Christian Classics Ethereal Library

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The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a volunteer-based project to provide free electronic copies of Christian scripture and literature texts.

It was founded by Harry Plantinga, in 1993. The project is supported by Calvin College. Plantinga, a professor of computer science at Calvin College, is still the director of CCEL.

The purpose of the CCEL is simply "to build up Christ's church and to address fundamental questions of the faith." According to their website, the doctrine that is expressed in the documents of the library sometimes conflict with those of Calvin College, where they are based.^[1]

CCEL stores all their texts in Theological Markup Language (ThML) format. Texts are automatically converted into other easier to read formats such as HTML or PDF.^[2] Although they use mainly Public Domain texts, they claim copyright on all their formatting.^[3] You also must login to their website to download all formatted versions of the text.

CCEL is funded by advertisements, sales of some books not freely downloadable, cd-roms, and individual gifts. Calvin College has also provided them with space, network access, and significant financial support.^[4]

As of 2005, the server was logging about 600,000 "hits" per day from a 600,000 distinct users per month, providing about 500 GB of information in a month. That's equivalent to about a half million books per month.^{[citation needed]}