, a future national Israel, and
postmillennialism today. For example, where do we put links to The Tommy Ice
Collection website articles? It would be quite helpful if the concepts of Ages and
Dispensations were clarified, at the same time
8. Particular Needs: The Christian Way of Life will be a major Section at the CTS
site. We need someone to grab the reins and help out, both with organization and
content. You may see where we are (under construction) by clicking on the
―Christian Way of Life‖ link within the representation of the Index at the Site Map.
Please note that I have gathered some organizational content for the ―Christian
Way of Life‖ area from the CWL part of the systematic Theology. It is in no way
organized the way that I believe the end product should be. All I did was to collect
topics for a first cut. Someone may want to take this area as a project.
9. The Glossary has not been adequately audited. It would be very useful if errors and
deficiencies of the present Glossary were noted so that I can correct them. Also,
while compiling the above entries, it became obvious that there are many
dictionaries, word lists, and glossaries that contain definitions of remarkable
similarity. Consequently, it became quite difficult to ascertain the original source
of much of the content. Some definitions surely resulted from lectures and study
notes from the same seminary professors and pastors. Your help in identifying
imbedded quotations and other original content will be appreciated.
10. In all of the documents that you review, please let us know if any of the content
violates or weakens the CTS Distinctives in any way.
11.If You Can Help Tom Wright With Technical Assistance, Ideas, etc., please e-mail
him at: twwright@hal-pc.org