The In Season Christian Librarian

Veterans Day

2011-11-11T15:19:00.001-05:00

If you had today off, I hope you took time to honor the veterans in the numerous parades throughout the nation.
We have some social work students researching financial aid and veterans which meant combing the reference resources, from military to history primary resources to education encyclopedias for any background articles as well as various agencies at the .gov sites.
Here is an article from Huffington Post about church work with veterans

A good background article from National Geographic sums up the day.
God Bless and Thanks

UPDATE. The official link for the Veterans site is to Church of the Acronym Thanks for the tip.

Singing Voices

2011-11-09T08:32:00.000-05:00

The Daily Devotion I had today was singing as worship, which reminded me of Christian music resources we may have in the library.
Three reference books in this area, only one current, could be useful for aspiring church choir conductors and musicians.
McCutchan's Hymn Tune Names: Their Sources and Significance (1957) deals with the names of tunes which if you know, you are liberated in singing and playing without music. My sister-in-law had to memorize them when she was studying to be a church musician. How many hear this without thinking of a major disaster? Another tune was also called this originally but renamed to Crucifer because it is always sung with these lyrics
Another more recent work is Powell's Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (2002) and is more a biography of Contemporary artists and groups. It looks like a fun browse with some "remember when" displays.

Although larger in scope than church music Unger's Historical Dictionary of Choral Music (2010) also focuses on composers and lyricists and choral music terms. I looked up John Rutter who's Gaelic Blessing is one of my favorites although I never sang it in a choir. There is also an extensive bibliography of secondary sources for many of the major composers. At this point, I wish this were online even if students were to ask "Where's the full text? or Is that all there is?"
On this point, I leave with the One word chapter another writer gave about Singing in church.
SING.

Pied Beauty

2011-11-03T16:22:00.001-04:00

This month seems most to reflect G.M. Hopkins poem and it fits into the them of Thanksgiving.

November

2011-11-01T08:16:00.000-04:00

One of the wittiest scenes in Rumpold of the Bailey has poor Rumpold walking in a cold November rain muttering: "No sun, no heat, November" or words to that effect. Perhaps the weather is one reason for practising gratitude in November.
I've "discovered' Don Moen says it best : Give Thanks

From November Bits and Pieces newsletter: "live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation." author unknown

The Best No-vember to all.

Reformation Day

2011-10-31T14:14:00.002-04:00

As one of my listserv ACL colleagues reminded me, today is important for us Protestants because it is Reformation Day. Time to dust off the 4 volume Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation for references a source not mentioned in the Wikipedia article. In about three years we will be celebrating the 500th year of this event. Would we be as brave as Luther if we faced similar situations today?

Oh the Horror!

2011-10-26T15:27:00.000-04:00

Less than two months to Christmas! e-e-e-k.

2011-10-24T07:44:00.000-04:00

A dialog

"Are you a librarian?" the Freshman asks as we are waiting for class to start, and I'm setting up the computer.

for class activities.

"Yes, I am.". My voice is a little sing song as I'm not sure what will come next.

"What do librarians do?"

" wel--l--l we do budgets, set schedules teach classes buy books another items and other things."

Clearly outside her knowledge zone, for she continued
"Are all librarians cranky?"

"What?" I jerked my attention away from opening our classroom network program and quickly reviewed what I had been saying and doing. I certainly had not been conveying a cranky attitude toward her even if she was puerile.

"The librarians at my high school were cranky. Well they weren't thee librarians just the helpers but the librarian was cranky too everyone said so even the teachers." - This is spoken rapidly.

Then unannounced: "I hate reading". (Hint for some of the crankiness?)

"You've come to the wrong place," I laughed, as I thought of all the reading she would need to do in college in order to graduate.

"Oh I will read my assignments, but I don't like to read." She protested.

She is staring at the overhead screen and I realized I havent muted my work and do so. The class starts, and it soon becomes clear by her inattention and impulsive behavior why she might think others are cranky.

2011-10-17T13:33:00.000-04:00

Too busy reading blogs, books, and newspapers,and teaching some challenging research classes to post much. I find that I need to keep reading current issues because of research classes. Thus I am not surprised when an instructor informs me that his students are interested in fracking, even if I don't know all the resources which would work best.
Oh yes, I've been listening to open culture lectures as well which pointed me to this lecture about the Greco-Roman World and historical context.

http://academicearth.org/lectures/historical-context-bible-greco-roman

Sometimes a good lecture is more informative than a book, especially if it in the right season.

2011-08-28T12:09:00.000-04:00

New School Year

So much for resolutions. At the start of a new semester, I wanted to bring you up to date a bit. I gave a presentation at the Association of Christian Librarians Workshop on using archives in a class (history for us), I gratefully gave up being nomination chair for the Association, mourned the loss of friends who died, watched both a nephew and a sister pass certain stages in their lives. He is now a Freshman in college, and she is working through the first stages of unemployment. We did a summer reading contest again which is always low key and great fun. Our prizes include gift cards to bookstores, natch.
And I decided to waive Medicare support for one more year as I am still working full time, a blessing I sometimes do not remember or even count at my age.
Finally my roses seem to have survived another onslaught of black spot which wasn't as bad this year. Maybe there is hope after all.

I wanted to give you good news to think about linking to my blog as I am on an ACL committee to nominate and award a recognition for best book. I can't talk about it too much right now, but once the subcommittees have done their work, I'll see about posting the finalists for the book award. This is exciting. I have four books to read and recommend to the rest of the committee. Two other members are also reading them. Then we all read the final works and discuss. Stay tuned. I hope to post something more about this work as time goes on.

2011-07-05T10:45:00.000-04:00

Back, Sort of.

These are the posts which offer apologies, reasons, resolutions. Nope, not now. Since I was somehow included in an awards blog, I feel obligated after a week of indecision to at least say hi. :-)
Salem Library Blog Rats! I've been trying to avoid these award thingies. Nevertheless, thanks.
Anyway, if you would like to see a truly good book review, one of my colleagues has sent a review in to Fides et Historia which should be appearing soon.

A couple of links today from Books and Culture e-mail which were tantalizing rabbit trails. The first was a movie review for the Tree of Life. Love Wins was the second reference which came from a few more clicks.
This second one is going on my list of positive literature as soon as I read it.

2011-03-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

Happy trail(er)s er teaser to you

A new feature for books is the trailer. Well after the videos ate the music industry, what's else could they do?:-) (tip)

I did a short search for Christian book trailers and among those advertising to help create such mashups, found an Amazon site. (doh) The link to a YouTube video was there, but it wasn't live.

Christian Writing Today has a post for a thousand book trailers and you can find them here. I know what I'm going to be doing for a while.

2011-03-21T08:39:00.000-04:00

True spring picture.

Before the flowers

Leaves must come

Tough, spiky spears...

This was taken at my house on March 20, 2011.

2011-03-17T16:03:00.000-04:00

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

From Out of Ur

2011-03-16T10:07:00.000-04:00

An Awesome Thing

When you find you own another skein of embroider floss in the same color as the one you ran out of.

Another awesome thing is these minimalist photographs.

Other minimalist links Seven Impossible Things discusses a book
Minimalist cooking
Minimalist housing

2011-03-15T13:23:00.002-04:00

Something New

As you have noticed, I've lost most of my enthusiasm for writing posts. The reasons are various, but I want to try something a little different once a week. I'm going to search for a term or concept and then post the links to the results. I have no particular reason, except I need a change.
I am giving credit or blame to a couple of postings that came across my desk:
A YouTube about Blogger http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hPhFc6GqVdU
thanks to LoneWolf Librarian http://lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com/
and an e-mail sales pitch about serendipity.

