Best of the Web: LibraryThing.com

All bibliophiles out there have GOT to check out LibraryThing.com! This is the best and worst site on the web as it can quickly become addictive. If you want a cheap way to catalog your church library check this site out! It’s free up to the first 200 titles and then only $25 for a lifetime subscription. The best part? Your catolog then becomes fully available online with book covers provided by the LibraryThing database. You supply your own tags (otherwise known as subjects) and if someone likes a certain book you can plug the title into the "book suggester" for help finding similar titles. There are also plenty of other things to investigate and discover. Enjoy!

History's Greatest Christians: C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

November 22 marks the death anniversary of one of the greatest Christian authors, C.S. Lewis. Lewis was born in Belfast into a Christian family, but became an atheist as a young man after the death of his mother. He remained an atheist into his thirties, trying to prove the existence of God through science and literature. By the time of his conversion, he was a professor at Magdalen College at Oxford, and a friend of J.R.R. Tolkien and William Butler Yeats.

Once converted, Lewis devoted his time to writing, becoming well-known for his nonfiction commentaries on faith, such as Mere Christianity, and works of fiction including The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters. At the age of 60, Lewis met and fell in love with American writer Joy Gresham, who had converted to Christianity after reading his works. The two married, but Gresham succumbed to cancer in 1960. Lewis wrote even more to cope with his grief for his wife and the decline of his own health. He passed away on November 22, 1963.

For more information on C.S. Lewis, please see BBC Religion and Ethics Christianity or C.S. Lewis: A Life by Michael White, copyright 2004 by Carroll and Graf Publishers. Exhaustive information about Lewis's literary works can be found in The C.S. Lewis Readers' Encyclopedia by Jeffrey D. Schultz, copyright 1998 by Zondervan Publishing.

History's Greatest Christians: William Wilberforce (1759-1833)

Born to wealthy parents in 1759, William Wilberforce was educated at Cambridge and went on to achieve reknown as a leader of the English abolition movement. Wilberforce was elected to the House of Commons in 1780 and converted to Evangelical Christianity in 1785. Together with his friends Thomas Clarkson and William Pitt the Younger (who would one day become Prime Minister), Wilberforce formed the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787, and thus began the campaign to end slavery in Great Britain.

The fight would take more than 20 years, during which Wilberforce was plagued by ill health and poor eyesight. A physician prescribed opium for his illness. Opium was a recent advancement in medicine at the time, and Wilberforce became addicted. In spite of these obstacles, the slave trade was abolished in 1807, but it was not until 1833 that slavery became illegal in Great Britain, only three days before Wilberforce's death. Wilberforce is entombed in Westminster Abbey in London. In 2006, a movie, Amazing Grace, chronicled Wilberforce's heroic humanitarian efforts.

For further information about William Wilberforce and the abolition movement, see 131 Christians Everyone Should Know or Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas, copyright 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.

Best of the Web: Christian Classics Ethereal Library

"The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a digital library of hundreds of classic Christian books selected for edification and education." The http://www.ccel.org/ website is maintained by Calvin College. Many of the texts included here will be most useful to those who wish to study Christianity with an academic focus. However, the site also includes texts such as Billy Graham's Peace With God, Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Each text is available to be be read online free of charge. There are also subscription options which allow for downloading materials from the site. In addition, the site includes a hymnary which provides the sheet music for classic and hard-to-find hymns. You can also locate the text of many hymnals including those used in the Lutheran and Episcopal churches. The text of each book included is fully searchable.

Best of the Web: TextWeek

Did you know that Lutheran, Anglican, and Presbyterian churches all read the same lessons on any given Sunday? It's true! Used by all three denominations, the Revised Common Lectionary is set up so that the entire Bible is read in worship services over a three-year period. At http://www.textweek.com/, you can find links to the Proper and Ordinary readings used in those denominations as well as commentaries on the lessons and prepared sermons. Missed church this Sunday or need to write a sermon for Advent I? Use this site to find your text in one convenient spot, or to do sermon research, or catch up on the lessons you missed. Even if your church doesn't use the Revised Common Lectionary, TextWeek is a good source of information to put a spin on your daily devotions of keep up on what other Christians are studying.

Best of the Web: Evangelical Church Library Association

http://www.eclalibraries.org/ is a place where you can find invaluable resources such as book lists of core collections and selection tools as well as manuals to assist in learning how to run a church library. ECLA's annual conference is a wonderful opportunity for networking, learning new ideas and gathering resources (including FREE BOOKS). Another wonderful feature of the ECLA website is that you can sign up for an e-mail based mentoring opportunity for help starting or revitalizing a church library ministry if you aren't sure where to begin.

Librarians at the Evangelical Church Library Association Conference

Just wanted to post a note about the Conference, just held last weekend in Wheaton, IL. Tinna and Christy were there helping to techno-influence church librarians and assist them along the way and I understand they did a great job. The Conference provides free books, a great lunch, informative workshops and speakers, connections with new and old friends and an opportunity to be built up spiritually for the wonderful responsibility of being a church librarian. Next year will be in Wheaton again with Rosalie de Rosset of Moody Bible fame as the keynote speaker.

by Ceil - Outreach and Young Adult Services
10:44:00 PM