Martin Luther in his own words #Reformation500

Today the School of Divinity will mark 500 years since Martin Luther nailed the Ninety Five Theses to the door of Wittemberg Church with a public lecture from Durham University’s Professor Alec Ryrie, a leading scholar of Reformation History, who will speak on ‘Protestants and their Bibles from the Reformation to the Present’.

In New College Library, a display in the Library Hall showcases some of Luther’s early publications. Martin Luther’s prolific publishing output in Latin and German preserves the arguments that shook Catholic Europe.  Much more can be seen at the Incendiary Texts exhibition to be held at the Centre for Research Collections, Main Library, 10 November 2017-8 March 2018.  Continue reading

New College Library Rare Books feature in Divinity Inaugural Lecture

The Practice of Piety  / Lewis Bayly, 1672. New College Library  DPL 912

The Practice of Piety / Lewis Bayly, 1672. New College Library DPL 912

The Redemption of Time / John Wade, 1692. New College Library F7 b1

The Redemption of Time / John Wade, 1692. New College Library F7 b1

Today Professor Susan Hardman Moore, Professor of Early Modern Religion, will deliver her inaugural lecture entitled ‘Time’ at 2pm. Professor Hardman-Moore’s lecture features a number of seventeenth century rare books from the New College Library collections, which will be on display in the Funk Reading Room after the lecture between 3-4.30pm.

The titles include John Wade’s  The Redemption of Time (1692) and the The Practice of Piety (1672) by Lewis Bayly. The Practice of Piety is part of the recently catalogued Dumfries Presbytery Library, and is inscribed Ex Libris Johannes Hutton, identifying it as part of the original bequest of 1500 volumes from Dr John Hutton.

Studying Ancient Galilee – new online resources

A postgraduate study day on current discoveries in Galilean Archaeology, given by Dr Ken Dark,  is being held today (Wed 29th May) in the Baillie Room, New College.  The University of Edinburgh has recently added Oxford Handbooks Online to its range of digital library resources,  giving access to scholarly research reviews in this successful and cited series. Included are the titles below, relevant to Galilean Archaeology. All titles can be accessed by University of Edinburgh users via the A-Z Databases list.

New books at New College Library – May

Religion on the move!Becoming FrumNew College Library has a regular display of new books at the far end of the Library Hall, close to the door to the stacks.

New in this month  is Religion on the move! : new dynamics of religious expansion in a globalizing world  edited by Afe Adogame and Shobana Shankar, on the shelf at  BL637 Rel.

Also new is Becoming frum : how newcomers learn the language and culture of Orthodox Judaism by Sarah Benor, at BM723 Ben.

These titles were purchased for Religious Studies at the School of Divinity, Edinburgh University.

You can see an regularly updated list of new books for New College Library on the Library Catalogue – choose the New Books Search and limit your search to New College Library. Here’s a quick link to new books arriving in the last few weeks. A word of caution – some of the books listed here may still be in transit between the Main Library (where they are catalogued) and New College Library, so not on the shelf just yet.

New books at New College Library – March

The lovelorn ghostThe Good MuslimNew College Library has a regular display of new books at the far end of the Library Hall, close to the door to the stacks.

Currently in the display is The good Muslim : reflections on classical Islamic law and theology by Mona Siddiqui. Professor Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the School of Divinity, will deliver her Inaugural Lecture ‘Love and Law in Christianity and Islam‘ today,  Monday 4 March 2013 at St Cecilia’s Hall.

Also new is The lovelorn ghost and the magical monk : practicing Buddhism in modern Thailand  by Daniel McJustin.  These titles were purchased for Religious Studies at the School of Divinity, Edinburgh University.

You can see an regularly updated list of new books for New College Library on the Library Catalogue – choose the New Books Search and limit your search to New College Library. Here’s a quick link to new books arriving in the last few weeks. A word of caution – some of the books listed here may still be in transit between the Main Library (where they are catalogued) and New College Library, so not on the shelf just yet.

Picturing heaven : online image resources for religious art #ILW2013

Song School St Mary, 1897, f.13r by Phoebe Anna Traquair, (b.1852, d.1936) . Edinburgh University Library

Song School St Mary, 1897, f.13r
by Phoebe Anna Traquair, (b.1852, d.1936) . Edinburgh University Library

Find out about the new Princeton Index to Christian Art plus the many other online image resources available to the University of Edinburgh.

This Innovative Learning Week session is open to all and will be held in the Baillie Room, New College, 11-12am tomorrow Thursday 21 February.

Can’t come to the session? See the presentation slides on slideshare.

Science and religion : a natural history #ILW2013

Natural History CollectionInnovative Learning week kicks off at New College Library with a chance to see some of the scientific books in New College Library’s Special Collections and find out where they came from and why they were collected at New College Library. Please drop in to look at the book display in the Funk Reading Room, Monday 18 February 11-12am and ask questions.

Several of the items in this display are drawn from New College Library’s Natural History Collection, a Special Collection numbering about 175 books. This dates from the early days of New College, where ‘Natural Science’ was taught until 1934. The collection covers the mid-nineteenth century controversies over evolution and natural selection, with geology particularly well represented. There is a focus on Scottish natural history and on texts by Scots writers.

Can’t come to the display? See the presentation slides on slideshare.

Walking with Angels? Exploring Death in Modern Scotland

Song School St Mary, 1897, f.13r by Phoebe Anna Traquair, (b.1852, d.1936) . Edinburgh University Library

Song School St Mary, 1897, f.13r
by Phoebe Anna Traquair, (b.1852, d.1936) . Edinburgh University Library

There are still places available at the forthcoming conference on Death in Modern Scotland , 1855: beliefs, attitudes and practices at the School of Divinity, New College Edinburgh, on 1-3 February 2013. Among the speakers is Dr Elizabeth Cumming (Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh; Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Glasgow) on  ‘Phoebe Anna Traquair, angels and changing concepts of the supernatural in fin-de-siècle Scotland’. This image of one of Phoebe Anna Traquair’s works is taken from a volume in Edinburgh University Library’s Special Collections, with further images available online.

Light Night in Edinburgh – New College Library closing early

New College Library will close early at 5pm on Thursday 29 November as installations and road closures for ‘Light Night‘ mean that readers will not be able to exit the building through the main gates after this time.

The ‘Light Night’  performance, including firework display and aerobatics, is scheduled on the grassy area at the top of the Mound at around 5pm to 6pm on Thursday 29th November, with a rehearsal in the early afternoon. There will be a full road closure in place all day, with pedestrian access to enter and exit the building through the main Quad gates throughout the day until 5pm.

A puzzle of Presbyterian history

Notes on the Presbyterian church in New Zealand. By P. B., fl. ca 1860. New College Library – Special Collections. P.f.14/24

Today the School of  Divinity welcomes Dr Hugh Morrison, a visiting Fellow from Otago, who is speaking at the World Christianity Research Seminar on “Doing religious history ‘down under:’ challenges and opportunities in the New Zealand context.”

A recent challenge for the the Funk Cataloguing Projects here at New College Library was this nineteenth century pamphlet, “Notes on the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand”. Little is known about this item or its author, P.B. From clues within the pamphlet we have garnered that the writer was active in the 1860s and the item was probably published in Scotland.

The union catalogue of UK research libraries, COPAC, lists New College Library as the only known location in the UK for this pamphlet