"Creativity springs from numerous sources, including logic, genius, and culture—but often its source is chance or, more providentially, serendipity. Webster’s defines serendipity as “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for,” while mythologist Joseph Campbell referred to it as “a thousand unseen helping hands.” Picture, if you will, Archimedes as one of its spokespersons, running dripping but triumphant from his bath through the streets of Syracuse, having stumbled on the theory of buoyancy by sheer dumb luck and being open to the moment of discovery.
Creativity is a wellspring of joy, a source of health and well-being, and to both our benefit and detriment, the engine of human change. What’s the science behind it? "From: PSYCINFO [mailto:PSYCINFO@LISTS.APA.ORG] On Behalf Of Anne Breitenbach] the rest of the post covers several articles about research into creativity. The emphasis is mine.
So, while I still intend to do my main purpose, I'm going to practise some creativity here. Who knows? Maybe it will get your creative juices flowing, too.

2011-01-24T08:04:00.000-05:00

A Season for Grief

When the events in Tucson occurred this month, I decided to put up a bibliography of books dealing with mourning and grief. Little did I know that only two -three days later my own mother would begin the final steps of her journey home to Jesus. So, this bibliograpny has taken an immediacy, an immediacy most people share

Hymn of Promise written in 1985 by Natalie Sleeth was discussed at the ACL list serv a few months ago. If you haven't heard it before, may it bless you as much as it has blessed and ministered to many others. Who says new hymns aren't being written?

My Life Closed Twice”: Sudden Loss and Grief

The recent events in Tuscon, Arizona served as inspiration for this list.

Non Fiction

Hamman, Jaco J. When Steeples Cry: Leading Congregations Through Loss and Change. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2006. BV4905.3.H37 2005

Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve, and Philip B. Kunhardt. Twenty Days: A Narrative in Text and Pictures of the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Twenty Days and Nights That Followed.. New York: Harper & Row, 1965. Oversize E457.5.K8

Lutz, Tom. Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. BF575.C88 L87 1999

Smith, Harold Ivan. Griefkeeping: Learning How Long Grief Lasts. New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2004. BV4330.S676 2004

---. Grieving the Death of a Friend. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1996. BF575.G7 S59 1996

---. On Grieving the Death of a Father. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1994. BV4905.2.S59 1994

VanDuivendyk, Tim P. The Unwanted Gift of Grief: A Ministry Approach. New York: Haworth Press, 2006. BV4905.3.V38 2006

Wangerin, Walter. Mourning Into Dancing. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1992. BV4905.2.W36 1992

Weaver, Andrew J., and Howard Stone, Eds. Reflections on Grief and Spiritual Growth. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005. BV4905.3.R44 2005

Young, Dennis. Mourning Journey: Spiritual Guidance for Facing Grief, Death, and Loss. Billerica, Mass: Discipleship Publications International, 2003. BV4905.3.Y68 2003

Fiction

Brisson, Pat. I Remember Miss Perry. New York: Dial Books, 2006.
Curr. Center PZ7.B78046 Mi2006
A young boy’s teacher is killed in an automobile accident

McDonald, Joyce. Swallowing Stones. New York: Laurel Leaf Books, 1999.
PZ7.M478418 S2 1999

Tatlock, Ann. A Place Called Morning. Minneapolis: Bethany Press, 1998.
PS3570.A85 P58 1998

Valentine, Jenny. Broken Soup. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
Curr Center PZ7.V25213 Br 2009

Yolen, Jane. Grandad Bill's Song. New York: Philomel Books, 1994.
Curr Center PZ8.3.Y76 G4 1994

Title from poem by Emily Dickinson.

2011-01-06T17:15:00.000-05:00

New Year and Resolutions
My book display for the new year was to locate materials about resolutions or goals. This wasn't as easy as it sounded. One of the areas I focused on concerned the laudable goal most Christians have of improving his/her spiritual life. Works on prayer, getting to know God, being more holy abound here and at most Christian Academic libraries. One of my goals is to read one of these works, probably Gene Edward Vieth,jrs. Loving God with All Your Mind will do.
Over Christmas I personally looked for a devotional at a half-price bookstore but didn't find one I wanted to start. That's my other goal as well as reading the Bible through this year. I've read all the Bible, but I realize I haven't read it through in a year. Callapidder Days presented an inspirational post with a variety of electronic resources which will have you meeting this goal.

what spiritual goals are you setting for this year.

2010-12-15T08:52:00.001-05:00

Journeys

At MPOW, we had a luncheon where we were asked to discuss things our memories of Christmas past.
For me, the past few decades have been about traveling m weather worries,and airports and time changes which leave me exhausted and tired through Christmas day. As a result, I have been thinking about T.S. Eliot's Journey of the Magi -- which actually occurred a few years after the birth--if chronologies are correct.
Here's a video done about the poem with links to many others. Unfortunately, I couldn't find credits.

2010-12-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

It's Saturday morning. I should be at a brunch with other employees, but I had to post this link to a blog I just found linked from another blog. I occasionally look at in my reader. This particular post is about Christmas. Read and see if you don't agree with some of it. He concludes.
"And Christmas is about the birth of Christ and the beginnings of the Invasion of Heaven. It’s about God declaring peace and his good will and favor toward man."
My current display of books has a subtitle: The whole earth changes tonight."

2010-12-10T18:45:00.000-05:00

So, one of my to-do lists each week is to go through the starred items im my GoogleReader from a year ago.
Here are some for Christmas.
The Christmas Jar a post from Recliner Commentaries. -- A great way to celebrate Christmas or any season. Of course, it might get buried under a snowdrift up here. The stories that people have shared are truly inspirational.

2010-12-07T14:33:00.000-05:00

Pearl Harbor Day from the Christian Science Monitor
Check out the links to primary material.

2010-12-07T08:45:00.000-05:00

Unusual Trees

Although Christmas trees don't feature in the original story and actually come from other traditions, decorating trees at Christmas has become a great tradition. One of my childhood memories was the tree my Dad for many years usually obtained from the school after they were finished with it.
We had terrific bubbly lights and glass ornaments [most have broken] with carols printed on them. Under the tree were the gifts we had made for our parents as well as something for us. If I could get my sister to illustrate it, I would write a story about it. Alas, it would have to be self-published.
But these trees are really different. [Tip of hat to LIS News and an Internet search and not sure where I found the last one.]

2010-12-06T11:11:00.001-05:00

Just a reminder to everyone, that you will find many (still working) links to a host of Christmas, Advent, and other holiday information by searching the December archives. If I run across any new links, I will add them to the list.
don't forget to checkout the Advent Calendar links
Another countdown calendar I came across in my feeds this week (from Mashable.com
was a YouTube Countdown calendar for New Years
Since I'm usually away during New Years, I'm getting a head start.

2010-12-01T09:22:00.000-05:00

I can't miss this Season
Here is my book list for our Christmas Display and a link to another acapella group Straight No Chaser;
[hat tip]

Christmas Readings

DiCamillo. Great Joy. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2007.
Curr Center PZ7.D5455 Gre 2007
The joy of giving at Christmas to a homeless person.

Fabry, Chris. Away with the Manger: A Spiritually Correct Christmas Story. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996. Curr. Center PS3556.A26 A9 1996
This book describes the cultural controversies surrounding Christmas.

Fletcher, Susan. Alphabet of Dreams, 2006. Curr. Center PZ7.F6356 Alp 2006
A story set in Ancient Persia, concerning the daughter of one of the Magi and the adventure they embark upon to seek the Messiah.

Freed, Edwin D. The Stories of Jesus' Birth: A Critical Introduction.
St. Louis, Mo.: Chalice, 2001. BT315.3.F74 2001
Although this list is not about the scholarly works on the Nativity, this short introduction to such works is helpful for future studies.

Hillenbrand, Will. Cock-a-Doodle Christmas! New York: Marchall Cavendish, 2007c.
Curr. Center PZ7.H55773 Coc 2007
Animals and the Christmas story are always favorite combinations. They remind us that the entire world is saved by Christmas.

Horsley, Richard, and James Tracy, Eds. Christmas Unwrapped: Consumerism, Christ, and Culture. Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press, International, 2001. GT4986.A1 C477 2001
Another more serious consideration about Christmas.

