Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the library staff!

As you can see we are already in a Summer mood. Hope you are too. So take it easy, grab some good books and hit the beach!

A bone to chew

Being a dog fan, The dog allusion: gods, pets and how to be human, by Martin Rowson, bounded straight off the cataloguing shelf at me.

You will find it in the library under the Dewey number for the humorous treatment of religion. Although the author is also a political cartoonist, don’t search here for the perfect, dog-themed sermon illustration. However, if you are looking for something provocative, thought-provoking, topical and irreverently funny, then maybe this book is for you.

The dog/god, religion/pet-owning comparisons are here, but it’s the nature of human beings that is really under the caricaturist’s spotlight (or should that be ‘floodlight’). Be warned, this self-professed atheist’s ‘rant’ is punctuated by rambling footnotes and helpful appendices such as a list of international animal noises, grouped by language. In his arguments - for example, that religion is really just a subset of politics - Rowson the satirist does not hesitate to take swipes at many, from the Archbishop of Canterbury to Richard Dawkins.

To give you a taste, here is a snapshot of human inconsistency, which is by coincidence taken from what may be the longest sentence in the book: “[I]f your political bent is not totalitarian, or you’re not blinded by Manicheanism or substitute racism…you should have no problem whatsoever in sympathising, or maybe even empathising, with poor and beleaguered Muslims and their families while still deploring the narrowness and short-sightedness of their self-selected spokesmen, while simultaneously supporting the efforts of Muslims in Muslim countries using whatever methods they can to free themselves of the corrupt and incompetent despots who rule them, even if you deplore the wider implications of the political Islamism they resort to, while at exactly the same time utterly deploring the crass interventions of Western powers to bolster those despots, but also actively supporting, advocating and defending the Western way of life to the death”. Yes, there are some big mouthfuls in this bite-sized book!

Liz Tisdall

New journal articles by Carey staff

Myk Habets article titled "Putting the 'extra' back into Calvinism" has been published in the latest issue of
Scottish journal of theology vol. 62, no. 4 2009.

Tim Bulkeley's articles "Teaching the facts, inculcating knowledge, or instilling wisdom? Rationale for a textbook in BS101" and "Worship and Amos : an expository approach" you can find in Teaching theology & religion; October 2009, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 352 and The South African journal of theology; vol. 18 2009.


George M. Wieland's article "Roman Crete and the letter to Titus" published in New Testament studies; vol. 55, no. 3 Jul 2009.

Laurie Guy's article "Moral panic or pejorative labelling" published in Journal of religious history; December 2009, vol. 33, no. 4.

Study skills books in the library

Awesome study skills books are now available for you in the library:

Blogs, wikis, podcasts & more / Andy Pulman.

Referencing & understanding plagiarism / Kate Williams and Jude Carroll.

Getting critical / Kate Williams.

Planning your essay / Janet Godwin.

Brilliant writing tips for students / Julia Copus.

Hot from the press

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel / John H. Walton, general editor.

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel / John H. Walton, general editor.

The minor prophets, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of songs / John H. Walton, general editor.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy / John H. Walton, general editor.

1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther / John H. Walton, general editor.

Video / DVD review

I heard about Andrei Tarkovsky's masterpiece "Andrei Rublev" from my media studies teacher while still in high school. A few weeks later I had an opportunity to see it on the big screen and I remember then in spite of not been able to fully understand it's story line, my whole outlook on movies and art in general had turned upside down. It was really one of those rare life changing experiences. "Andrei Rublev" is a visually stunning, almost magical picture. Some of the scenes will stay with you forever. It is also a metaphorical, multi layered portrayal of Russia's greatest icon painter and actually medieval Russia itself. I can compare it only to pure poetry or perhaps, a Bruegel's painting showing a human condition rather than preaching or explaining it. And this picture has it all: envy, betrayal, grace, redemption, evil, bravery, misery and much more. One of the aspects of this movie that strikes me the most is Andrei's attitude towards his art. He is a gifted artist, almost a celebrity in his time but on the other hand he is so humble, almost too shy and completely true to his art; qualities so rare today where almost everything and everyone is commercialised and dehumanised. Throughout this movie which shows great part of his life, he confronts massive responsibility as an artist and someone for whom art is almost theological confession of faith. He was a men who refused to paint Hell because he thought that people suffer too much in this world. What they need is something to give them hope. He was also troubled with the reality of the world he had lived in; authorities who were no better than invading Tatars that were literally reaping Russia at his time. As a consequence he greatly straggled to keep his faith alive and strenght to continue his work. Later, he will find a new hope in life thanks to the most unlikely person, a boy called Borisha. A boy who is not afraid of putting his life on the line in order to make it better and practice another art, the art of bell making.
Finally, this movie is not everyone's cup of tea. It's long, black and white, a foreign language film with subtitles but if you just give it a go you may experience something really different and special.

