Theological resources produced by the Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, faculty have experienced a 10-fold increase in popularity since the Seminary’s iTunes U resources have been integrated into the iTunes U store operated by Apple Computer. Last week, Concordia Seminary announced that it was one of 16 higher education institutions to be selected by Apple Computer for this privilege.

“We have experienced a 1,000 percent increase in the number of individual downloads of the theological resources Concordia Seminary offers through iTunes U,” commented Christopher Born, assistant director of educational technology at Concordia Seminary. “Typically, we would average 3,000-5,000 individual downloads of theological resources per week. After the integration with Apple, the total number of downloads per week rose to more than 43,000.”

The most popular downloads overall have been those dealing with the Lutheran Confessions and biblical Greek. In fact, the Greek introduction by Dr. James Voelz of the Seminary faculty is the fifth most-popular download on Apple’s entire site this week.

“This is truly incredible,” commented Rev. Anthony Cook, director of educational technology at Concordia Seminary. “Think of the blessing that these theologically-solid Lutheran resources could provide worldwide. Our most fervent prayer is that many people will be introduced to the Gospel for the first time though these resources.”

To access “Concordia Seminary on iTunes U” directly, go to itunes.www.csl.edu. To access iTunes U from within the iTunes Store, click on the iTunes U link in the top left-hand box or in the center section of the iTunes Store. Both Macintosh and Microsoft Windows-based computers are able to utilize this technology.

Visitors to “Concordia Seminary on iTunes U” are encouraged to submit feedback and programming ideas via e-mail to itunesu@csl.edu. For more information, contact Communications, Concordia Seminary, 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105; (314) 505-7370; communications@csl.edu.