A number of extremely useful biblical studies resources, that would have once been available only to the specialist and to HE institutes and seminaries, are now online and open for all to use. This section of the site will help you to find some of the best tools to enhance your study and understanding of biblical texts. Click the highlighted links to find the appropriate page.

 Tools for studying the Bible

One of the most useful tools in biblical studies has been the development of powerful Bible software. Not only do these contain multiple versions of the Bible (to compare translations of particular sections) all of which are searchable, but also some sophisticated programming that enables the user to access the original languages, dictionaries and commentaries.

Unfortunately most software of this kind has (up until now) been prohibitively expensive. However, recently a couple of very powerful bible studies programmes are now available online and free of charge. These will really help and revolutionise your study of the Bible.

Tools for studying biblical manuscripts

Using actual manuscripts is an important part of biblical studies and any serious study of a text will necessitate a good understanding of the manuscript evidence behind the English translation. Studying manuscripts can provide snapshots of the text at a specific moment as well as helping us to understand the way in which the text has passed down from ‘hand to hand.’

Studying manuscripts is also really fun and is one of the best ways for getting a sense of their historicity.

Traditionally, reading manuscripts meant either looking at photographs (of varying quality) or having to go on expensive and time consuming journeys to the libraries and institutions where they were kept. However, we are now in the privileged position of having many, many of our manuscripts online in high definition images. This has opened up manuscript work in an unprecedented way.