Hughes, David W. The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer's Confirmation. New York: Pocket Books, 1979. QB805.H83 1979
An astronomer tackles the problem of the actual Star.

Kidger, Mark. The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer's View. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999. QB805.K525 1999
Another astronomer's conclusions on the Star. The cover is gorgeous.

Moore, Clement C. The Night Before Christmas. New York: Little Brown & Co., 1996b.
Curr Center PS2429.M5 N5 1999b
This edition is illustrated by Tasha Tudor.

---. The Night Before Christmas. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2007c.
Curr Center PS2429.M5 N5 2007c
This edition contains a surprise cutout at the end of the book.

Morpurgo, Michael, and . On Angel Wings. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2007.
Curr Center PZ7.M82712 On 2007
The Angel Gabriel helps a young shepherd learn of the birth of the Messiah

Robinson, Barbara. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. New York: Harper Collins, 1972.
Curr Center PZ7.R5628 Be3
One of the best contemporary stories about Christmas even if it is over 30 years old.

Schaap, James C. Startling Joy : Seven Magical Stories of Christmas. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Revell, 2005. PS3569.C33 S73 2005
Don't have time for a long novel? Try one of these seven short stories about Christmas.

Wangerin, Walter. The Manger is Empty. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.
PS3573.A477 M36 1989
Another set of short stories, essays, and poems based on reflections about Christmas.

2010-11-03T15:23:00.000-04:00

Election followup

If you don't follow religious blogs, you may have missed this link about yesterday's elections and their impact on religion which I found at the Get Religion site. These two sites have compiled other links which may not have received as much attention from the major media outlets as other issues.

2010-11-02T13:02:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Voting Day

Get out the Vote.

The precinct where I live now has relatively fewer people in it. I usually don't encounter lines, ever. This wasn't true in other decades where getting to the polls before they opened was crucial if you wanted to finish within 30 minutes. Also, the voting area is just down the street from me whereas before I had to travel over 15 miles to the polling place. No matter what your persuasion, your vote does count and it.

2010-10-31T12:55:00.000-04:00

That's no way to treat a vegetable! hattip.

2010-10-27T10:54:00.001-04:00

The Holiday Season is upon us.

I've started seeing Christmas trees mixed in with broomsticks and pilgrims. My current display, Move Over R.L.Stine, features the genre of horror and supernatural literature found in our library. The number of standard British and American authors all seem to have written and written well in this field. There is even a website devoted to Christians and Horror which takes a different approach from my interpretation

While I enjoy a well-written story even if the premise unsettling, I usually draw the line at the horror genre in whatever media it is found because it reflects a philosophy of chaos and uncertainty at odds with Christian beliefs.

God Knows, a post, in The Christian worldview of fiction, aptly summarizes this as well as Hopkins poem That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection.

2010-10-10T17:35:00.000-04:00

Reference day

It's break Sunday -- yes we're open-- and I'm on duty. That makes this Reference day on this blog. This may be all the post you see. So far people wandering in and out. Only a handful actually studying.

One reference question about locating full text. This would have been a standard answer about the Journal Locator except that the article the student had found wasn't available. We had to go back to searching a database and locating more fulltext articles. Even seemingly routine questions can become complicated teaching moments. I learned in the course of the transaction that he was British. (Don't spell behavioral with a U.")

Time to go.

2010-10-04T16:59:00.000-04:00

The First of October

Someone said October is not a very festive month with no holidays, but I beg to differ. Colleges and Universities always find time for a Fall Break of some sort during this month. I hope yours is great.

2010-09-02T09:43:00.000-04:00

Labor Day

With our emphasis on faith and learning, perhaps we should also look at God at work, especially a person's religious life at work. You may not have seen this book anywhere about the history of God at Work: The History of the Faith at Work Movement, by David W. Miller
http://books.google.com/books?id=9Y-DacBJcdYC&source=gbs_ViewAPI Once again, I plead ignorance of the book, but I plan to put it on my TBR pile.
Mastering Monday: A Guide to Integrating Faith and Work also goes to my pile.

A quick search under the subject heading Work Religious aspects Christianity revealed 15 books in our library. Hmmm. I have a list for a display. Check your library. How many do you have?

2010-08-31T09:12:00.000-04:00

Musings
So, it's Tuesday the second day of classes. First days are so overrated. First editions often morph into second editions. And yet even so, new first printings in religion occur. One of my colleagues is even now writing a book review on a new book, Holy Jumpers, which he says ....well--I'll let you know when the review comes out. The link is the publisher's blurb. How Tuesday of me... Excuse me, I have a book to read.

2010-08-06T08:49:00.000-04:00

Where has summer gone?
I'm reminded of the cry from the Old Testament " The harvest is past, the summer
is ended and we are not saved." In barely two weeks we start with a new Fall Semester and I'm wondering if we have accomplished anything important but merely attended to the urgent. a more mundane way of saying what Jeremiah is lamenting.

I noticed the Belief Blog from CNN the other day and if you haven't seen it, it's worth visiting from time to time or better yet, start using a feed. One of the current articles is.

OK. I've spent some time reading such as reviewing the latest research from Project Information Literacy and more time praying and planning for personal issues - - consider urgent and important--more than work goals.
What goals did you accomplish or still hope to finish this summer?

2010-07-22T15:08:00.002-04:00

Back Again

Although I needed the break, I missed writing. In fact, I tried to post earlier last week but couldn't log on. Actually, we have not had any new religious reference resources for a while. The only one we've acquired has been the Praeger Handbook of Religion and Education in the United States - a 2 volume set edited by James C. Carper and Thomas C. Hunt. It appears to cover a variety of topics related to religion in the Elementary and Secondary School System as well as background reading on legal issues. The appendix has a list of the Supreme Court Cases on Religious Liberty in chronological order. Without doing much comparison to other similar works, the articles appear to be sufficiently developed for a good understanding of the issues. Parochial and private school education also have articles devoted to them. Worldcat indicates that many libraries own this set and I hope they are pointing interested patrons toward it.

2010-05-24T10:51:00.002-04:00

I think this justifies my earlier post about stopping for a while.

2010-05-18T08:09:00.000-04:00

A month is too long between posts.
Yes, I've seen posts about how to attract more people, write better posts, yadda, yadda, yadda.

My excuses
too many meetings
not my computer or time.
interests not directly related to the purpose of this blog.
I am writing elsewhere on my Facebook and other blogs and wikis.
a lack of motivation on my part, although I have had better e-mail feedback this year.
A reluctance to just stop.

I will be thinking about repurposing this blog without losing the Christian theme.
So if you don't hear any more for several months, I will probably be back.
If you have any suggestions for topics, please let me know, or better yet offer to post a few yourself.

2010-04-05T08:25:00.002-04:00

Easter Monday

The day after a holiday. I saw the reference to this at Sightings e-mail post for April 5 which is not in the archives today. Maybe tomorrow. His post is about the abundance of choice in today's world, not about the post holiday depression. This one isn't either but is timely. We worry all the time about Christmas being secularized. Has Easter been too secularized as well? the article says "The resurrection's Easter competition comes not only from colorful bunnies and candies, but also the historical accounts of the story that appear in books, newspapers and cable TV programs each spring." Since the information medium can dilute a message, perhaps the Christian librarian's job is be a little proactive and strengthen the message as well.
What do you think?

2010-03-30T10:39:00.000-04:00

At Easter,
Interactive Sistine Chapel This is a rich visual and audio experience, well worth the wait for it to load. Thanks to

2010-03-26T17:40:00.000-04:00

Easter Greetings
He is Risen. Christ is Risen indeed. You don't have to wait for a day to say that.
We just received our new edition of the Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible. I want to the "resurrection" and Resurrection of Jesus Christ articles for my current display on Easter because the book is just now out of cataloging for us.The articles totaled 20 pages covering all aspects of this phenomenon. The set looks to be worth the investment, although it isn't digital.