By Damir Trupinić

Celebrating animal month

For those of you who did not know October is National Animal Month
below is our little dedication to all of those beautiful creatures who find
their way into our life.



The Lost Gnostic Gospel of Feline Mercy

By Jane Lebak

While many have heard of the Gnostic Gospels, such as the recently recovered third century manuscript of “The Gospel of Judas,” few know the early Christians specialized in animal rescue. The previously unknown Epistle of Philip to the Rescuers is excerpted below.

Chapter Four:
(1) As for those who rescue cats, thou shalt keep as many cats in thy home as thou reasonably can.

(2) Thou shalt estimate how much thou canst reasonably handle by dividing the number of rooms in thy house by 1.5 and acquiring one litter box per cat.

(3) This number is iron-clad and must not be violated unless one sees a cat which is unbearably cute, or sick and cannot survive without tender loving care, or which butteth his head against thy chin in a very sweet way while thou attemptest to clean his cage, or has an adorable meow,

(4) or someone asketh thee for help with a box of abandoned kittens, or the cat wandereth up onto thy porch one cold night and thou thinkest of his little bare feet being chilly in the brisk air of the night.

(5) Nay, I tell thee, increase not the number of cats thou shalt have, but only if God droppeth the cat in thy lap, or if thou really wantest the cat, or if thy co-worker is getting rid of his seventeen-year-old cat because he lay with his wife and she hath conceived, or if thou thinkest thou might know someone who knoweth someone who might take the cat off thy hands in the next few days.
(6) Neither shalt thou take in additional guinea pigs, parakeets, tiny dogs, reptiles, gerbils, hamsters, nor tropical fish whose owners are simply tired of them, unless thou feelest sorry for the animals.

(7) When thou art asked if thou hast room in thy home, this is how thou must answer:

(8) “No, I’m afraid I can’t. I really can’t. I’d like to, but no. Oh, he’s so cute. Well, maybe if I move my bed out of the bedroom and sleep on the floor in the kitchen I could make a place for him, but only this once.”

(9) For I tell you, no one shall give up one cat in this lifetime for his own selfishness who shall not be “rewarded” in the next life by seeing what sparse love he gave and received.

(10) And lo the Very Angry Cats will torment him with much nibbling of their needle-like teeth.

(11) But for thee, the rescuer who dost sacrifice time and money and dost endure much eye-rolling from thy spouse for thy feeding and worrying about homeless cats, I say to thee,

( 12) Be glad and rejoice. Thy reward is great in Paradise.

Published in WittenburgDoor magazine and also on the web at

http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/lost-gnostic-gospel-feline-mercy

Launch invitation

You are invited to the launch of Baptist Life

Venue: Carey Baptist College Chapel
473 Great South Road, Penrose
Date: Thursday 1st October 2009
Time: 2.30pm

Rsvp to Siong Ng. siong.ng@carey.ac.nz or 526 0347 for catering purposes.

E-Books in the Library

First electronic books have finally arrived in the library and can be accessed through the library catalogue.

Studying Christian spirituality [electronic resource] / David B. Perrin.

The Blackwell companion to Christian spirituality [electronic resource] / edited by Arthur Holder.

The divine conspiracy [electronic resource] : rediscovering our hidden life in God / Dallas Willard.

Book review

Satisfy your soul: restoring the heart of Christian spirituality by
Dr. Bruce Demarest

Dr Bruce Demarest is a man of great talents, with great achievements and so rich in life. Also gifted with extra-ordinary insights and ability in the care of the inner man. Bruce is a Christian raised from childhood who has firm grounding in the bible. He was educated at Wheaton College, received seminary training at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and earned doctorate in biblical and historical theology at the University of Manchester, England. Thereafter, developed a passion to live as a follower of Christ, because of this passion he has served as missionary educator and university worker in both Africa and Europe. His primary call is to be a professor at Denver Seminary where he teaches courses in theology, Christian spiritually, and mentoring. Dr Demarest is also an author for some books and many articles on various aspects of Christian theology and Spirituality. The goal of his teaching and writings has been to defend orthodox Christianity against unbiblical challenges and to instruct and edify others in the gospel. Bruce and his wife Elsie and their three children live in Littleton, Colorado.

