NEAR THE END? - Baptist Bible Tribune

N E W SAfterWordsRare Baptist-related documents now onlineBy David FNEW ORLEANS (BP)--The Baptist Center for Theologyand Ministry at New Orleans Baptist TheologicalSeminary has launched a new exhibit withdownloadable digital copies of a series of rare theology documents.The collection of 16th- and 17th-century documents,available at baptistcenter.com, includes articles writtenby Baptists and their critics.“We want to make these rare original documentsaccessible to scholars of Baptist history and theology,wherever they are,”said Steve Lemke, theseminary’s provostwho also directs thecenter. “In addition tothe 20 manuscripts wecurrently have posted,we will be adding moredocuments in the nextfew months.”Some of theearliest pamphletsavailable onlineinclude a critique ofAnabaptists written byPhilipp Melanchthondated 1528 and asermon by Martin Luther from 1532. Also offered arenegative critiques of Baptists by Eberhardus of Colognein 1536, Robert Some in 1589 and Lucas Osiander theYounger in 1607.Most of the pamphlets for and against Baptists in thecollection were written in the 1640s by authors includingJohn Tombes, Andrew Ritor, John Etherington, RichardBarnard (Dwelphintramis), Daniel Featley, Robert Fage,William Hussey, Jasper Mayne, Friedrich Spanheim,Stephen Marshall, Thomas Bakewell and Thomas Blake.Lloyd Harsch, associate professor of church historyat NOBTS, specializes in Baptist heritage and has beendigitizing the rarest and most important pamphletsfrom a collection recently rediscovered in the seminary’sarchives.“John T. Christian, a church historian and theoriginal librarian at the NOBTS, gathered thesepamphlets during his travels, collecting documentsrelating to Baptist beliefs and origins,” Harsch said.Christian assembled hundreds of rare publicationsfrom Europe and North America. The works documentthe theological and ecclesiastical battles that wagedduring the era, including pamphlets that are for andagainst the Baptist position.Although the documents were displayed in the libraryat one point, they were packed away and forgotten in somelong-overlooked boxes. But an NOBTS library staff memberrediscovered the rare works while cleaning a storage area afew years ago.Wanting to preserve the rare pamphlets, Harschapplied digitization technology to the materials. Theresearch and technology for the digitization effort and fora subsequent project related to Baptistconfessions of faith were funded by threescholarly grants.In 2003-04, Harsch and StanNorman received a research expensegrant from the Lilly Theological ResearchProgram of the Association of TheologicalSchools titled “New Perspectives onAncient Ideas: A Critical Analysis of RareTheological Writings on Baptist Life andThought.”The funding for the digitization camethrough the 2006-07 theological scholarsgrant from the Lilly Theological ResearchProgram titled “Out of Many Fellowships,One Family of Faith: The Collection andDigitization of Baptist Confessions ofFaith,” and from an Ola Farmer Lenaz grant in 2007-08(an in-house faculty research grant) titled “Digitizing RareBaptist Historical Documents.”Although delayed by Hurricane Katrina, Harschspent more than a year studying digitization techniquesand methods at the University of North Texas in order toproduce the best electronic versions of the rare pieces.“The digitization process will preserve these rarepamphlets in a stable format and make them widelyavailable via the Internet,” Harsch said. “Some of thesemay be the only copies extant today, or one of only a fewhard-to-find copies. Once the pamphlets are online, peoplewill have access to digital copies of the actual originalwork.”In addition to adding more old pamphlets relatingto Baptists and Anabaptists, the center also intends todisplay digitized copies of key Baptist confessions of faith,another aspect of Harsch’s research.“Our goal is to make these hard-to-find originaldocuments accessible to scholars all over the world inorder to promote the study and appreciation of our Baptistheritage,” Lemke said.© Copyright 2009 Baptist Press38 Baptist Bible Tribune [ July/August 2009 ]