Recently added to the collections for Divinity at New College Library is the Journal of African Christian thought : journal of the Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Centre for Mission Research and Applied Theology. This journal was requested for World Christianity at the School of Divinity. The University of Edinburgh is the only location in Scotland for this journal.
The online version of the New Cambridge History of the Bible : From 600 to 1450 by Richard Marsden, E. Ann Matter is now available to University of Edinburgh users via the Library catalogue. It joins other Cambridge Histories ebooks which are available via the catalogue, such as the Cambridge History of Religions in America, ed. Stephen J. Stein.
Faith on the frontier : a life of J.H. Oldham / K.W. Clements. New College Library BX6.8.O54 Cle.
Today, 16 May, is the anniversary of the death of J.H. Oldham.
Joseph Houldsworth Oldham (1874-1969) was a missionary and pioneer of ecumenism. The organising secretary for the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, he also founded the journal International Review of Missions. During the Second World War the meetings of his ‘Moot’ group initiated new thinking about Christian responsibility in modern society.
New College Library holds a substantial collection of J.H. Oldham’s papers, which include correspondence, material relating to the Moot including minutes (1938-1947), lectures, sermons, papers and reports.
You can read more about J.H. Oldham and the Oldham Papers here , or in Faith on the frontier : a life of J.H. Oldham by K.W. Clements, in New College Library at BX6.8.O54 Cle.
Did you know that the the World Christian Database is now available online to University of Edinburgh users? It provides access to comprehensive statistical information on world religions, Christian denominations, and people groups. Use it for research on religious activities, growth rates, religious literature, worker activity, and demographic statistics. Additional secular data is incorporated on population, health, education, and communications.
Also, if you previously consulted the UK Christian Handbook, you’ll find it useful to know that it is now freely available online as the Christian Resources Directory, listing Christian services, agencies, businesses and organisations in the UK. Archived print editions remain available at the National Library of Scotland. 
New 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.
I’m pleased to be able to say that Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies is now available online to University of Edinburgh users, from 1989 to the most current issue in 2013.
Published quarterly on behalf of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Transformation is a peer-reviewed journal which provides an international forum for Mission Studies discussion on a range of issues affecting the world today, including economics, development, violence, family life and other ethical issues.
University of Edinburgh users can access the journal via the library catalogue or the e-journals list.
New College Library has a regular display of new books at the far end of the Library Hall, close to the door to the stacks. We have a bumper crop this month so please do stop and have a look if you’re in the library.
A new title already out on loan is After imperialism : Christian identity in China and the global evangelical movement edited by Richard R. Cook and David W. Pao, 2011 (NCL BR1285 Aft. ) This book was purchased for World Christianity, recommended by a PhD student.
Also new is The cross in the dark valley : the Canadian Protestant missionary movement in the Japanese Empire, 1931-1945, by A. Hamish Ion, another recommendation from a Divinity postgraduate student.
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.
Interesting blog entry on Protestant missionary material in Chinese by David Helliwell, Curator of Chinese Collections, Bodleian Library
World Christian Database is now available on trial access to University of Edinburgh Users. Access is available on campus and off campus via the VPN. The trial ends on 14 February. See the eresources trials web page for more information.
The World Christian Database provides comprehensive statistical information on world religions, Christian denominations, and people groups. Extensive data are available on 9,000 Christian denominations, 13,000 ethnolinguistic peoples, as well as data on 5,000 cities, 3,000 provinces and 239 countries.
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