Online Bibles and Other Digital Resources
Throughout my research, I used the following two online resources to help me easily navigate through the Bible. OpenBible.info allowed me to search for specific topics in the Bible not covered by my Bible's concordances because it includes a wide array of topics, "many of which you’d never find in a traditional topical Bible" (OpenBible.info). BibleGateway.com allowed me to quickly and easily look up specific Bible verses or passages in a translation of my choosing.
OpenBible.info
On April 13, 2019, the author of the OpenBible.info blog posted slides from a lecture he gave at a "BibleTech conference in Seattle" (Smith, "Designing"), thus revealing his identity to be "Mr. Stephen Smith." According to his LinkedIn profile, Stephen Smith is the Senior Director of Digital Products at HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Under “Websites” on his profile, he lists BibleGateway.com as his Company Website and OpenBible.info as his personal website (Smith, “Stephen Smith”).
OpenBible.info is therefore the personal website and workspace of Stephen Smith. He does not publicize himself as the author of the website but does provide an email address at which he can be contacted as the website’s creator (openbibleinfo@gmail.com). For the purposes of my research, I primarily used the Topical Bible tool, which houses a wider collection of topics than are typically featured in a topical Bible or in a Bible’s concordance. Most of the verses collected for each searchable topic come from the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible. A link to the Bible verse on BibleGateway.com is provided with each of the search results.
BibleGateway.com
BibleGateway.com is an online tool that contains "more than 200 versions and 70 languages [of the Bible] that you can freely read, research, and reference anywhere" ("About Bible Gateway"), as well as resources that help readers understand the text. BibleGateway.com is operated by the Zondervan Corporation, a Christian publishing company that falls under HarperCollins Christian Publishing, thus making BibleGateway.com a branch of the HarperCollins Christian Publishing company. The Zondervan Corporation is perhaps best known for developing the New International Version (NIV) Bible, "the world’s bestselling modern-English Bible translation" ("Zondervan Divisions").
Works Cited
"About Bible Gateway." BibleGateway, Zondervan, www.biblegateway.com/about/.
OpenBible.info. "Topical Bible." OpenBible.info, edited by Stephen Smith, www.openbible.info/topics/.
Smith, Stephen. "Designing for Agency in Bible Study." OpenBible.info, 13 Apr. 2019, www.openbible.info/blog/2019/04/designing-for-agency-in-bible-study/.
---. "Stephen Smith: Senior Director, Digital Products at HarperCollins Christian Publishing." LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-smith-47184b13.
"Zondervan Divisions." HarperCollins Christian Publishing, HarperCollins Publishers, www.harpercollinschristian.com/divisions/zondervan/.