As the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) celebrates the important milestone of its 60th anniversary this year, the editors have brought together in a single-volume anthology some of the best contributions to this field. Essays and papers from the past sixty years are grouped into six topical chapters (theological librarianship's characteristics, dimensions, educational role, settings, development within ATLA's sixty years, and most noteworthy changes), each of which is introduced by a present-day theological librarian. This collection is likely to be valuable in many ways: as a compendium of wisdom and "best practices" over several generations, as a means of securing a grasp of how ATLA's importance and influence as an association has grown over time, and even for the way it brings back to light the life and work of so many fine librarians, Raymond Morris (Yale Divinity Library) and Julia Pettee (Union Theological Seminary) among them. Even more important, A Broadening Conversation affirms vividly that (instead of the ethos of tradition and continuity that one might suppose) a mix of trusted routines with perpetual change is what has always been on the menu for theological librarians in their daily work. This is at the heart of what continues to make theological librarianship such a challenging and rewarding vocation.

Including essays from 2009 Wheaton Theology Conference keynote speakers Dallas Willard and Gordon Fee as well as contributing essays by noted presenters such as Chris Hall, David Gushee, Linda Cannell, Cherith Fee Nordling and Lawrece Cunningham, this book offers a stimulating exploration of the historical, biblical and theological dimensions of spiritual formation.

Winner of the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Best First Book Prize of the American Society of Church History Society for U. S. Intellectual History Notable Title in American Intellectual History The story of liberal religion in the twentieth century, Matthew S. Hedstrom contends, is a story of cultural ascendency. This may come as a surprise-most scholarship in American religious history, after all, equates the numerical decline of the Protestant mainline with the failure of religious liberalism. Yet a look beyond the pews, into the wider culture, reveals a more complex and fascinating story, one Hedstrom tells in The Rise of Liberal Religion. Hedstrom attends especially to the critically important yet little-studied arena of religious book culture-particularly the religious middlebrow of mid-century-as the site where religious liberalism was most effectively popularized. By looking at book weeks, book clubs, public libraries, new publishing enterprises, key authors and bestsellers, wartime reading programs, and fan mail, among other sources, Hedstrom is able to provide a rich, on-the-ground account of the men, women, and organizations that drove religious liberalism's cultural rise in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Critically, by the post-WWII period the religious middlebrow had expanded beyond its Protestant roots, using mystical and psychological spirituality as a platform for interreligious exchange. This compelling history of religion and book culture not only shows how reading and book buying were critical twentieth-century religious practices, but also provides a model for thinking about the relationship of religion to consumer culture more broadly. In this way, The Rise of Liberal Religion offers both innovative cultural history and new ways of seeing the imprint of liberal religion in our own times.

In their efforts to provide distance learners with the most effective services possible, librarians and information specialists are working more and more with faculty in academic departments, IT departments, and other librarians at cooperating institutions. Improving Internet Reference Services to Distance Learners chronicles how those efforts have seen librarians become actively involved in online course management and delivery systems, particularly Blackboard, Desire2Learn, and WebCT, or by “embedding” themselves into the online course structure to better learn where students need assistance. This invaluable resource also examines how librarians use Internet resources to support professional and continuing education and to establish university-wide information and referral services to provide quality service to distance learners. Improving Internet Reference Services to Distance Learners encourages librarians to think more broadly about working with “outside” individuals when designing and providing reference and other services to nontraditional users. The book examines why it’s best to consider user needs, funding, staff management, and collaboration development when planning Internet reference services, how to develop and implement a required, credit-bearing online information literacy course, and how to apply effective marketing techniques from the business world to increase awareness of reference support services available to distance learners. It also offers a look at the Walden University Library at Indiana University-Bloomington, which “houses” no print collection—only online databases—and includes case studies that document the design and development of Internet reference services for the University of Illinois’ Fire Service Institute, and the efforts to provide support for doctor of pharmacy students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in their final year of study. Improving Internet Reference Services to Distance Learners provides practical information on: monitoring online discussion threads devoted to library research Web-based interactive tutorials integrating library services in support of coursework integrating library services into online courses offering, promoting, and providing instruction to public users, as well as local and distance students developing a web site that centralizes information about library services and resources the potential of the academic library to be the central provider of information and referral services for an entire university Improving Internet Reference Services to Distance Learners is an invaluable resource for librarians working in academic, school, special, and public settings, and for library science faculty and students.

The first of three theological volumes, this volume is devoted to four foundational treatises on soteriology.