Theopedia
From Theopedia
Contents |
[edit] Theopedia is a wiki
- A wiki is a document collection managed by collaborative software. It enables multiple people to work together on articles.
- Within a wiki, you can edit, add, and delete material to help solidify an article. You can also begin new articles, create external links to other helpful websites, and create internal links to articles already created on Theopedia.
- It runs on the same software that Wikipedia does, MediaWiki.
- All changes to content can be tracked, reviewed, and reversed if necessary.
- A wiki helps harness the power of collective intelligence and oversight.
- A wiki can be a great tool for building a community around common interests.
[edit] Why bother?
- "Two-thirds of American Internet users surf the web for spiritual purposes." [1]
- "God created computers for missions. He just happens to let the rest of the world use them."
- "Since computer technology is here to stay, retreat from it seems neither required nor appropriate... 'There comes a time when the church of Jesus Christ has to be bold enough to lay claim to a new medium.' Claiming a new medium, though, goes beyond just mere use of the medium. It involves understanding how the medium works." [2]
[edit] What about Wikipedia?
- Many articles on Wikipedia are driven by power plays. Those with special interests often exercise a heavy hand over the content.
- Some articles gravitate toward operating off of worldview presuppositions like naturalism or secularism.
- Everyone one has worldview presuppositions. We want to be up front about ours. We want our point of view to be Biblical.
[edit] What is our vision?
- To centralize the efforts of thousands of Christians into a comprehensive encyclopedia on all things Christian.
- To provide the encyclopedia in the public domain. The textual content of Theopedia, unless otherwise noted, may be "freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, used, modified, built upon, or otherwise exploited by anyone for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, and in any way, including by methods that have not yet been invented or conceived."[1]
- To promote good theology.
- To lessen the gap of theological knowledge between the trained church leader and the layman.
- To build a Christian community around the promotion of good theological content.
- To promote the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all things.
[edit] Where do we stand?
[edit] Primary statement of faith
Editors are required to personally affirm the entirety of the statement of faith[2]. This statement contains basic things that we would expect any Christian to believe.
[edit] Secondary doctrinal statement
An editor is not required to agree with everything in the secondary doctrinal statement, but all of Theopedia's content is, in accordance with the writing guide, required to conform to it. Among other things, this statement affirms the Together for the Gospel Statement and the The Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.
- See main page: Statement of faith
[edit] The writing guide
- Content consistent with the statement of faith and content generally accepted within traditional, evangelical Protestantism may be written assertively and is the stated point-of-view of Theopedia.
- Content that runs contrary to the statement of faith and traditional, evangelical Protestantism may be respectfully and reasonably criticized.
- Other content, particularly that which is not addressed in the statement of faith, but which finds a respected place within traditional, evangelical Protestantism (even though not completely agreed upon), should be written descriptively and without unnecessary bias.
- See main page: Writing guide
[edit] How are we structured?
[edit] Board members
The responsibility of board members of the Christian Web Foundation is to shape and develop the core documents of Theopedia (the primary and secondary statement of faith, the writing guide, etc.), to make sure the administrators are enforcing these documents, to resolve conflicts between administrators and editors, and to appoint new administrators (which may be nominated by other administrators).
[edit] Administrators
The responsibility of administrators is, with discretion and discernment, to make sure content changes conform to Theopedia's core documents and to ensure order among the community of editors.
[edit] Editors
To edit content. To increase the integrity of our content and foster a community, we require now that editors complete an application.
[edit] Apply to be an editor
Click here to apply to be an editor.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ↑ More information on the public domain is available here. When using content from an article, take note of any content that is not under the public domain. Images are often used in accordance with fair use or under a copyright or creative commons license.
- ↑ Any exceptions to this rule are up to the board members who process applications.
[edit] External links
- The Christian Web Foundation
- How People of Faith Are Using the Internet, by Michael J. Vlach
- What is the 1% rule?, by Charles Arthur
