Inspirations
Written 08 February 2010
Published By Fr Patrick Rogers STD
Inspirations
Inspirations is a “Library of Theology and Spirituality” on a CD ROM. It was assembled and edited by Fr. Patrick Rogers S.T.D. Fr. Patrick is a Passionist priest (R.C.) from Ireland. He studied classics at University College, Dublin and Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Gregorian University, Rome. He now teaches Biblical Literature at the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy which is in Dublin. He remains interested in classical Greek and Latin authors. He has held visiting fellowships across the world, including the USA, where he was Flannery Professor of New Testament at Gonzaga University, Spokane in 1989-90.
His own biographical notes state:
Apart from his doctoral thesis (The Model of Ministerial Authority in the Pastoral Epistles 1977) and this commentary on Colossians, most of his written output has been articles and reviews on biblical themes, plus a series of text-based compact disks, listed at www.biblical.ie Among his digital book-collections on CD-Rom have been Classic-Texts, Diakonia, Classics of Greece and Rome, and Bible Study Tools. His short commentary on Colossians is part of the New Testament Message series, published in the 1980s by Michael Glazier.
His assembling of useful study materials in digital form, which goes back to the 1980s, is spurred by the abundance of public-domain texts now available for scanning, as well as the gracious permission given by a number of colleagues in biblical studies to include books of theirs on this cd. The impulse to bring out these texts as a single integrated collection was the marvellous flexibility of the Folio Views software, allowing the texts to be fully indexed and stored for multiple-level searches. The indexing also allows the user to browse the headings and sub-headings of all the many volumes included in the collection.
The Inspirations collection was prepared with those who do not have access to a large theological library in mind.
The Contents
The disk is a single continuous file which is arranged so that it is indexed and is searchable.
The disk contains 8 sections.
The Program: Instructions on using the material
Bible – NRSV: The complete NRSV text (with apocrypha).
Bible Study: numerous study aids (see below).
Patristics: texts from the Fathers.
Theology: a range of commentaries and theological texts.
Spirituality: a selection of Christian, Jewish and Muslim writings
Lectionary: the Roman catholic lectionary. Similar to the C of E lectionary but differs in places.
The Internet: suggestions for websites (and links) for further material.
The Bible : This contains the NRSV text.
Bible Study: This includes the works of Josephus, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (e.g. Jubilees and Enoch) and the New Testament Pseudepigrapha (e.g. Acts of Andrew, Acts of Thomas), The Greek New Testament (with NRSV English in parallel), The Gospel Parallels, and various commentaries (e.g. Barrett’s Gospel of St. John, Dunn’s The Theology of Paul the Apostle). In addition, there are maps and pictures, introductions to the books of the Bible and a Bible dictionary.
Patristics: this includes Augustine, Basil, Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, Ignatius, Tertullian, Polycarp and The Didache.
Theology: this includes Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo, the complete Summa Theologica by Aquinas, Schweitzer’s The Quest of the Historical Jesus, Moltmann’s The Theology of Hope, and works by Karl Rahner and Pope Benedict XVI to mention but a few.
Spirituality: Here we have such works as The Cloud of Unknowing, works by Julian of Norwich, Søren Kierkegaard, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and Martin Luther to mention but a few. The Qur’an is also included.
Lectionary: The RC Sunday lectionary is included together with a commentary on the readings. The weekday lectionary is also included: this is essentially the same as the C of E weekday Eucharistic lectionary.
Internet: The links and suggestions are too numerous to list. They include websites on Bible & Early Christianity, Theology & Religion, Homiletic Material, Personal Prayer and Pastoral Websites.
All the material on the disk can be searched for specific text or words. All can be copied and pasted to a word processor. (If you have your own copy it can be bookmarked and notes inserted.)
The disk has been loaded to the computers at the Resources Centre[s] at Percy Main [and at Carter House] for students to access. Students (and others) may wish to buy their own copies of the disk. It is relatively cheap priced at €30 (at the last count) and may be purchased from Patrick Rogers at http://www.biblical.ie .However, if interested students contact The Revd. John Chamberlin ( johnchamberlin@btinternet.com or 0191 253 0022)and the numbers are sufficient, a substantial discount can be negotiated.
NOTE: If you purchase your own copy and wish to use the Greek text you will have to install the Greek font Spionics; this is also supplied on the disk.
Reviewed By John Chamberlin
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