WCC NEWS: Theological online resource launched by Globethics.net and WCC

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World Council of Churches - News

WCC AND GLOBETHICS.NET LAUNCH GLOBAL ONLINE THEOLOGICAL RESOURCE

For immediate release: 23 September 2011

Jointly issued by WCC and Globethics.net

A unique and ambitious web-based theological resource was launched in
Geneva on 23 September by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and
Globethics.net. It aims to redress a global imbalance of access to
research materials in theology and related disciplines.

The Global Digital Library on Theology and Ecumenism (GlobeTheoLib)
contains several hundred thousand of articles, documents and other
academic resources that can accessed online free-of-charge by registered
participants from anywhere in the world via Internet
(www.globethics.net/gtl (Link: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=35b2eee327907257e086
)).

“The time has come to launch a new model of ecumenical sharing of
theological resources in order to prepare world Christianity for the 21st
century," said the WCC general secretary, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

GlobeTheoLib is intended to use new digital models of information exchange
to make the theological voices and resources of the global South more
visible and accessible, across national, cultural and denominational
barriers.

It uses the electronic platform of Globethics.net, the Geneva-headquartered
organization that already holds more than 650’000 full-text documents in
its Global Digital Library on Ethics.


Redressing the balance

Prof. Dr Christoph Stückelberger, the founder and executive director of
Globethics.net, said GlobeTheoLib represents a determined attempt to
redress the balance in global knowledge transfer.

“GlobeTheoLib harnesses the potential of the internet to offer
theological research and education new possibilities for international
networking, exchange and digital sharing,” said Stückelberger.

GlobeTheoLib provides access to journals, books, training materials, and
theses and dissertations on theology and ecumenism. It also gives
registered participants the opportunity to submit their own documents and
publications to share with others from around the world.

The project is supported by a consortium that includes associations of
theological libraries and seminaries, as well as mission organizations,
foundations, Regional Ecumenical Organizations, and Christian World
Communions. The project has been co-initiated and planned by the WCC
programme on Ecumenical Theological Education (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=d00e97ce671b30a4ff72 ) (ETE).

“GlobeTheoLib offers a new and creative opportunity to promote the
sharing of theological perspectives between fast-growing churches in the
global South as well as with churches and theological institutions in the
North,” said the Rev. Dr Dietrich Werner, the international project
coordinator for ETE.

Content for GlobeTheoLib comes from four major sources: commercial
publishers with whom GlobeTheoLib has subscriptions to make content
available to registered participants; rapidly growing Open Access
repositories; partner institutions that make their own resources available
via GlobeTheoLib; and registered participants who are able to submit their
own documents to the library.

The technical implementation of the Globethics.net libraries has been
undertaken by Pointsoftware (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=4b19f2be7e1729ff582d ) in Zürich, 
specialists in online libraries
and data management.

For more information - GlobeTheoLib media contact: Dr Stephen Brown,
programme executive, GlobeTheoLib ( +41-78 639 2905, brown (at)
globethics.net (Link: brown@globethics.net ))

The World Council of Churches (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b9cd08c1e03a7a6c64cb ) brings together 
349
Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than
560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with
the Roman Catholic Church.

Globethics.net (Link: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=996c02f17a6bca9cd688 ) is a global
network that promotes the exchange of insights and research on ethics and
values between experts, institutions, and individuals, and whose
International Secretariat is based in Geneva.


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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