I'm also rejoicing because I finally completed my two papers, although they could still stand some small editing. Everytime I write something, I vow never to do this again, but somehow at the end, I'm ready for more.
This time, I'm working on some short tips for our online students to encourage them to use our resources.

2010-03-22T09:25:00.000-04:00

Faith and # 12

Politics

Bivins, Jason C. The Fracture of Good Order: Christian Antiliberalism and the challenge to American Politics

Black, Amy E. Beyond Left and Right: Helping Christians Make Sense of American Politics

Danforth, John. Faith and Politics: How the "Moral values" debate Divides America and How to Move Forward

Dionne, Jr. E. J. ; Eishtain, Jean Bethke; & Drogosz, Kayla M. One Electorate under God

Dunn, Charles W. The Future of Religion in American Politics

Floyd, Charlene. Christian Voices: Journes through Faith ad Politics in Contemporary American Protastantism
Hunter, George G. III. Christian, Evangelical &--Democrat?

Lambert, Frank Religion in American Politics

Shoemaker, H. Stephen Being Christian in an Almost Chosen Nation

Suarez, Ray. The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America

Toulouse, Mark G. God in Public: Four Ways American Christianity and Public Life Relate

Wallis, Jim. God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get it

Zwier, Robert. Born-Again Politics: The New Christian Right in America ( published in 1982)

2010-03-19T18:10:00.000-04:00

Faith and # 11
Sexual Orientation
Actually, this conversation wasn't as clear as the title says. We added both issues about singleness as well as homosexuality to the books.

Brawley, Robert L., (Ed.). Biblical Ethics & Homosexuality: Listening to Scripture

Childs, James M. Faithful Conversation: Christian Perspectives on Homosexuality

Harris, Joshua. Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship

Horner, Tom. Jonathan Loved David: Homosexuality in Biblical Times

Rinehart, Stacy & Rinehart, Paula. Choices: Finding God's Way in Dating, Sex, Singleness, and Marriage

Thatcher, Adrian & Stuart, Elizabeth Christian Perspectives on Sexuality and Gender

2010-03-18T09:28:00.000-04:00

Faith and # 10
Success

Bloomberg, Craig L. Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Material Possessions

Dawn, Marva J. Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society

Mitchem, Setphany U. Name It and Claim It? Prosperity Preaching in the Black Church

Schneider, John R. The Good of Affluence: Seeking God in a Culture of Wealth

Sitze, Bob. Starting Simple

Van Til., Kent A. Less Than Two dollars a Day: A Christian View of World Poverty and the Free Market.

2010-03-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

Faith and # 9

Race

Feagin, Joe R. & Mckinney, Karyn D. The Many Costs of Racism

Ford, Richard T. The Race Card: How bluffing about bias makes race relations worse

Gilbreath, Edward. Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical's Inside view of White Christianity

Herring, Cedric, Keith, Verna; & Horton, Hayward Derrick. Skin Deep

Steele, Shelby. White Guilt

Ward, Deboray. The White Welfare State.

Yancey, George A. Beyond Black and White: Reflections on Racial Reconciliation

2010-03-16T11:28:00.001-04:00

Faith and # 8

Human Genetic Engineering

Dwyer, Judath A.( Ed.). Vision and Values: Ethical Viewpoints in the Catholic Tradition

Hanford, Jack. Bioethics from a faith perspective: Ethics in Health care for the Twenty-First Century

Meilander, Gilbert. Bioethics: A primer for Christians

Pence, Gregory E. Classic Cases in Medical Ethics

Peters, Ted, Lebacqz , Karen & Bennett, Baymon. Sacred Cells? Why Christians should support Stemp Cell Research

Tada, Joni Eareckson. How to be a Christian in a Brave New World

2010-03-15T09:43:00.000-04:00

Faith and... # 7

Gender Roles

Cunningham, Loren & Hamilton, David J. Why not Women: A Biblical study of Women in Missions, Ministry and Leadership

Doriani, Dan. Women and Ministry: What the Bible Teaches

Eagle, Alice H. & Carli, Linda L. Through the Labyrinth: The Truth about how Women become Leaders
Hollinger, Dennis. The Meaning of Sex: Christian Ethics and the Moral Life

Piper, John & Grudem, Wayne. Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism

Sanders, Cheryl J. Ministry at the Margins: The Prophetic Mission of Women, Youth & the Poor

2010-03-14T17:52:00.000-04:00

DST, Sunday Reference desk

I'm taking a break today and just chronicling life at the reference desk for four hours.
1. Locate resources for a nursing student about effects of healthcare on elderly. Too vague, but will try for clarification.

Review a paper I've been struggling to complete. Worst case of writer's block ever...

Sorry to bother you. You're not bothering me. Can you help me find information about Corinthian columns?
Actually wants all three styles of Greek columns. Grove Dictionary of Art and other architecture encyclopedias.
Note to self Practice a little more with the Online Dictionary of Art

Do you have to be a member or something to check out books here? How old are you? 16...Check at the Circulation Desk

Screams and laughter coming from the Instruction Lab where a group has been using it for a project...

I don't know how if this is a question or not but I'm looking for a book my teacher said you had here. It's about graduate schools in psychology. Is it on reserve? No, I already asked there. A little exploration and discussion unearthed the volume in the BF section of Reference and not in the LB's where the other graduate school information resides.
Note to self--order a current copy of the book

IM message - How do I locate Points of View?

quick walk around the building checking for anyone who wants help.

One of the community regulars drops by with 2 dollars for candy--totally his own idea, not mine. We chat for about 30 seconds and he then heads to the fireplace in the cafe to warm up.

5:20 - the study group leaves - thumbs up

Located some possible sources for a faculty member -- part of a recurring search. Thanks bloggers!

2010-03-12T14:54:00.001-05:00

Faith and...# 6

Environmental Issues

This is a mix of religious emphasis and ecology.

Blumberg, Louis, & Gottlieb, Robert. War on Waste: Can America Win its battle with Garbage?

Friedman, Thomas L. Hot, Flat , and Crowded: Why we need a Green Revolution and How it can Renew America

Gatta, John. Making Nature Sacred: Literature, religion, and Environment in America From the Puritans to the Present

Gottlieb, Roger S. A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future

Jenkins, Willis. Ecologies of Grace : Environmental Ethics and Christian Theology

Leax, John. Standing Ground: A Personal Story of Faith and Environmentalism

O'Brien, Martin. A Crisis of Waste? Understanding the Rubbish Society

Satterfield, Terr & Slovic, Scott. Eds. What's Nature Worth? Narrative Expressions of Environmental Values.

Shuman, Michael H. Going Local: Creating Self-reliant Communities in a Global Age

2010-03-11T09:05:00.000-05:00

Faith and...# 5
Economic issues relate to faith discussions almost as much as doubt. These books rante from personal finance to larger social issues.

Alford, Helen J. & Naughton, Michael. Managing as if faith mattered.

Childs, James M. Greed: Economics and ethics in conflict

Griffiths, Brian. The Creation of Wealth: A Christian's Case for Capitalism

Hudnut-Beumler, James. Generous Saints: Congregations rethinking ethics and money

Malone Jr. , Walter From Holy Power to Holy Profits: The Black Church and Community Economic Empowerment
Stapleford, John E. Bulls, Bears & Golden Calves: Applying Christian ethics in Economics

Shook, Jill Suzanne, ed. Making Housing Happen: Faith-based Affordable Housing Models

Sider, Ronald J. Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America 2nd ed.

Tanner, Kathryn. The Economy of Grace

2010-03-10T08:51:00.000-05:00

Faith and...

The Fourth conversation students could choose is a more conventional one for Christians: Doubt.
As you can see these range from classic works to more contemporary life discussions.

Dulles, Avery. Assurance of Things Hoped For

Fischer, John. True Believers Don't Ask Why

Guinness, Os. God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith beyonf a shadow of a doubt

Hulme, William E. Am I losing my faith?