In Dr Demarest’s own soul, he has wrestled with questions about deeper Christian walk with Christ. And with the mind of a biblical scholar, he has thought through the distinctions between authentic Christian Spirituality with it soul-building practices and the misleading counterfeits. ‘Satisfy your soul’ is a book of information and formation for the deeper walk with Christ. It gives us insights on how to identify ourselves as Christians and our needs for spiritual growth (Ch 1-3), Psalm 42:1-2 Gives us insights on how to develop and nourish our souls as Christians by developing a deeper relationship with God (Ch 4-6), Psalm 63: 1-2. It also gives us insights on why we need spiritual formation and how to maintain that growth for the rest of our journey (Ch 7-9), Psalm 126: 5-6. And on the last chapter Dr Demarest is challenging us to start our journey with Christ as all Christians should do.

Dr Demarest believed that God’s grace was something that you experienced at the moment of salvation and you relied on that grace for a future with God in heaven until he began to experience a deeper formative work of God in his life in the mid-1980s. Since the 1980s a new journey for Dr Demarest started and now he is taking us through his personal experience and his knowledge of how to restore the heart of Christian spirituality. He believed that the path to discovery and transformation is trough balancing our understanding of what brings a soul to conversion with what keeps us on the path of growth in Spirit. Dr Demarest believes that restoring the hearts is by knowing God as Intimates. To know God is to connect with Christ through relationship, intimacy, face to face by dwelling in the presence of God, communion, a deep sense of connectedness with Christ through the Spirit, and an encounter with God in the Words. To know God is to cultivate a love relationship with Him. This relationship is thru feeding the soul with the Words and by exploring the power of contemplation. Dr Demarest mentioned the art of meditating on God’s word by quieting and composing the soul, the formative reading of scripture, and by imagination in meditation. So if we want to be so in love with God, so “new” that we can turn from our deadness and our sins, we must come under the influence of the Spirit of God.

This book gave me new insights for a better understanding of Christian formation. I knew that our souls need growth but I did not know how to develop that growth. I knew about reading the bible and prayers but not in depth as how Dr Demarest described it. With my understanding now, Christian spirituality involves the whole person: knowing, being, and doing. The mind’s understanding of God from the Word must seep down to the heart so that we engage Christ intimately in a transforming relationship of love. The spiritual vision and passion fired by knowledge of the heart then propels us into the world as the hands, feet, and lips of Jesus. In this way we fulfil our calling as knowers of God’s Word, lovers of Jesus, and doers of the Father’s will.

I would be happy to recommend this book to everyone who wants to follow Christ. We can only fulfil God’s purpose for us is by restoring the heart of Christian spirituality. I strongly believed that this is the tool that we need for his work. Knowing God and letting him be known in our lives is the way to breach the gospel.

“May the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23

By Lopeline Tonga

Library week competition

Called Reference Corner

God who Provides

Some brainy will direct me upstairs

Footsteps size 14 up and down

Will be annoying for some

I rather stick

to Provider's Corner

By Hala Mahani

Library week competition

"Shhhh ... Don't tell Siong, Liz or Damir about the postgradslibrary in the library"

"It's quiet now but when the pride of postgrads returns then who knows ...."

By Peter Benzie

Library week competition

Library 2009 Photo Shots

By Geoff Dixon

Library week competition photos

By Frances Leung

Library week competition (photos)

Upsidedown library!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh it all goes back such a long time ago!

Oops library housekeeping is not getting done Damir where are you?????

The "I" of our library

All lined up but know where to go

Photos & words by Mrs Hollis

Library week competition (book review)

Callum G. Brown, The Death of Christian Britain, London: Routledge, 2001.

Here is a startling analysis of how the western church lost its cultural relevance! Essentially Brown’s thesis is that from 1800 the church in Britain took on a feminine oriented disposition. Historically women had been seen as a corrupting influence on the spirituality of men, but it became then the vices of men, such as drinking, that needed reform. Women in contrast actually achieved social recognition, indeed status from piety. Two examples serve to illustrate his point – firstly the linkage between Christian women and the politically influential temperance movement in the decades either side of the beginning of the last century. A second is the changing depiction of angels which had always been men but in this period became feminine.

Finally the social upheavals of the 1960’s broke the connect between feminism and piety causing women to leave the church, thereby also losing the men who were there on account of their women. As Brown cleverly puts it, ‘the keys to understanding secularisation in Britain are the simultaneous de-pietisation of femininity and the de-feminisation of piety from the 1960’s.’

Reading the book one thought might be that he over states his case. However further reflection suggests Brown really has no choice but to talk in anecdotal generalisations & trends but in this he makes a very strong point. If he’s right … however this is an historical analysis not a missiology - then it has profound implications for the future direction of the church.

By Robert Markley

Albert Y. Hsu, The Suburban Christian. Finding spiritual vitality in the land of plenty. Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press, 2006.

