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Vanderbilt Divinity Library has launched a comprehensive redesign of its Art in the Christian Tradition (ACT) website, fully integrating this database of more than 7,000 religious images with the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) platform to support digital scholarship and worship. The updated resource features improved search functionality, an IIIF viewer for detailed image analysis, and a commitment to diverse representation.
The Revised Common Lectionary is a collection of weekly Bible readings centered on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. These readings are adopted by numerous church bodies and individual congregations to be read concurrently each Sunday throughout the liturgical year. Art in the Christian Tradition pairs free art images with scripture. Together, these unique Vanderbilt resources represent the university’s second-most-visited website, serving more than 1 million users worldwide each year since 2020.
The success of RCL and ACT stems from their usefulness. Both provide valuable tools for planning and enriching Sunday worship. Users can access lectionary readings, devotional artwork, prayers and hymns all in one place.
“By linking weekly scripture to thousands of diverse free images, the newly redesigned Art in the Christian Tradition website and the Revised Common Lectionary platform serve as essential, one-stop digital resources for planning worship,” said Bobby Smiley, college librarian for Arts and Science and John Louis Kesler Director of the Divinity Library. “The enduring popularity and relevance of these sites are a testament to the dedication of library staff and divinity students and faculty who have made them possible over the years.”
In addition to supplementing RCL functionalities, ACT is designed to serve as an independent website that supports church ministry and facilitates digital scholarship. To optimize research results, users can search for an artist, artwork, subject, biblical passage or even a specific lectionary day using the new search engine. Search results can further be refined through a variety of filters. All ACT images are displayed in an IIIF viewer, allowing users to zoom in and out for closer examination. Images also may be downloaded in three different resolutions.
Currently, ACT contains more than 7,000 images, half of which are open access. The remaining images are freely available for nonprofit use with appropriate attribution. The collection includes photographs of street art, mosaics, frescoes, manuscripts, sculptures, architecture, paintings and other forms of visual expression. Over the past three decades, the collection has been enriched and diversified through the generosity of numerous donors.
“Our deepest gratitude goes to all the donors whose generosity continues to expand the collection,” said Charlotte Lew, digital projects manager for the Divinity Library and current administrator of RCL and ACT. “We are delighted to note that the three most-cited artists over the years are JESUS MAFA, John August Swanson and Frank Wesley. Their acclaimed works exemplify the richness of the collection and underscore its commitment to welcoming marginalized voices in the interpretation of biblical art.” ACT is open to all Christian communities and celebrates diversity across denominations, geographic and social contexts, and cultural backgrounds.
Many donors, particularly contemporary artists, have concerns about copyright protection when contributing their work. However, library collection policies and procedures for in-kind donations have helped alleviate these concerns, Lew said. Copyright considerations are equally important for church ministers, who can confidently use ACT images in Sunday school classes, worship services and church bulletins without worrying about permissions.
RCL and ACT were established in 1995 by former Digital Projects Librarian Anne Richardson, with the assistance of library IT staff and student employees. As Richardson envisioned, the purpose of these resources is twofold: to provide online reference and access to RCL, and to offer images of religious art for spiritual reflection on lectionary readings.
In the early stages of development, ACT images were embedded in the banners of RCL webpages. After more than 30 years of continuous development and improvement, the new ACT website is now seamlessly integrated with the RCL website. The RCL homepage features ACT images, which are organized and assigned to each lectionary week. One of RCL’s most popular resources is its slideshow feature, which pairs selected biblical texts from each Sunday’s lectionary readings with reflective images. During the pandemic, numerous pastors expressed gratitude for these slideshows, which could easily be incorporated into online worship services.
“We are also grateful for a few donations from faculty members in the original work on the ACT. The ones received from divinity professors Robin Jensen and Patout Burns were especially valuable,” Lew said. “Processing images for upload to the website is labor intensive and time consuming. The collection’s steady growth would not be possible without the assistance of Divinity School student employees, who prepare image metadata, select relevant biblical passages, and assign lectionary days to individual image records.”
Vanderbilt Divinity School and the Divinity Library have worked together to promote the ACT website. Divinity librarians regularly collaborate with faculty members to introduce ACT and to encourage and assist divinity students in incorporating its resources into their theses and projects.
A usability study of the new ACT website was conducted and garnered some 160 pieces of feedback within a single month. The Divinity Library will continue to refine and improve the site based on user input.
“ACT has been strengthened by the creativity of staff members, the dedication of students, and the commitment of volunteers,” Lew said. “It is truly a resource built by a village.”