Welcome to Noah's Ark on the Web, an annotated guide to Noah's Ark in art, religion and culture. The site includes an organized and annotated list of over 250 articles, pages and sites about Noah's Ark, from sermons and sacred texts, to history, so-called "Ark-eology," jokes and movies.

Pictures of Noah's Ark

In addition to the links, this site presents two hundred pictures of Noah's Ark, a sort of "art history through Noah's Ark," from Medieval manuscripts to contemporary art—even comics and toys. These pictures are divided into twelve galleries:

Why Noah's Ark?

Noah's Ark is a Rorschach test for contemporary internet culture, "as packed full of meaning as the ark is packed full of animals."[1] Contemporary Jews, Christians and Muslims often differ as much within their traditions as between them. Atheists react to these and explore their own. Ancient historians, philologists and archaeologists take other approaches and reach other conclusions. The pundit, the preacher, the scholar, and the infant with ark-themed pajamas are brought together and separated by its enduring images and rich possibilities.

In creating Noah's Ark on the Web, my goal has been to collect a large number of resources from every angle and approach, describing them and presenting select quotes, and never omitting a resource because I disagreed with it. Email what I've missed to [email protected].

Get involved!

Add yourself to my Noah's Ark list, and get an update whenever new material is available. You'll never get more than one email per month, and I'll never give your email to anyone.

Where are you coming from?

Although my selection is impartial, my comments are not always so. I should therefore take a moment to present what I think of Noah's Ark and the Flood story.

First, I am not sympathetic to Biblical literalists, Creationists and people who think they have found the petrified remains of Noah's Ark in Turkey. I am, however, a comitted, believing Catholic, and like most Christians, think the story of Noah's Ark has something to say today. Like most Christians, but unlike the literalists, I do not need to believe God actually flooded the earth or repopulated the planet from a mere eight people. If pressed, I would guess the story was merely "in the air," and that the message lies in how it is told and what was changed.

Compiling the site, I have seen that fundamentalists and atheists write most of the web pages on Noah's Ark. This may well be true for those who Google the topic and arrive here. If you are one of these and you haven't explored the issue yet, you should be aware that Catholics, along with Orthodox Christians, "Mainline" Protestants and most Jews do not read scripture the way fundamentalists do, and from their extensive, varied, rich and intellectually sophisticated exegesis—stretching over centuries and across cultures—modern fundamentalists stand apart. To me at least they seem to be plinking a mouth-organ on the steps of a concert hall.[2] I am equally dismissive of "internet atheists" who think they've overturned the Bible, Christianity or religion by demonstrating that Noah's Ark would have had a "solid-waste problem."

I'd love to hear what you think of the project. Email [email protected].

Thank you for coming!

Tim Spalding
Portland, Maine
[email protected]