King Canute famously tried to stop the tide coming in. This light but very thoughtful book accepts the tide of cultural change and takes a refreshing look at today’s predominant western lifestyle. Rather than bemoaning consumerism, individualism, isolation et al and deploring insensitivity to the plight of the urban poor; Hsu accepts the fact that more than half of America now live in suburbs and he probes the issues he and they face. There is the cost of living, the time pressures and the forced daily commute. This is a land of plenty but it is also a land of stress and difficult life choices. So how does one live as a Christian in such a world? It should be great relief to most of us that there is a middle path – while there are certainly faults and flaws in our culture, Christians can live counter culturally within the culture and still make a difference. Hsu has a lot of good starter suggestions on where suburban Christians are already on track and where we need to make changes.

It is a thought provoking read and one particularly relevant to New Zealand Baptists with our predominantly white middle class suburban congregations. In no way does the book suggest we shouldn’t focus on the poor, but just maybe God is also at work right where we live already…and the biggest mission field is closer to home than we think.

By Robert Markley

Free coffee

Come to the Dining Room to celebrate Library Week
and get a free coffee!

Monday, August the 10th
10.30-11.30am

Book launch

"Theosis in the theology of Thomas Torrance"
/ Myk Habets

Date: Thursday 13 August
Time: 10.00am
Venue: Carey Baptist College - Dining room


You are invited

Archive tour

Unbelievable but true !

Ever wonder what is beyond the glass door? Come for a tour of the NZ Baptist Archive at Carey library.

Discover the hidden treasure within ...
Gloves provided. Unmissable!!

Monday 10 August 11 am - 11 : 30 am
Wednesday 12 August (in Mandarin) 12 pm - 12 : 30 pm

Library week 10-16 August

We are running a number of competitions and events to celebrate
Library week.





Book reviews - Write a short review of a library book or tell us why this book has been useful for your studies. No more than 100 words.

Photography competition - Take a photo of the library or its collection and write a caption of not more than 30 words.

Your creativity and originality will be rewarded! Prizes sponsored by Church Stores.

Conditions:

• All staff and students at Carey Baptist College are eligible to enter (this also includes distance students).


• Send it to library@carey.ac.nz


• We will submit all entries in the library blog


• All entries must be received by Friday 14 August

What's new in your library

Library phobia ?








Book yourself for a free library instruction session.

• Maximum four people at one time


• Two sessions. Half an hour long each session


• Starting second week of the semester.

Sessions are held on every Monday from 1 pm and Thursday from 11 am.

Featured electronic media

Tim Bulkeley's CD-ROM
" Amos : hypertext Bible commentary"







In addition we also have copies of "Digital Baptist 1876 - 1898; 1921-1975" for sale. It is published by NZ Baptist Research and Historical Society and contains word-searchable digitalised copies of New Zealand Baptist magazine.

New book on Bonhoeffer in the library

Dietrich Bonhoeffer : reality and resistance / Larry L. Rasmussen.


Michael Duncan's book review

Spiritual direction

At last a book that is New Zealand born which gives a
comprehensive exploration into the world of Spiritual Direction. Sue Pickering has written a very good book covering what Spiritual Direction is all about from both sides - director and directee. In this often misunderstood world of Spiritual Direction the book will help someone interested in learning what it involves plus it will invite you to see the richness that can be found in it. A helpful, clearly written book that is through in it's coverage of this topic.

By Mrs Neroli Hollis

Book review

Having a bad day? Think life is not worth living for? Read Treasures in the Darkness. Tragedy after tragedy and yet Andy stood firm to his God.

Andy Bray New Zealander and currently director of FamilyLife has lots to share from his past experiences. His eldest daughter Natasha was drowned along with 6 others in a flash flood on the Mangetepopo River. This is a deeply moving and easy to read book.

Introducing new books, reviews

I had always admired Dr Condoleezza Rice and after reading the book "Condi" by Mary Beth Brown, I admire her even more. She is an amazing role model for women. Im my eyes she is a women of substance.
For the first year of her formal education, she was home schooled by her mother who instilled in her a strong sense of self worth, and worked diligently to realise all the potential within her daughter. Being black was no disadvantage and she taught Condoleezza to believe that she could fly. Born into a Christian home, her aunt said of her faith in God "She knows that he guides and directs her. She learned this early as a child, to have that faith, and to believe that the Lord can do all things."
For an inspirational read, I encourage you to borrow this book about Condoleezza Rice, a gifted woman who loves and honours God; a professor, diplomat, author and national security expert who served as the 66th United States Secretary of State.

By Chris Lucas

New book on salvation

In looking at the complex but important topic of what it takes to truly be saved, Alan Stanley in his book "Salvation is more complicated than you think" asserts that contrary to what so many church going Christians believe today, there is more to salvation.
He argues that today's notion of salvation as a decision tantamount to "accepting Jesus in your heart" falls short of what Jesus and the rest of the Bible teaches.