Robert's Reads Summer 2014

So, I am a little behind on my blog, but here is the Summer 2014 edition of Robert's Reads.

    Although, I do not always agree on the theology of MacArthur nor did I agree with everything he wrote in this book. However, this book is a must read for evangelical Christians. MacArthur presents several years worth of research on the charismatic movement. This book is a shocking and terrifying read on the prominent people and theologies of the charismatic movement. I have been emotionally and spiritually hurt by charismatics who told me that I was not following the will of God if I did not speak in tongues or see visions. I personally do not believe that. I see no scriptural evidence where God only speaks to people in one particular way. In fact  in the Bible you see God speak through a burning bush, a donkey, dreams, a blinding light, and moved people to compassion by working on their heart. 
     MacArthur shows how dangerous the views charismatics have such as their false prophecy (which they admit is often in error) are affecting the cause of Christ. The message of Christ has been perverted by people like Oral Roberts, Joel Olsteen, and Benny Hinn. I highly recommend this to people who are interested in theology or want to see how these charismatics are committing counterfeit worship. 

Those who know anything about know that I do love the works of Tolkien. I enjoy reading fantasy stories. So, when I heard that Christopher Tolkien (J.R.R.'s son) was coming out with a translation of Beowulf that his father had done along with a commentary based on his father's lectures, I immediately put my copy on hold. Tolkein was much more than just a fantasy writer. He was genius linguist that not only created his own language (Elvish) for the LOTR, but was a leading scholar in the study of Old English. He spent several years translating his own version of the epic poem, Beowulf; however he never published it. Many of the language related commentary went over my head. However, I enjoyed Tolkien's ideas on the poem as well as being provided with historical context. I would not be surprised if this book became a textbook for high school or college. This book is a must read for fanatics of Tolkien. It is also essential for scholars of Old English to read. 

   I am also a huge fan of Star Wars. George Lucas' original trilogy captured my imagination as a small child. In fact I know more about the Expanded Universe (which Disney has now killed. Thanks, Mickey) than the average joe. I was excited to hear that George Lucas' original script for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope would be made into a into a graphic novel. I had heard that their were differences but was unclear on all the specifics. The original script was pretty much not filmable. It is full of secondary characters. The battles Lucas imagined would have not come to fruition with the technology in the 1970s. It is a good thing that this was story was significantly altered. Everything fans love was not in the original script. Anakkin Starkiller is the main character. He is trained in the way of the force by his father (who was a cyborg) and General Luke Skywalker. Darth Vader is not a cyborg Sith Lord, he is just a lackey for the emperor. The stormtroopers had lazerswords (you know them as lightsabers), which I suppose couldn't hurt their aim. R2D2 talks. The Sith Lord in the script is secretly a good guy. And Han Solo is a lizard. Although, it is not the best script, fans will see parts of this story that were later adapted for all six films. Any Star Wars will enjoy seeing these classic characters take on a significantly different role.

More than books

     Recently, I started a new job as the Digital Resources Librarian at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. For more on that read this post. Many people have asked me what does a Digital Resources Librarian do?  Many people think I take print books and digitize them. Well, that would be a nice thing to do but I doubt Rick Warren and John Piper would appreciate me making illegal copies of their books. Although, strangely enough we do have a department that is scanning books in the public domain for Logos.
    
     Well, in the three weeks that I have been at SWBTS I have added 170,000 ebooks. These are mostly new scholarly ebooks published within the past five-10 years. Although 30,000 of them are books from the 14th-early 20th centuries that are in the public domain. However, most of those are hard to find. There are more ebooks to come within the next few weeks. When I told someone here about all the ebooks that I was adding he said, "Sounds like you will work yourself out of your job." And of course I am thinking, "Have you met my boss?" Dr. K will always have something for me to do. He is a great visionary.

    I will also be supervising the digitization of our dissertations and chapel tapes in order to place them into an institutional repository. It will be great to have SWBTS publications and history saved for future generations. I will also be adding lots of reference, theological, and music databases to SWBTS. My coworkers and I will also be giving a much needed update to our library's website within the next few weeks.

    Since, I manage digital content some people might think that I do not value print books. The opposite is true. I believe that their is great value in print books. However, in order for libraries to stay relevant, useful, and provide good service to their patrons, they must go beyond the print book. Librarians should be excited by thought of adding e-books to their collection. How could they not want to help out online and distance students? SWBTS has students all over the world. It is apart of my responsibility to make them into great researchers. However, they can not do research if there is nothing for them.

   In actuality, I am just like a "real librarian".  A librarian means that you do more than shelve books. Librarians market through social media, help students with writing(so fortunate for a writing center), assist with computer skills, and the list goes on. Librarians are advocates for our patrons. We fight for the users (just like Tron). Our job is to make them into better researchers and citizens. I want to help do this through the adding of digital content.

    We plan on adding a lot of programs for our patrons. I got a couple things I would like to try. I know one thing we are for sure is having professors come to the library to give talks on their books and research interests. We hope that by doing this we can start to make the library a place where ideas are exchanged and form a sense of community.

    One thing that I look forward to is attending student events and letting the students know that I am here to help them, even if it is not regarding a digital issue. I want our students to be comfortable coming into the library and asking me questions. I want our library to become a major hub on campus for students.

Here are some pictures of SWBTS librarians at student events this semester.

Dodgeball Tournament Left to Right Top Row: Dr. K, Jeff,  and me Left to Right Bottom Row:Annetta, Tiffany, Sarah, and Maria (Picture by Donna Kubic)

Tiffany Norris, our public service librarian, talking with a student at New Student Orientation (Picture by Craig Kubic)

 

Me in the Face in Hole of Martin Luther at the Dodgeball Tournament (Picture by Tiffany Norris)