and book launch on Ecotheology, Climate Justice and Food Security
With the participation of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies
Photo: globethics.net
On September 9-10, the GlobeTheoLib Consortium Committee 2016 meeting, responsible for the Global Digital Library on Theology and Ecumenism, took place in Geneva (Switzerland). GlobeTheoLib was initiated in September 2011, by Globethics.net and the World Council of Churches, represented by its programme on Ecumenical Theological Education (ETE), to promote the sharing of expertise in theological research and education. The Global Digital Library on Theology and Ecumenism is a multilingual online library offering access free of charge to more than 650'000 full-text articles, journals, books, doctoral theses and other resources published in various international journals and collective volumes in various languages. Its focus is on theology, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, ethics, and ecumenism in World Christianity.
GlobeTheoLib uses the platform of Globethics.net online library, which already holds more than 4,4 millions documents in its Global Digital Library on Ethics, and which has been online since October 2008.
GlobeTheoLib is the first project worldwide to address strategically the challenge of a more balanced theological knowledge transfer between churches and institutions of theological education in the North and South, East and West, and to provide a common platform for existing digital resources and theological libraries in the world.
Content for GlobeTheoLib comes from the following main sources:
• Open repositories: GlobeTheoLib harvests existing Open Access repositories using a list of relevant keywords in several languages.
• Commercial providers: GlobeTheoLib makes commercial content accessible to individual registered participants in the framework of institutional subscription fees or content purchase through negotiation with publishers.
• Partner institutions: GlobeTheoLib offers partner institutions the opportunity to submit their own documents to the online library and to build specialized collections.
• Individual participants: GlobeTheoLib allows registered participants to submit their own documents to the online database.
The Consortium is constituted by a) theological educational networks/institutions; b) more than 20 theological library associations; c) associations of theological publishers; d) donor institutions; and e) regional or global ecumenical or confessional councils/federations of churches. In the last meeting the Consortium evaluated the past achievements and adopted the strategy for the years 2017-2020.
The Orthodox members in the Consortium include the Conference of Orthodox Schools of Theology, represented by the Professor of the University of Sophia, Dr. Ivan Zhelev Dimitrov and the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, represented by its Academic Associate and Director of the Council of Christian Churches in Bayern (ACK), Mr. Georgios Vlantis.
In his contribution, Mr. Vlantis insisted on the necessity to further support and deepen the cooperation between GlobeTheoLib and the Orthodox world, in order for the various contributions by Orthodox scholars to become through it more available as well as to provide the encounter and ecumenical cooperation between the Christian Traditions of East and West, North and South. After describing the serious difficulties, theological research faces in traditional Orthodox countries due to various reasons, such as the historical wounds of the past, the political problems and the current economic crisis, Mr. Vlantis outlined various possibilities of cooperation between the Orthodox scholars and their Institutions with the ambitious GlobeTheoLib project.
During the GlobeTheoLib Consortium Committee 2016 meeting and on the occasion of the five years since its establishment, an important book launch took place. The new publication entitled Eco-Theology, Climate Justice and Food Security, co-edited by Dr. Dietrich Werner and Elisabeth Jeglitzka and published by Globethics Publications, contains the proceedings of a consultation on Resources and Best Practice Models for Ecotheology, Climate Justice and Food Security, held in Volos in March, 2016 and makes available a range of viewpoints and practical models for Christian leadership development, as well as calls for closer cooperation among the world’s religions. In this respect Rev. Dr. Dietrich Werner highlighted the contribution of the Volos Academy and of the Orthodox theologians to the related discussion.
The Volos Academy for Theological Studies has established an online digital Orthodox theological library (www.imdlibrary.gr), with free access to books, scholarly reviews and periodicals, collected works, monographs and theological essays, with abstracts available in Greek, English and soon in French language, as well as links to other online digital libraries and websites. By its participation to the Global Digital Library on Theology and Ecumenism, and the use of its online platform the Volos Academy intends to promote Orthodox theological works worldwide.
For more information about this initiative please contact Andreas Waldvogel: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For registration please visit: http://www.globethics.net/web/gtl/register
Photos of the meeting and the book launch are available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/globethicsnet/sets/72157673761839795
An electronic version of the book (pdf) is available for free download at: http://www.globethics.net/documents/4289936/13403236/GE_Global_14_web.pdf