Lamott, Annie. Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

McGrath, Alister E & McGrath, Joanna Collicutt. The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist fundamentalism and the denial of the divine.

Newbigin, Lesslie. Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship

Smith, Hannah Whithall. The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life - I'm linking this to a current edition as I didn't find a printing which would appeal to students. Even our copy is "old."

2010-03-08T13:44:00.000-05:00

Faith and... Part Three

Our third set of conversations dealt with Criminal Justice.

Campolo, Tony & Darling, Mary Albert. The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting ancient spiritual
       practices, evangelism and justice

Currie, Elliott. The Roots of Danger: Violent Crime in Global Perspective

Dempsey, Carol. J. Justice: A Biblical Perspective

Gould, Jon B. The Innocence Commission: Preventing Wrongful Convictions and Restoring the
      Criminal Justice System

Katongole, Emmanuel & Rice, Chris. Reconciling all Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace, and
     Healing
Loury, Glenn C. The Anatomy of Racial Inequality

Umbreit, Mark S. Victim Meets Offender: The Impact of Restorative Justice and Mediation

Wachtel, Ted. Real Justice

Wittes, Benjamin. Law and the Long War: The Future of Justice in the age of Terror

2010-03-05T15:52:00.000-05:00

Faith and...Part Two
This set of resources concerned Faith and Art. As you can see from the first title, the focus was on various forms of pop culture as well as the Fine Arts.

Anker, Roy. Catching Light: Looking for God in the Movies

Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane, Ed. Art, Creativity and the Sacred: An Anthology in Religion and Art

Dark, David. Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, The Simpsons, and other pop
culture icons.

De Borchgrave, Helen. A Journey into Christian Art

Detweiler, Craig & Taylor Barry. A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture

Dupre, Louis. Symbols of the Sacred

Finley, Eversole. Christian Faith and the Contemporary Arts.

Jensen, Robin M. The Substance of Things Seen: Art, Faith, and the Christian Community

Kapikian, Catherine. Art in the Service of the Sacred

L'Engle, Madeleine. Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

Martin, F. David. Art and the Religious Experience: The "Language" of the sacred:

Maus, Cynthia Pearl. The Church and the Fine Arts

Morgan, David. The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice

Roncace, Mark & Gray, Patrick, Eds. Teaching the Bible Through Popular Culture and the Arts

Siedel, Daniel A. God in the Gallery

Steiner, Wendy. The Scandal of Pleasure: Art in an Age of Fundamentalism

2010-03-04T15:24:00.000-05:00

Happy National Grammar Day
and happy birthday to my middle sister. Once when I corrected her English, she scowled and said "School's out! I can say Aint if I want to."

2010-03-04T15:17:00.000-05:00

Faith and... Part One
We've just finished a two day biennial conference at MPOW. The topic was "Speaking of Faith."
For the library's part, we created a display of resources on hand. In order to give more postings, I plan to post one topic at a time with the books. My disclaimer for all of the lists is that they represent a variety of views designed to facilitate dialogue not necessarily dogma.
Feel free to comment on the books and to suggest others. Where possible, I've included the WorldCat link for full bibliographic information.

The first topic dealt with American History and Native Americans

Bordewich, Fergus M. Killing the White Man's Indian: The Reinventing of Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century

Cotten, Angela L. & Acampora, Christa Davis. Cultural Sites of Critical Insight: PHilosophy, aesthetics, and African American and Native American Women's Writings.

Glancy, Diane Stone Heart: A Novel of Sacajawea

Hauptman, Laurence M. The Iroquois Struggle for Survival : World War II to Red Power.

King, C. Richard & Spriingwood, Charles Fruehling, Eds. Team Spirits: The Native American Mascots Controversy

Kohn, Rita & Montell, W. Lynwood Eds.. Always a People: Oral Histories of Contermporary Woodland Indians

Lincoln, Kenneth. Speak Like Singing: Classics of Native American Literature

Oskison, John Milton The Singing Bird: A Cherokee Novel

Peyer, Bernd C. American Indian nonfiction: An anthology of Writings, 1760s-1930s

Todkill, Ans. My Lady Pokahontas

Warrior, Robert. The People and the Word: Reading Native Nonfiction

Weaver,Jace; Womack, Craig S.; & Warrior, Robert. American Indian Literary Nationalism

2010-02-14T15:44:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day

I'm sitting at the reference desk this Valentine's day with little action because we're at the start of our Winter Break. I was just musing about the low number of days which we still recognize in honor of a Christian Saint, no matter how far they've gone astray.
I also don't think there is a popular biography of Saint Valentines--any of the three--in the way that Saint Patrick whose biography is in a children's book form. I take that back. Here is one. Given that three Valentines could have been the original Saint, we'll never know on this side of Heaven. Too bad 24 hour news wasn't available at those times.

2010-01-25T13:52:00.000-05:00

Of Disasters, preparedness and wisdom

After a disaster--be it national, persona, or both--occurs the time for finger wagging is over. I am not going to repeat all the places for helping with Haiti as so many blogs, tweets, and newsletters have posted suggestions for everyone. One of the persons at ACL posted information about the condition of libraries in Haiti. Please keep this situation in your prayers and consider what you or your library can do to assist.

Here's the information from Dorothy Bowen who works at Eastern Kentucky University.
"Good afternoon.

Although this is not about theological libraries, I though it might be of interest to you. It was sent to my daughter who has been evacuated from Haiti along with my two grandchildren. Her husband is still at Quisqueya Christian School in Port au Prince.

I am sending it pretty much as received. "Here is a brief note on the situation in Haïti.

We have a contact with Patrick Tardieu who is an archivist in the oldest library in Port au Prince, Bibliothèque des Pères du Saint

Esprit. Fortunately, he's alive and flighted yesterday to Canada. The first information we have are:

- Saint Martial College in which there is the Bibliothèque Haïtiennedes pères du saint esprit collapsed

- The St Louis de Gonzague library building would be ok but very weakened

- The national Library collapsed, at least a part of it

- Most of the university libraries collapsed too

Those libraries gathered very old collections (from the 16th century).

Several manuscripts were brought by the missionaries who came fromEurope. Other have been collected in the Caraibs (notably,

publications on the haitian revolutions, transcriptions of vaudou oral traditions,personal documents from the 18th centuries).

We think it's urgent to run an international campaign for saving thesecollections, at least in France, the US and Canada. We have to creatededicated funds to launch the campaign and raise money. On our side,
we are already in contact with the French IFLA committee (International
Federation of Library Association), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(through its agency CulturesFrance) and the culture ministry. In theUS we will work with professor Laurent Dubois, Duke University, who has a good knowledge of these collections and is ready to rally the
archivists and the historians community. Patrick Tardieu, who is in
Canada now will help us too, to have a better knowledge of thesituation.

We have to prepare, for next week to :

1/ Open a dedicated fundraising account at least in the US and Francefor the operation (not only focused on the emergency of saving these collections but also on the effort of rebuilding in the next months)

2. Work with organizations such as IFLA, UNESCO and the FOKAL
Foundation (its director, Elizabeth Pierre Louis, who we well know isstill missing for the moment) in order to avoid the redundancies.

3/ Prepare to form a team of curator, archivists, historians andlogistics coordinators who would be ready to go there in the nextweeks or months.

For the moment we have good contacts in Guadeloupe. We might need tofind places in Canada and in the US. People are mobilizing there and could prepare rapidly to host the collections for a while. Patrick
Tardieu told me that we maybe could host them in other places in haiti if the roads
are ok. We'll check up on this point next week. Our principal enemy will be the rain from now. The collections could be destroyed forever.Most of these pieces are unique.

We'll have more info hopefully next week on the collections and thesituation there. Don't hesitate to share the news you'd have.
Thank you for your mobilization. BSF sent a first communiqué today in memory of Mamadou Bah, a good friend of us, who worked at the UN in Port au Prince.

