Filed under: Resources | Tags: book reviews, journals, reading suggestions
Call it a providential convergence…the February 2010 issue of Christianity Today has an article titled, “Whatever happened to play?”, which calls Christians to examine our attitude towards sports. While it did not offer as much of a constructive response as I would have liked to see, it at least causes us to re-examine some attitudes which perhaps we take for granted. It happens that I am also currently reading the biography, Running the race: Eric Liddell, Olympic champion and missionary, by John Keddie (GV1061.15.L53 K33 2007), which deals much more with Liddell’s sports career than his later missionary service. Most of us only know of Liddell and his views of the sabbath from the movie, Chariots of Fire, but this book gives a wider picture of a Christian participating in sports from a decidedly 
Christian attitude. At the least, I encourage you to read the article linked above. Biographies of Liddell and others can offer further food for thought as we sit here just days after the High Holy Day of American Sport (aka the Super Bowl).
Filed under: Resources | Tags: ATLA, inter-library loan, journals, research
We’ve updated our listing of current journals at www.rts.edu/site/resources/library/periodicals.aspx. Just keep in mind that we are adding more issues to our collection all the time (including some older ones to fill in gaps), so the list online is never 100% up to date. Safest bet: check the actual shelves. For issues we do not own in Charlotte, we can request specific articles from RTS-Jackson, RTS-Orlando, or elsewhere.
Since doing inventory was not enough chaos for us, we also shifted the Reference collection books to better space things out for access and future acquisitions. But that means things will now be in a slightly different place than you’re used to. For example, the majority of Greek and Hebrew helps are now all on the last row (closest to the main collection). We hope this will make it easier to grab those parsing guides and such when you need to be bailed out on your translation work!
An interesting quarterly publication online is Knowing & Doing from the C.S. Lewis Institute. Most issues contain a profile of a major Christian figure (the Winter 2009 issue focuses on Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones), in addition to other articles in the general tradition of C.S. Lewis. The Library also receives a paper copy if you want to peruse it that way. (BTW, this publication is not indexed in ATLA, so it will not show up there.)
New tool for our online databases! Now you can access ATLA and other tools with your Blackberry, iPhone, or other mobile devices. You connect using the link http://search.ebscohost.mobi/ and use the same login information as with a computer. More support information can be found at http://support.epnet.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=4431 . Even full text articles can be read on your device (PDF), so for our mobile fanatics, check it out! (If you need the password, stop in the Library or give us a call.)
VanDrunen, David. A Biblical Case for Natural Law. Acton Institute. 2006. 75p. index. ISBN 978-880595-23-0. Contributed by Michael Farrell, Associate Librarian, RTS-Orlando.
Using Scripture itself, VanDrunen attempts to prove that the Bible does not provide specific instruction for all areas of life. Rather, the Bible points humanity toward “natural law,” a commonly held set of moral guidelines that are known apart from God’s Special Revelation. Well-established in Roman Catholic thought, natural law has its detractors in many Protestant circles. VanDrunen makes the case that natural law is rooted in Biblical teaching and in the thought of Protestant giants such as Calvin and Luther. Basing much of his thought on man’s creation in the Image of God, VanDrunen succinctly exegetes other Scripture relevant to the natural law debate. He carefully explains St. Augustine’s “two kingdom’s theory” which he believes provides the structure in which people can use natural law. VanDrunen would agree with Kuyper that there is not a square inch in the universe over which God does not claim sovereignty. However, unlike some of Kuyper’s followers, Vandrunen would also say that God rules different parts of that universe with different means. God rules his church through the means of grace and most specially the preached Word of God. God in general rules history and the physical universe with natural law. Both the Bible and natural law are divine in origin, both are gifts from God that people must follow in order to “function properly.” When we try to use Scripture when we should be using natural law, we will run into trouble; and when we try to use natural law when we should be using Scripture, we will run into a very similar trouble.
Congratulations to Moses Nickerson and Steve Thompson who each won a Calvin 500th anniversary mug for making book suggestions for the Library. Thanks to the others who participated as well. Several book titles have been ordered based on the suggestions, so everyone will benefit. Don’t the rest of you wish you’d had a shot at those mugs? Until October 2010…
Students in the ARP History class have just read about a controversy in 18th century Scotland around a book, The Marrow of Modern Divinity, concerning the free offer of the Gospel. The book itself is in the library, but Dr. Sinclair Ferguson has given 3 excellent lectures on it that greatly clarify the doctrines in question and make application in our time. Go to www.misterrichardson.com/ferguson.html and scroll down for the links (of course, the rest of his material is wonderful too).
Added note: There is now a Facebook group for ‘Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine’ if you’re interested in a forum to learn more.
Ebenezer & Ralph Erskine
Filed under: Reviews | Tags: ATLA, book reviews, digital media, reading suggestions
I recently came across the work of a fellow librarian – Dr. Mark Herring at Winthrop University – who wrote an article, “Ten Reasons why the Internet is No Substitute for a Library” (click to read). Dr. Herring has also written the book Fool’s Gold, which expounds the same topic at greater length (book is on order – feel free to reserve it if you want to read it when it arrives). Now I realize you’d expect those of us who earn our livings running a library to be book advocates – but Herring points out (in the book in particular) some compelling reasons why dependence on online information can be a perilous choice. I’ve pointed out in orientation sessions and our writing workshop how Google’s so-called relevance ranking is a lot less about relevance than it is about paid-rankings. But Herring develops things in much greater depth – and is engaging to read as well, even if you disagree with him at points.
At the very least, try to read the article. Then perhaps you’ll be stirred to read the book too. Or we can have coffee and you can listen to me rant from my soapbox…
10/15…Here is a follow-on related link to the one above: The Death of the Book?
