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With the ongoing updating of all AIC Video series, the AIC is taking a new approach to explaining to existing and potential viewers and listeners what it is that makes the AIC different. I’m calling it the WATCH-LISTEN-READ initiative. Formerly, we tried to show the differences berween the several ways information could be accessed. I hope this new approach proves to be a less wordy way to showing rathern than telling what makes the AIC’s approach unique. Step One is the attached graphic, which is the closing slide in the newest version of Trinitytide: The Teaching Season. Every series will end with some variation of this theme. In the spoken material a WATCH-LISTEN-READ comment will always come before the citation of OTHER AIC RESOURCES. As always, thank you for your interest and support.

I have several items with very good news to report this week.

First, the next book in our Gospels series, The Gospel of Luke: Annotated & Illustrated has been sent to our printer for production of proof copies. I hope we can have the book in print this Spring. The book will be 272 pages with 111 illustrations and 14 special text boxes.

Second, the manuscript for the next volume, The Gospel of Mark: Annotated & Illustrated, has been sent to my proofreader. Mark’s is the shortest of the four Gospels and I am hopeful we can have a book in print before mid-year, maybe even before Easter. The book will be 186 pages.

Third, revised and updated versions of the AIC Seasonal Video series for Advent (2 episodes), Epiphany (3 episodes), “Gesima” (2 episodes) and the first of 3 episodes for Lent are now available through links on this site. All are linked from the Digital Library page and the current season episodes are also linked from the Welcome page.

Fourth, all slides and script for the AIC Bible Study Video series, New Testament: Gospels, are now complete. Episode 1 is now online. Soundtracks for the remainign 44 episodes will be recorded during the Winter months. The series has a new logo. Many modifications, mostly technical changes, have been made to the series, including cross-reference to the appropriate volume in the Gospels series mentioned above.

Fifth, minor changes are in store for the Great “O” Antiphons, Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and In the Cross of Christ I Glory. The changes are designed to make the style of the videos more consistent across the different categories.

Finally, with the production of the Gospel series nearing completion, I am introducing a new graphic for the closing slide of all series (except Advent, which was already complete). The slide will now include a graphic emphasizing the AIC’s commitment to providing teaching and study materials in whatever format the reader finds most appealing, using three key words: WATCH, LISTEN, READ. If you prefer the visual method you can WATCH our Bible Study (Gospels and Revelation), Seasonal (mentioned above) and Christian Education (Nicene Creed; Lord’s Prayer; The War on Christianity; The Lives of the Saints (two series) series. If you would rather hear the material, you can LISTEN to the MP3 podcast version of all series; finally, if you prefer you material in book form, you can READ from the many volumes in the AIC Bookstore Publications series, now including almost a dozen and a half books.

As always, thank you for your interest and support. Please share a link with this site or its separate pages with friends and family.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

During the seasons of Advent and Christmas I’ve been working to update and, in some cases, upgrade the AIC catalogue of Seasonal and Christian Education videos. The seasonal videos for Epiphany through Trinitytide are being upgraded and will be released as they are completed, hopefully before the start of each season. Here is a short summary of the state of the work so far:

Seasonal Videos: Episodes for Advent and Christmas have been updated and are now linked to our new host site at Vimeo.com. A few changes to these episodes will be made early in A.D. 2021.

Christian Education Videos: During the week of Christmas I took advantage of access to my host’s high-speed Internet service and uploaded all Christian Education videos, including the sixteen episodes of The Lives of the Saints (First Series); the thirty-one episodes in The Lives of the Saints (Second Series); both episodes of The Lord’s Prayer: Phrase-by-phrase; all eight episodes in The Nicene Creed; and the seven completed episodes in The War on Christianity. All these videos are now linked from the Digital Library page on this site.

Bible Study Videos: I have completed the editing of Episode One through Episode Twenty-five (the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke). I am about 1/3 of the way through on Episode Twenty-six to Forty-five (the Gospel of John). All episodes in the series are getting a new masthead/logo, minor adjustments to page layout; plus changes to the Other AIC Resources sections. The changes will standardize the style and add new page(s) with cross-references to where and how the same text appears in the new AIC Bookstore Publications, one each on the four Gospels. The Gospel of John: Annotated & Illustrated is now available for purchase (use the Virtual Bookstore link at the bottom of the Home Page). The Gospel of Luke: Annotated & Illustrated could be ready before the end of January. I expect to complete the changes to the Bible Study series on cold winter days in the 1st Qtr of A.D. 2021.