You'll find it at this adress: http://mim.io/15f12?fe=1
We have no news from Nixon Calixte who was coordinating the University Libraries network in Haiti."

Dorothy N. Bowen, Ph. D.

2010-01-06T16:46:00.000-05:00

Epiphany Day

A friend e-mailed about this and I want to add my wishes as well to all who remember that the Twelfth Day of Christmas is a cause for feasting. Fortunately, we had a small celebration here--chili and twelve bean soup. Just enough to take the chill off these January glooms

And we talked about the Three Magi who came and inadvertently set off a series of events which led to Herod's slaughter of children and the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt. In a sense Herod had an epiphany of a different kind: "a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience."
Reference.com identifies the Season for Epiphany

I don't have a specific book or reference work to introduce here. I have been reading numerous posts about the books people have read through the last year.
I wish you well in this season and many epiphanies.

2009-12-09T17:22:00.000-05:00

Of Creches and cradles

Tis the season for manger scenes, nativity sets or creches. This came to mind from the article in Get Religion on the White House Creche. The picture which accompanied the article shows a magnificent creche.
The University of Dayton has a page which sets the historic background of nativity scenes from around the world. Here are some photographs of creches from Guideposts We have a manger here but it's a little more humble, somewhat similar to this. Lots of nativity scenes are enactments which are similar to the indoors Christmas pageants. While Christmas Story is celebrated every year as a classic, don't forget another classic, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with the Herdman kids which as made into a movie about the same time as the other film

2009-12-01T15:02:00.000-05:00

Firsts
First day in December
First snow of the Season
First week of Advent

I have other links to calendars and preChristmas activities. Just search my blog

2009-11-20T13:55:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Giving
Since I blog very infrequently -- almost as badly as the Wittenburg Door's publication rate--I have very few posts around Thanksgiving. Many churches and other organizations focus on food baskets at this time, and rightly so. I didn't count, but many of the food donations and volunteer opportunities at this time are related to local churches or charitable organiztions. The links at the top are indicative of activies that start around this time.
Besides Thanksgiving, Black Friday has been going on for decades and is now joined by Cyber Monday. Quiet revolutions against the commercialisation of Christmas have been underway for years as well and more will be included later about that. Since many of us start planning Christmas shopping at Thanksgiving feasts, it's not too early to become aware of alternatives which would not only bring a better spirit to Christmas but also to Thanksgiving.

2009-11-18T18:36:00.000-05:00

World Religions A to Z
While I have been busy with instruction and other reference duties, one of my colleagues, in anticipation of a class at the seminary, has purchased a variety of reference books related to world religions.
These include the A to Z Guides from Scarecrow Press.
The A to Z of New Religious Movements by George D. Chryssides
The A to Z of Islam by Ludwig W. Adamec
The A to Z of Lutheranism by Gunther Gassman
Another series is the Historical Dictionaries or Religions, Philosophies, and Movements also from Scarecrow Press.
The Historical Dictionary of the Salvation Army edited by Major Hojn G. Merritt
The Historical Dictionary of Judaism 2nd ed. by Norman Solomon

2009-11-16T09:38:00.000-05:00

Now I've seen--err played Everything. [via]

2009-11-03T14:27:00.000-05:00

It's time to fish or cut bait -- Vote. I went this morning. How about you?

2009-10-29T09:43:00.000-04:00

Oh the Horror! I couldn't resist. Happy Halloween.

2009-10-22T15:40:00.000-04:00

Seasonal Mood

Some like to quote Frost in the Spring
I prefer Millay in the Fall

2009-10-22T11:32:00.000-04:00

Holiday mood.
Halloween is coming. What's the scariest book, movie, picture, song, or poem you've encountered? this is just for fun so feel free to comment on your favorite site. Just send me the link.

2009-10-21T20:49:00.000-04:00

I just finished the book the Lost Art of Gratitude by Alexander McCall Smith, and while it isn't about Christianity or any religion in particular, it does cover the virtue. Sometimes librarians have grateful patrons.
Once or twice a student has come in and said "you helped me get an A on my paper," or words to that effect. However, is an expressed gratitude how we know we've done our job?
I believe Anne Lamott said she has two prayers: Help me, Help me, Help me, and Thank you,Thank you, Thank you. When I broke my wrist which is healed by the way, those were definitely the essence of my prayers!

2009-10-14T14:15:00.000-04:00

Envy
is not a virtue but it's hard not to feel somewhat envious when the news comes across that YouTube has passed the 1 billion - 9 whole zeros. Would that libraries came that close. [via]

2009-10-05T12:24:00.000-04:00

Days and Displays

October is Information Literacy Awareness Month. I don't mind month long celebrations such as this or Hispanic Heritage Month, but I have a hard time with creating displays for a single day such as Constitution Day or even for a week such as Banned Books. Even Christmas--especially Christmas--presents problems for academic libraries because our cycle for semesters coincides or sometimes precedes a good time to display Christmas-themed items. The amount of work is about the same but I'm always left with the dilemma as to when to put up or take down these short lived displays. But a month gives me time to put up and keep on display a collection without being too concerned about the changing season.

Displays seem be a problem for others, too as LM_Net, the school library discussion list has posts as to how to handle students wanting a book on a special display. I say let them have it, although I read others who suggested having alternative books to place on the display or provide for iinterested students. (Our student workers used to try to guess the type of display I was working on by the books I had them pull.)
My month is about up and perhaps Information Literacy will be next.

2009-09-30T17:01:00.000-04:00

Lost and Found Meme

Tis the season for students and faculty to misplace items in the library. So far this year we have had our usual fill of travel mugs and zip drives. Someone also left a new hoodie. Others have left raincoats. One year we had a diamond ring. No lost children yet. What's the most unusual item lost in your library?

2009-09-24T16:29:00.000-04:00

Banned Book Week - The most banned book in the World
Interesting display.

2009-09-18T16:47:00.000-04:00

Reading Season and Freebies

If you like reading challenges, here is one, "Fall into Reading" with free giveaways from Bethany House. Check with Callapidder Days each Thursday. The only problem : the name of the free books didn't appear anywhere. I've seen many reading challenges posted over the summer and I haven't time to pull them in right now but will later. I just keep plugging away but sometimes a challenge seems like a great way to try a new genre. Let me know if you receive any of the freebies.

2009-09-02T13:04:00.000-04:00

What's your reading pattern?

This is my pattern. in an blog published today in the Guardian by Suzanne Munshower.
In fact if you link to my LibraryThing page, you'll notice one tag "dnf," which stands for did not finish. I may go back and read someday but right now, there's too much else to read through. Tip of the hat to Miss Rumphius Books who has the discipline of perseverance. Me, Whenever I find my interest flagging, I'll skip to the end, read it, and then decide if I want to continue. If the author wanted you to read it from beginning to end in that order, why write a book, why not make a movie instead or create a play? Poetry on the other hand, demands straightline reading.
I'm totally in sync with the post and I read it straight through, too.

2009-08-31T16:50:00.000-04:00

A New Month; A New Semester
These rarely coincide. If you're interested in all the types of events check out Susan Rigsby's blog. I plan to avoid most of the suggestions found there for in addition to the usual start of the year projects, I am working on coordinating a short Bibliographic Instruction session on locating book reviews for a contemporary lit class. The class will include Wendell Berry and John Updike two Christians among the group. I'll be interested to see if the students choose any other Christian writers to locate reviews and prepare reports for their projects.

2009-08-27T12:35:00.002-04:00

Life is like...
A pathway

Wait, wait. I'm not speaking about a universalist or multi-religious belief, but the Christian walk.

At least that's the subject we focused on yesterday at our faculty orientation at MPOW. We took an adaptation of the Spiritual Path Survey and then discussed the various ways each of us followed Christ.

