Sunday, September 30, 2012

Digital theology library breaks new ground in knowledge sharing

A new online theological library is offering free access to thousands of articles, dissertations and documents covering theology and ecumenism.

More than 10,000 have already signed up to the GlobeTheoLib, launched jointly by the World Council of Churches and Globethics.net.

There are more than 600,000 full text documents in the library, which is available in Chinese, English, French, German and Spanish.

GlobeTheoLib aims to use new digital models of information exchange to create greater visibility for theological knowledge and insights from churches of the global South.

"A strength of GlobeTheoLib is its networking potential as a hub linking other theological initiatives online," said Prof Dr Christoph Stückelberger, executive director and founder of Globethics.net.

"The digital library project represents a quantum leap in sharing theological knowledge and making available resources for theological education, particularly South to South, East to West and South to North," said the Rev Dr Dietrich Werner, the WCC international programme coordinator for Ecumenical Theological Education.

The WCC and Globethics.net are also working on an online directory of theological education institutions.

On the web: www.globethics.net/web/gtl