As always, thank you for your interest and support. May God bless you in all that you do in His Name. Amen! Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

I have successfully (I hope) moved all the videos for Advent and Christmas seasons to our new site with Vimeo.com. By the end of Wednesday, Dec. 16th, you will be able to use new links to all seven episodes in the Great “O” Antiphons; Lessons & Carols for Christmas Eve; and The Twelve Days of Christmas on the Home page. They will also be linked from the Digital Library page later in the week.

I am still learning the details of Vimeo’s site. I plan to create separate folders for each of the series that the AIC offers in the subject areas of New Testament; each separate Seasonal Video series; and the Christian Education Videos, with separate folders for each of the seasons. This means there will be some disruption of service until the transition is completed.

With these changes, traditional Christians, although limited in their choice of live services, will be able to watch and listen to programs during Advent and Christmas.

Thank you for your patience during the long transition.

Here’s a progress report on the upgrading of the New Testament: Gospels series. There are 45 episodes consisting of almost 1600 slides that must be rebuilt one-at-a-time. It’s very slow work, with six slides per page, each of which is separately trimmed to size. The primary objective is to integrate the videos series and the new The Gospel of ... series of AIC Bookstore Publications, so that visitors interested in either will be exposed to the same material in another setting or media. Every episode is getting a facelift, with some new illustrations and some changes in text and picture layouts. In the Fourth Edition, the Other AIC Resources section of each episode is being standardized across the series.

As of 12/11/20 I have remade all the slides in Episode One (the Introduction to the series); Episodes Two through Six (focused on the Gospel of Matthew); Episodes Seven through Eleven (focused on the Gospel of Mark); and Episodes Twelve through Sixteen (up to start of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee in the Gospel of Luke).

I am very pleased to let you know that the Universitats- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt, custodians of the Hitda Codex (circa 1020 A.D.), have generously granted written permission to use the high-resolution images of Christ in Majesty; Healing the Man with a Withered Hand; Healing Peter’s Mother-in-Law; and Healing the Demon-possessed Man (or Gadarene Man) that we purchased for Gospel book series. All are used in Episode Eight (Gospel of Mark).

I have not yet overcome several issues involved in moving our videos from the current vendor to Vimeo.com. I hope these issues can be resolved in the next few days.

The next step in the process is recording the soundtrack for these 16 episodes. My plan is to start on that task tomorrow.

Looking at the propect of updating a series with 45 episode and over 1500 slides was daunting. As always, getting started is the hardest part. Here in the second week of Advent Season in Church year 2020-2021 A.D., I’ve made surprisingly good progress in the conversion of the New Testament: Gospels Bible Study Video series into its Fourth Edition. The series has a modified logo which will be used in the Other AIC Resources section of each episode where appropriate. Over the next few weeks, I will be moving all the video series to the Vimeo.com platform. I am still encountering unexpected difficulties in processing and moving the episodes. The resolution of the first effort was not satisfactory and the episode will be deleted and reposted. Please accept my apology for any inconvenience regarding unavailable episodes.

The Fourth Edition, in addition to the revised graphic, includes many revisions to the appearance of slides. To date, I have remade over 200 slides for Episode One through Episode Six. The new version of Episode One, which is the series introduction, is now available on our Vimeo channel. Episodes Two through Episode Six, all focused on the Gospel of Matthew, include new slides which integrate material from the four newest AiC Bookstore Publications focused on the Gospels. The Gospel of John: Annotated & Illustrated is already available for purchase in paperback and Kindle editions through my Amazon Author Central page, which is linked from the bottom of the Home Page. The Kindle edition is an electronic facsimile of the print version. The Luke edition is currently in the final stages of proofing and will be available later this year or very early in 2021 A.D. The next two books, the Mark edition and the Matthew edition, are ready for proofreading.

Episode One in the Fourth Edition of the AIC Bible Study Video series, New Testament: Gospels, is now available on our new Vimeo channel. The production of the Fourth Edition is part of our continuing celebration of the start of the AIC’s second decade on the Internet. All forty-five episodes will be reissued in revised form during the Church Year 2020-2021 A.D. The image is linked here and from the New Testament page.

The newest episode features revised and expanded content and a new musical theme, All Glory, Laud and Honor, attributed to St. Theodulph (8th C.). The music is played on the church organ by Richard M. S. Irwin and is used with permission. Richard’s wonderful, inspired playing can be heard at https://play.hymnswithoutwords.com. He has made his music accessible to local congregations. I thank Richard for his generosity in permitting its use for this series.

