There are many free e-resources available for you to use. The choice can be overwhelming and not all options are trustworthy. Below is a list which we hope will make them more user friendly.
But here is a tip: AI assistants (like chatGPT) are unreliable and unacceptable sources but they can be are good at finding good sources! Rather than searching through lists, it might be more effective to ask an AI assistant to find a source for you. Be very detailed in what you are looking for. For example, ‘Please find me 3 free peer reviewed journal articles from reformed scholars from the last 10 years about such and such a topic.’
Bible Study Tools
- Biblegateway. This is a great website for comparing Bible versions (150 versions available) or searching for a word or phrase in the Bible. It also provides free access to many of the commentaries, including those from the IVP New Testament Commentary series.
- The STEP Bible: A really powerful tool provided by Tyndale House. You can compare versions, see repeated words, and easily access the original languages, even if you don’t know them!
- Bishop: Sword Project: A powerful, free app for your phone.
- Bible Study Tools: You need to pay to use most of the tools on this site. However the Bible dictionaries are free to use. The best is ‘Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology.’ (At the bottom of each article it even tells you how to reference it.)
Online Commentaries – Recommended
- The Carson Centre Free E-Commentaries: This site has commentaries on every book of the Bible.
- Biblegateway. This site also provides free access to the IVP New Testament Commentary series.
Searchable Articles
The following two sites are relatively easy to search and the majority of their material will be reliable.
- Christian Study Library: A South African collection of articles organised by topic, both theological and practical. This site is easy to search. (It even distinguishes between basic, popular, semi-technical and technical articles.)
- Theology on the Web: A collection of mostly older journal articles on all sorts of topics. At first it does not seem easy to search. But on the right side you will see a list of 7 categories (beginning with ‘Biblical Archaeology’). Click on the category you are looking for (e.g. ‘biblical studies’) and it will take you to a site that is easier to search.
- (As a search tool for the above) Tyndale House Search: This site functions as a kind of detailed search for ‘Theology on the web.’ Under ‘Media Type’ select ‘PDF.’ Then search for what you are looking for.
Other Articles and E-books – Recommended
Here is a list of websites that offer free theological and/or practical articles and e-books. While they are not always easily searchable, we are relatively confident that most of the material they offer will agree with the NETS Statement of Faith.
- The Gospel Coalition Africa: A great, reliable and growing collection of articles, videos and podcasts from African theologians for Africans. (Click on ‘Explore’ in the top left corner.)
- The Gospel Coalition America: A useful site with a lot of great resources. One of those resources is the journal Themelios. A good journal, but a bit difficult to search.
- NetACT Free Resources: A list of even more free, African resources.
- Monergism: A great, usually reliable collection of thousands of articles, mp3s and books (most books are older classics, but there are also more recent resources – see especially here).
- Desiring God: Thousands of resources including free pdf versions of John Piper’s books.
- African Theology Worldwide: This links to many different topics of Theology, written by Africans.
- John Frame and Vern Poythress Books: Free books from two reliable scholars. Poythress’ commentary on Revelation is simple and good.
- Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Theses Collection: A collection of theses written by students of SBTS, a reliable seminary.
Articles – Less Sure
The following sites also have many free articles. We have categorised them under a different heading as we cannot be so sure that the articles will agree with the NETS Statement of Faith. Be discerning as you choose which articles to use.
- Acta Theologica: A free journal.
- Conspectus: A free journal from SATS.
- Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies (HTS): A free journal.
- African Theological Journal for Church and Society: A free journal.
- Stellenbosh Theological Journal: A free journal.
- The Nigerian Journal of Christian Studies (NJCS): A free journal.
- The Ghana Journal of Religion and Theology: A free journal.
- Theological Book Network: This African site has links to many other resources.
- Regent University Free Resources List: A list of free online journals.
- Biblical Studies: Another collection of articles.
- Open Digital Theological Library: Another data base of articles.
- Globethics: Millions of articles on ethical issues. Not necessarily Christian.
- Directory of Open Access Journals: A number of open access journals and articles are available here.
- Google Scholar: Another repository of articles. Some will be very good, others not so much…
- EBSCO Essentials: This is the free version of the best journal and e-book source. But this is the free version… Again, some will be great, some not so much…
- JSTOR Open Access: Many free articles, but they will be of varying quality and reliability.
- Christian Worldview: This site provides a list of other sites that all offer free e-
- Christian Study Library: This site provides articles (not journal articles) on all kinds of topics. They range from popular level through to relatively technical.
Classic Books
These sites have many classic works, Christian and Secular, from before Christ through to the early modern period.
- Post Reformation Digital Library: Writings from the post-reformation to early modern period.
- Christian Classics Ethereal Library: Many classic books and writings.
- The Digital Scriptorium: Many classic and some modern books, both Christian and otherwise.
- Internet archive has many older books, Christian and otherwise.