And the speaker gave us four books which relate to this. I haven't ready any of them, but they appear to cover some thought provoking topics. When we discussed how we rated ourselves--a process I'm always a little suspicious of--we discovered that we all experienced times when the convictions of a certain type of Christian made us uncomfortable because that wasn't how we worshipped. Upon reflection, I'm glad to learn about these types, not to label people--librarians NEVER label (heh), but to know when I feel out of my comfort zone and maybe be a little more accepting of a Christian is more celebratory or sensate. (look it up:-)
Here are the titles.
Sacred Pathways, by Gary Thomas - The source of the Spiritual Path Survey
Invitation to a Journey by Robert Mulholland
Soultypes by Krebs and Kise.
Your Personality and the Spiritual Life, by Reginald Johnson.

2009-08-14T14:14:00.004-04:00

Catching Up and Going to Physical Therapy

Our books for this year are Amish Grace and Mere Christianity and I've been using the first as a launching point for orientation in the library. I read Mere Christianity too many decades ago to even contemplate, and this rereading is one of those experiences one has in revisiting a book with older eyes.
Amish Grace, on the other hand, was difficult to get into because of the tragedy, although the author handled it with skill and compassion. It may discuss forgiveness, but left me more curious about the Amish even if the lifestyle isn't one I wish to follow.

I'm eager for school start and see how our Freshmen respond to these two books. I've already spoken to one incoming Freshman who was looking for the definition of "mere" about her approach to the C. S. Lewis's essays.

2009-07-28T07:54:00.002-04:00

New Calendar site

This was sent via the LM_Net discussion list. If you have a hard time keeping track of dates for marketing or displays in your library, check out this http://www.surfnetkids.com/july.htm

Question: Has anyone created a webpage like this for their college? What a great way to promote archives or traditions.

2009-07-22T10:02:00.002-04:00

Happiness is a moral obligation? What about Joy?

No matter the season.
This trend started with
Recliner commentaries http://www.reclinercommentaries.com/2009/07/happiness-is-moral-oblilgation.html

Wouldn't you know, I found more people discussing this older blog.
From a YouTube collection: Everything's amazing; nobody is happy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jETv3NURwLc - ergo - technology doesn't make us happy, but feeling we are owed something--recipe for depression. [via Proverbial Lonewolf]

From Get Rich Slowly today - Lower your expectations--Increase your happiness. - Great analog to The Recliner statement.

Our library holds a book, The History of Happiness by Darrin M. McMahon. My favorite one is a classic by Hannah Whithall Smith, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life

all this talk of happiness reminds me of the description about early Christians: absurdly happy, completely fearless, and in constant trouble from a sermon by Jim Murphy which is on the Internet Archive.

By the way, here is the background to the song at linked on title.

2009-07-16T10:46:00.002-04:00

A Season for Healing
If you are looking for books-- you can skip this.
Accidents, such as fender bender or a broken wrist, intrude on normal routines. While that seems obvious and I hear duh's from my two readers, I never seem to learn that lesson. It has been nearly 3 months since I slipped and broke my right wrist, and I'm still recovering. In fact, the recovery process will be around one year, according to my orthopedist.

Although I can type and drive again, I am still limited by the need to rest my hand frequently--that and copious amounts of acetomenophin (sp). The other lesson which comes during these times, is that others also will be experiencing more traumatic or as traumatic experiences. So at MPOW, one person was let go for budgetary reasons, and another started chemotherapy at roughly the same time.

I don't know the ultimate purpose God can do with these incidents as Romans 8:28 says, but I know He is working through these. I am learning to celebrate small successes--such as turning a doorknob with my right hand or buttering a piece of bread with a knife with my right hand instead of the back of a spoon with my left hand. Some of the healing has definitely been in repairing my gratitude and thankfulness. If I go any farther, I will become entangled in too many doctrinal issues.

2009-05-07T13:35:00.000-04:00

I bwoke my wittle wight wrist. Best excuse so far for noy blogging until June

2009-04-22T10:20:00.002-04:00

My kind of Earth Day? Very funny in a Captain Underpants way.
I checked the Chronicle of Higher Education just to see what was under religion in the Research and Books Column and found this.

If Creation Is a Gift, by Mark Manolopoulos (State University of New York Press;
187 pages; $65). Draws on the work of Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion in a
study that applies postmodern gift theory to ecological and "ecotheological"
concerns.

How apropos. I don't think I've seen the term, "ecotheological" before.

2009-04-13T12:29:00.002-04:00

Religion and Twitter Did you Twitter during your Easter service?
I came late and was in the balcony behind a wood arch which blocked my view every time I stood up. The service was still great, though.

2009-04-05T15:01:00.002-04:00

Trials...
I've Known about a Few
So I'm going to report for possible jury duty tomorrow. I've checked out MPOW's policy--covered. Yea. " But this is Holy Week," I whine to no one in particular. "Surely no one would want to have a court case now? Why me?" (The little violins are demanding a bonus for overtime.) Only the Palm Sunday Service stopped my pity party.
My earlier memory with the whole jury selection process was exhaustion. So rather than try to come in and blog, I'll post links to blogs about this week such as this one and this one and other linked words and pictures in this post.

2009-03-26T09:05:00.002-04:00

Holy Week Thoughts
I'm not from a High Church background and although we celebrate events of this week, we do not follow as ritualized form. Advent readings may be joyous with anticipation, but we need to emphasize this week even more and read. [thanks,}

This reminds me of biblical chronologies such as Finegan's Handbook of Bible Chronologies which attempt to answer troubling questions. A more recent work is The Timechart of Biblical History or The Bible Made Plain and Simple . These last two books are held by public libraries as well as academic.

As always this brief foray into WorldCat has provided me with other books I would like to read about Holy Week. Does anyone have a favorite book during this time, aside from the Scriptures?

2009-03-17T08:22:00.002-04:00

Saint Patricks Day

In previous posts, I have identified Saint Patrick's Day links here, here, and here. The link under the title goes to the symbols which have been a shorthand for religious meanings for millennia. (All right, I don't have an actual link.) While most of our reference books point to the Christian art, symbols were highly political and social means of identifying one's values and choices. Some symbols were paid for by blood and sacrifice and if you are so inclined to raise a toast, nonalcoholic, remember the price of saints like Patrick and other earlier Christians among your festivities.

2009-03-12T14:05:00.002-04:00

Finance, Personal
That's the subject heading everyone is too aware of today.
Unfortunately, there is no subheading for those books which encourage Christians to live within their means such as Larry Burkett's Debt-Free Living This link is one of the added values on our Voyager system which pulls (or sidetracks) the user to GoogleBooks and other possible resources.
I've discovered two blogs--sorry I don't remember where-- here and here which also address current angst. Other blogs are discussing finances but I haven't seen any library blogs. Do your worldview and your personal financial habits affect the way you handle finances at work? Should they?

2009-03-08T15:38:00.002-04:00

Just Say No

Do the economic woes make you believe you have been involuntarily thrust into an early Lenten Season?
Well, although I'm not Catholic, I understand the Pope has asked Catholics to give up technology for Lent. Since I'm working on a roundtable about managing e-mail (the new Paper Tiger) accounts, this might be a good time to practise a little restraint with e-mail. If you have completely renounced e-mail for the rest of the Lenten Season, you're probably not reading this!
However, if you haven't even considered it, why not think about it and try giving it up on the weekends or one day in the week. I'm going to try to stop looking at e-mail for 1/2 of my work day. I may have to post a reminder notice for urgent contacts, but I have found that if people really need to contact you, they will call. Tip of the Hat
Once you do this, let me know your experience.

2009-02-13T09:42:00.002-05:00

Seasons of Failure

When I started this blog, I hoped to emphasize religious resources we could use at academic libraries. That's still my objective, although other events often interfere and my area here at MPOW isn't directly the area of theology and religion.
Given the current economic crisis and job losses, I did a little search on our database for failure in relation to Christianity. Failure to Christians "ain't" a bad or evil , even if it isn't enjoyable.
I don't remember the book, but many years (long before the scandals that rocked it in previous decades.) ago I read about a person who had converted to Catholicism from a cult because at last the Catholic church had admitted to being imperfect.