Each new episode will feature material from the new illustrated Gospel books which we are adding to the catalogue of AIC Bookstore Publications. The release of The Gospel of Matthew: Illustrated & Annotated is planned for the first half of A.D. 2021, pending proofreading of the completed text. The book will have 262 pages and 114 illustrations, including 14 images of Matthew, the oldest made in the early 8th C. at Lindisfarne, England.

The old Church Year is nearly over and the new Church Year to be born on Sunday, Nov. 29, the closest Sunday to the Feast of St. Andrew (Nov. 30). At the AIC we are marking the new season with a few new development.

Over this weekend, I will move all AIC Videos from the current host site to Vimeo.com. The previous vendor has announced a change in the terms of our contract, giving them the right to “monetize” anything we place on their site. This means, potentially, ads inserted at the start of, in the content of and at the end of videos. I will not allow them to commercialize our education materials. Effective today, I am removing all our content from their site. This may mean that some videos are temporarily unavailable during this transition.

Second, as part of the change nonted above, I will be modifying all existing videos into a new format. The old versions will remain available, to be replaced as each revised version is completed during the Winter A.D. 2020-2021

Third, it appears possible that the Luke volume can be produced sooner than expected. The final version is undergoing design and final proofing. With His grace, we may be able to have the Gospel of Luke: Annotated & Illustrated ready before Christmas Day.

Fourth, the Podcast Homilies for all four Sundays in Advent will be linked from the Home page. Also, beginning around, Dec. 15th. the Podcasts and videos for The Great “O” Antiphons series for the final seven days before Christmas, will be linked from the Home Page.

Finally, in the days just before Christmas, I will link the videos and podcasts for Lessons and Carols from Christmas Eve from the Home page. All the above may prove timely given the restrictiosn related to COVID-19.

As always, thank you for your interest, support and prayers.

Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

I am pleased to share good news. Progress is being made on the final three books in our illustrated Gospels series. The volume focused on the Gospel of Luke still needs proofreading of the final four chapters. There will be 272 pages with 111 illustrations. I remain hopeful that it can be ready before the end of Epiphany season in 2021.

The volume focused on the Gospel of Matthew is complete but proof-reading cannot begin until the Luke volume has been sent to our printer. There will be 268 pages with 115 illustrations. My target date for publication is before Easter 2021.

The volume focused on the Gospel of Mark is also complete. There will be 186 pages with 86 illustrations. The target date for publication is Whitsunday 2021.

Now that the research and writing stage of the books is complete, I plan to turn to producing more Podcasts on topical issues. Some new equipment will be needed to ensure good sound quality, but all the new microphone/headset combinations created for the COVID shutdown era seem to offer real promise. I will be testing some of them soon.

In this era of rampant anti-Christian activity, the AIC will continue to offer reliable study materials either free or at reasonable prices. Our books offer anyone access to high-quality images and content at afforable rates.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.

The newest AIC Bookstore Publication, The Gospel of John: Annotated & Illustrated, is now available in paperback and Kindle versions.    The book breaks new ground in the display and editing of historic Christian art, with 95 illustrations set in context with the text of John’s unique Gospel using the NKJV translation.   This will be first time modern readers have seen high-resolutions images from some of the best illuminated Bibles ever produced.  The list of Sources at the back of the book offer a short summary of each work with manuscript and image file numbers where available.

I was assisted in this effort by my friend Claudia Yelton, whose input into design, word choice and other creative aspects of the work was invaluable during the last eight months.  Below is her summary on the final version.  I hope you’ll agree that it will be a valuable resource in the library of any tradition-minded Christian.  Books can be purchase through my Amazon Author Central page using the link at the bottom of the home page.

“I “visually proofed” John this morning and I must say, I think it is stunning. I like the visual variety of the different sizes and shapes of the illuminations…. small, medium and large rectangles (horizontally and vertically placed) along with varying sizes of square illustrations. Their placement on the page, being varied, adds to the interest of the manuscript. Additionally, the different sized type also makes the reading more enjoyable. A complete page of the same size type is predictable and boring to the reader, and sometimes daunting.   I’m so proud to have been a small part in the production of this book.  Congratulations on this beautiful work.

I hope to have Volume II in the series, The Gospel of Luke: Annotated & Illustration, ready before the start of Advent season on Nov 29th, A.D. 2020.   The companion volume, The Gospel of Matthew: Annotated & Illustrated,  is in production and should be available before Easter.   The final book in the series, The Gospel of Mark: Annotated & Illustrated is planned for mid-2021.