Romanian Christian Internet Resources
Valentin Teodorescu, compiler
Romanian Christian links
http://members.tripod.com/nouasperanta/linkrom0.htm
(in Romanian)
Sponsored by "Noua Speranta," a Romanian Evangelical organization that provides resources for youth and Christian families. Contains 176 helpful Romanian Christian Web sites (especially Evangelical but also Orthodox and Catholic), including organizations, magazines, radio and TV, publishing houses, Romanian churches in Romania and in other countries, Christian schools, Christian resources, and music. It provides especially strong coverage of Evangelical radio, TV, and publishing houses.
Evangelical Magazines
http://www.magazinetraining.com/magazinedata/romania.htm (in English)
Provides address and telephone (and eventually Web sites) for 35 Romanian Evangelical magazines and identifies the purpose of each publication.
Baptist Union in Romania
http://www.baptistnet.ro (in Romanian)
This denominational Web site contains contact information for the Baptist Union of Romania and its churches, Romanian Baptist schools and faculties, news, articles, Christian resources, and a directory of 63 Romanian Christian Web sites.
Noua Speranta (New Hope)
http://members.tripod.com/nouasperanta/linkrom3.htm (in English)
Identifies Romanian Christian Web sites, including charities, evangelistic ministries such as Youth for Christ Romania, and Christian camps.
Evangelical Associations
http://www.biserici.ro/home1024.html (in Romanian)
Contains an extensive list of 164 Romanian Evangelical Web sites, especially associations, foundations, and societies (focused especially on charity and evangelism), arranged in alphabetical order. Not all Web addresses currently function.
Orthodox Church in Romania
http://www.crestinism-ortodox.ro (in Romanian;
partially in English)
Contains a great deal of helpful information regarding the Orthodox Church in Romania, including the church's organizational structure, Orthodox perspectives on the Romanian population and its origins, Orthodox theology, history of Christianity, patristic theology in the Romanian Orthodox Church (with a short history of patristic and post-patristic theology with a special focus on its influence on Romanian Orthodoxy), Romanian monasteries, religious art, music, and architecture, the lives of Romanian saints and other saints related to the Romanian Orthodox Church, the life and theology of the great Romanian Orthodox theologian Father Dumitru Staniloae, and a useful directory of 72 Romanian Orthodox Web sites.
Roman Catholic and Eastern Rite (Greek)
Catholic Churches in Romania
http://www.catholica.ro (in Romanian)
Contains helpful information regarding both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Rite (Greek) Catholic Churches in Romania, with a short history of each bishopric and a biography of each bishop. It includes probably the strongest religious news digest in the Romanian language regarding especially the Romanian Catholic Church and the Catholic Church worldwide, but also with coverage of Eastern Orthodox and Protestant developments. This Web site also contains an excellent online bookstore, in which one can order any book from any Romanian Catholic publishing house.
Eastern Rite (Greek) Catholic Church in Romania
http://www.bru.ro (in Romanian)
This helpful Romanian Eastern Rite (Greek) Catholic Church Web site includes a short biography of each bishop, two short histories of this church, including a Catholic perspective on the beginning of Christianity in Romania and the Reformation in Transylvania. It also contains important Romanian and international Catholic links.
Evangelical Statistics in Romania
http://www.oci.ro (in English and Romanian)
O.C. International (formerly Overseas Crusades) has developed this excellent, comprehensive Web site that contains information about 460 Evangelical Christian organizations in Romania (probably the most comprehensive list), including address, E-mail, Web site (81 to date), and a comprehensive description of each agency's purpose and activities. Agencies are listed both alphabetically by county and by type of ministry. It also contains very comprehensive information regarding Evangelical church growth in Romania: maps and statistics with the Evangelical population and churches (especially Baptists, Pentecostals, and Brethren), noting the growth of these churches in the last ten years. Statistics and maps refer to the entire Romanian population and to each Romanian county.
British Charities in Romania
http://www.cleaford.co.uk/linksuk.htm (in English)
Sponsored by Cleaford Romania Charity Links, this site consists of a directory of 170 British charities and missions working in Romania, providing address, E-mail, Web site, and a description of purpose and activities.
Evangelical Churches in Romania
http://www.biserici.ro (in Romanian)
Contains a short, sometimes hostile description of each Romanian Evangelical denomination from at least two points of view: that of the Romanian Minister of Culture and Religion and that of an Eastern Orthodox writer. It also contains a directory with news from the Christian world (Romanian and international), two search engines (with addresses of Romanian Evangelical churches and phone numbers for Evangelical church leaders), and a helpful directory of 164 Romanian (especially Evangelical) Christian links, including Christian associations (focused especially on charity and evangelism - 86), mass media, education, publishing houses, music, churches, and Christian directories. Not all Web addresses are currently functioning.
Eastern Orthodox Apologetics
http://www.ortho-logia.com (partially in English and partially in Romanian)
This site focuses on Eastern Orthodox apologetics, especially winning Evangelicals to Eastern Orthodoxy. The English portion of the site contains interesting, academically oriented articles including The Place of Scripture in the Orthodox Tradition by Romanian Evangelical theologian Danut Manastireanu and Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism: The Status of an Emerging Global Dialogue by U.S. Orthodox scholar Bradley Nassif. The Romanian portion of the site is more hostile to Evangelicals and does not reach the same academic level, including a book by Orthodox convert Franky Schaeffer and standard Romanian Orthodox answers to popular Evangelical critiques of Eastern Orthodoxy.
Evangelical Resources
http:www.roboam.com (partially in English and partially in Romanian)
Romanian Baptists in the U.S. have developed this helpful site, which provides useful information for Romanian Christians who have immigrated to the West (with an interesting debate about the morality of the immigration). Contains useful information for preachers (theological resources, church history, sermons, and sermon illustrations), and for Sunday school teachers and youth group leaders. The site also includes treatment of the beginning of Christianity in Romania, the beginning of the Baptist movement in Romania, a Baptist-Orthodox dialogue, and a very interesting article about the best way to share the gospel in an Orthodox context. It also provides materials for Christian families, many media resources, and very useful links for general information about Romanian history and geography.
Bible Study Program
http://www.ib-ro.org/ (in Romanian)
Contains a Bible study program written by Beniamin Faragau, a Baptist theologian from Cluj, which is used in many Evangelical churches in Romania. The study program has as its philosophy the idea that the main goal of studying the Bible is not the fulfillment of our needs (idolatry), but rather the knowing of God the Father and Christ, the Son. For that reason the program helps build a solid theological perspective on the Bible as a whole and on the Old Testament as a basis for a full understanding of the New Testament. Each year three books of the Bible are studied. Although the program is geared for a literate but not academic Evangelical audience, it is based on respected, serious hermeneutical tools.
Adventist Union in Romania
http://www.adventist.ro (in Romanian)
Contains contact information on the Adventist Union of Romania and all its churches. Provides Web links to all Romanian Adventist schools, faculties, radio broadcasters, publishing houses, resources, foundations, and associations. It also includes a helpful digest of Romanian and international news regarding the Adventist Church and a valuable file with important official documents of the Adventist Church (not only from Romania): a church manual and the Adventist position regarding such social and political issues as human rights, religious freedom, the family, homosexuality, birth control, and military service.
Valentin Teodorescu, a native of Pascani, Romania, is a student at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, Birmingham, AL.
Valentin Teodorescu, compiler, "Romanian Christian Internet Resources," East-West Church & Ministry Report 11 (Fall 2003), 12.
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© 2003 East-West Church and Ministry Report
ISSN 1069-5664