The God of Second Chances by Erik Koble (Westminster/John Knox, 2008) is MPOW most recent work on failure from a Christian standpoint. The emphasis in this work might seem individual, but group failure is also discussed. Maybe we should all step back and try again, even if there are consequences we will have to confront and handle.

2009-02-05T10:21:00.002-05:00

A little more on Updike from Sightings

This is the current "article," available only by e-mail, and as such is not yet in the Sightings archive at the time of this post. If you don't subscribe, wait a week and then enjoy. Here is a thought provoking statement from the article on Updike.

All literature functions in religious modes and by necessity addresses themes
and problems that we might dare call "theological," but Updike was a writer both
evident and unabashed in his willingness to engage God as narrative presence in
the midst of contemporary despair

The article sets Updike's literary frames of reference from Barth, Pascal, and Kohler, among others.

At the end of this article are references to additional resources to look for assessments about Updike, which is to say, don't ignore the end of this well-written piece. any College library supporting contemporary (?) literature would do well to provide links to these works.

2009-01-27T14:22:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday, Lewis Carroll
Farewell, John Updike.

Who has read one book from each of these authors? Were they required for a class?

UPDATE: - Wish I had said this.

Since this was really too short to do justice to Mr. Updike, here is a better quote from a fellow ACL member with his kind permission

I think it likely, if perhaps arguably, that whereas Flannery O'Connor was
the 20th Century's greatest American Christian (Catholic) writer, John Updike
was the greatest Christian (Protestant) writer. (And both, of course are in the
same pantheon that houses great Christian writers such as CS Lewis, JRR
Tolkien, GK Chesterton, Solzhenitsyn, Rose Macaulay, Evelyn Waugh, Graham
Greene, likely Charles Williams . . . the list goes on). Updike died today and
despite his sad decline in recent years, it's a huge loss.
A fine
introduction to and discussion of Updike's explicit Christian convictions and
his handling of the large human themes, "Christianly," in his writing is: *John
Updike and Religion: The Sense of the Sacred and the Motions of Grace,* edited
by James Yerkes, Eerdmans, 1999.
However, needless to say, there is nothing
like reading him for oneself.
JAM --Joseph McDonald, PhDDirector
of the Library andProfessor of Library ScienceBethel College
(TN)731-352-4083731-363-0767 (mobile)mcdonaldj@bethel-college.edu

2009-01-22T13:41:00.002-05:00

Morality and Economics

If you haven't discovered Sightings yet, here is a toughtful article on the economy for your attention. While I don't always agree with all the conclusions and viewpoints reached in the newsletter, it always challenges me to think about issues.

2009-01-21T16:20:00.002-05:00

January Fog
A round of classes and just starting another semester has encouraged my inclination toward inertia. Thus no blogs.
I just found the Blue Parakeet and was going to blog on the Encyclopedia of Spiritual and Religious Development. One of my colleagues here finished a review of the Global Dictionary of Theology for publication in the ARBA. I applaud his ambition. Maybe later.

2009-01-14T10:23:00.003-05:00

Children's Book Review on Questions from Little Hearts - Before you click--Guess where I found it.

2009-01-09T10:16:00.002-05:00

Irresolutions

Each year January is a season for making changes. This year I was looking at things I didn't want to change and how those choices would impact my life. Here are a few...
Giving. Just because the economy is bad doesn't mean I should stop giving. Perhaps now is the time to invest more time than dollars.
Reading & Buying Books. Although I'm dealing with shelving shortage at my house, I have not abandoned either of these. I love D.E.A.R days. and I love browsing bookstores and reading blogs.
I will be posting about a couple of new reference materials in the near future.
Eating chocolate. - No explanation necessary. I'm trying to be more selective about when and what kind.
Writing frequency on blogs. I like irregular posting and short postings even if the consequence is fewer readers.

I could go on. Maybe this should be a meme. What items are you NOT changing this year?

2008-12-16T15:12:00.001-05:00

Or you can try locating lights. - Do any of you have similar uses of maps?

2008-12-16T15:04:00.001-05:00

To put you in the mood. Check out the other picture sets here as well.

2008-12-03T10:49:00.002-05:00

Advent Calendars from delicious site - I think I mentioned some of them in earlier posts.

Teaching Mom Calendar - It contains suggested books to read for each day.

Woodlands Junior School Advent Calendar - This contains a quiz for each day of the calendar.

From the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C. - dated 2007

Advent Calendars for sale. - A little late but fun to look at anyway.

The Flickr group of advent calendar pictures

Primitive Art Advent Calendar created to for charity.

From Liverpool Museums

Want to create your own calendar? Use this PowerPoint template. Let me know how it worked.

unusual
A Ruby calendar - The software, not the jewel.

The Perl Calendar - [via]

2008-12-02T12:55:00.002-05:00

A little more background on Advent Calendars
Christianity Today has made a calendar "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord," with the first two days on it. There is a link to another interesting site the history of advent calendars :

"The first advent calendars appeared in 19th-Century Germany, when various methods of counting the days between the start of Advent and Christmas Day were used. Starting on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, or simply on 1 December, the Protestant Christians would keep track of the days by making marks on their doors with a piece of chalk, which would then be rubbed off one by one as Christmas approached. Other practices then developed, including burning a candle or putting up a small religious picture to mark each day."

day two of the CT calendar deals with fulfilled prophecy. Fulfilled prophecy isn't a tingle up one's leg but more of a chill down a spine because so few actually witness fulfilled prophecy or even recognize it. Most other celebrations at this season aren't about God's Grace coming to fruition but about appeasement of apparently indifferent or hostile elements. I was thinking this morning about Love --as found is Isaiah or Corinthians--being the currency of heaven and nothing else counts fiscally, but I'm not a theologian and I won't argue any other opinions.
Enjoy this meditative calendar from CT.

2008-12-02T12:38:00.004-05:00

Advent once more

Here are links from former postings all the way back to 2003. I will add any new ones before going on vacation.

Advent Calendar from December 6, 2007 Nativity in Renaissance Art.

From December 5, 2005 - Tibbi and Bean's Calendar - doesn't start until Dec. 5.

From Nov. 10, 2005 - St. Margaret Mary Advent Calendar & Belief Net Advent Calendar - two which have stood the test of time as they were from earlier posts as well.

December 1, 2004 - History of the Advent Calendar

2008-11-25T10:32:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving and Table graces

I just found a new -to me-blog Spirituality and Practice as I looked at a link to a book about table graces. While the blog includes all world religions, it has links to Christian materials I haven't found anywhere else. If any of you have a class in world religions, this site may prove to be a helpful source. There is even a reviewed list of the Best Spiritual Books of 2008.
Oh, and here is a Scandinavian Table prayer from a commercial site - with a minor correction of a typo:
"In Jesus' name to the table we go. God bless the food we receive. To God the honor, us the gain. So we have food in Jesus' name." This is similar to one I had posted in my kitchen for years.
Grace should certainly not be this

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. To my Canadian friends, I hope yours was wonderful as well.

2008-11-21T17:30:00.002-05:00

Christian Literature

You may remember Masterplots as that series high school students used if they didn't have time to read a book or short story. Did I say just high school students? Salem Press has created a four volume set of MasterPlots II: Christian Literature summarizing over 500 stories, essays, poems, novels, and more written throughout the centuries. Although the entries are alphabetical order by the title of the work--creating some strange bedfellows-- indexes in the fourth volume provide order by chronology and genre. I thought I knew enough to identify major Christian writers, but this set has provided new titles by some familiar authors such as Annie Lamott and unknowns--to me--such as Dallas Willard. I will find more reading material with this set. A glance in WorldCat holdings shows that most academic libraries hold copies of this set. I plan to find ways to also promote it for use.