Library

Library Hours

library-9-job-complete

Our Main Library houses approximately 30,000 volumes, comprising the largest theological collection in Alaska. This library contains an extensive Alaska Section, a Counseling Reference Section, an Elementary Education Section, and several study areas. A selection of visual aid materials is also available upon request for student ministries.

Alaska Bible College students and staff logged in to Populi can access the Galaxie Theological Journal Database as well as other databases and library information through the “Links” tab at the top of your screen.

The ABC Library is open to the public. Please note, however, that the library follows the school schedule. It is advisable to call before you come to verify our hours of operation. The library is closed from 11am-noon during the school year for chapel. For security, campus doors remained locked at all times, but there are doorbells at both entrances. During open hours, ABC staff will sign you in.

 

Shop Our Bookstore

Online Library Catalog

Library Handbook

Latest Acquisitions

Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher

How can Christians survive in a world in which the leaders of our cultural institutions – education, the media, entertainment, economy, business, politics – enforce an anti-Biblical narrative and punish dissenters? Though this kind of totalitarianism does not come with gulags, Rod Dreher asserts a “soft totalitarianism” enforced through economic punishments is a very real threat today. Interviews with survivors of communism tell how we can prepare ourselves to live in the truth, not only in the face of economic pressure, but also against the lure of capitalistic pleasures. Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents is essential reading for living in an aggressive, anti-Christian culture. Check it out in the “New Titles” section of the ABC Library.

Once an Arafat Man: The True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life

At age 17, Palestinian Tass Saada ran away to become a PLO sniper, onetime chauffeur for Yasser Arafat, and a Muslim immersed in anti-Israeli activity. As a man he moved to America, started a family, and eventually became a Christian. Then he risked retribution as he returned home to share his faith with his family and former boss. Once an Arafat Man is a story of the ultimate triumph of love over hatred, of reconciliation over divisions. It’s a story that can inspire us all to overcome the conflicts in our own lives. (From Amazon description.)

Open Access Digital Theological Library

Home

You now have free access to over 190,00 ebooks and thousands of journals through the Open Access Digital Theological Library (OADTL)! Look under the “Links” tab on your Populi Library page.

The current trend in the digital information age is to make as much current research and information (like ebooks) available online for free. The challenge has been to access all the free material from one site. Now you can through the OADTL. From a single search page, you can access all open access, religious studies sites as well as a huge selection of ebooks from across the religious spectrum.

The OADTL operates through the Digital Theological Library, a nonprofit organization. The original collection of materials was shared from the digital collections of Claremont School of Theology, Denver Seminary, Evangelical Seminary, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Hartford Seminary, Lexington Theological Seminary, International Baptist Theological Study Centre (Amsterdam), and Singapore Bible College. Professional librarians volunteer their time to continue to add high-quality content to the collection. Currently Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism have the greatest representation.

What about copyrights? Open Access material by definition is published under an open copyright making it free to access. For other content like ebooks, the original host organization is responsible for ensuring there is no copyright infringement.  

(https://oadtl.org/)

 

Professor Spotlight: Bates’ Current Reading List

Every so often it’s nice to know what our professors are reading and would recommend. Here are Bob and Linda Bates Top Picks! We don’t have these in our library yet, but if you’d like to see them there let me know!

# 1 “The Victorious Christian Life” by Thomas W. Finley. Finley does a great job of explaining how Victory in our spiritual walk is achieved in areas where our trust works in sync with the Spirit’s role.

# 2 “The Letters to the Thessalonians” by Gene Green. Green gives a first century window into the life of this Roman Province, and how this gives detailed backstory to the problems in the Thessalonian church.

# 3 “Philippians; Pursuing Christ to Know Him – A Commentary by Thomas W. Finley. Finley’s book clarifies in fine detail Paul’s advice to the Church at Philippi, and hometown USA!
# 4 Three books on scripting, screenwriting and writing backstory for Biblical performances on stage and screen. (Bob and Linda will be meeting with Aaron House, the director of ‘Piercing Word,’ in Pennsylvania this Christmas. His company performs Biblical Word-for-Word depictions of Bible books and passages for  churches and movies. We will discuss ways of improving the backstory necessary for directing and acting Biblical dramatic productions.) We hope that Aaron will agree to bring his troupe to ABC for a performance when they visit Anchorage.
Books;
a) “The Idea; The Seven Elements of a viable Story for Screen, Stage, or Fiction.” by Erik Bork.
b) “Inciting Incident; How to Begin Screenplay and Captivate Audiences . . .” by H. R. D’Costa.
c) “Acting in Film; An Actor’s Take on Movie Making” by Michael Caine.
Bob and Linda Bates

Alaska Bible College

Professor’s Pick – The Insanity of Obedience: Walking with Jesus in Tough Places

ABC’s Intercultural Ministry Professor Frank Emrick calls this book a must read. Here is why he chose the Insanity of Obedience: Walking With Jesus in the Tough Places by Nik Ripkin as the primary text for the upcoming Church Planting & Leadership Development modular course January 7-11.

“I was looking for a book for the History and Issues in Missions course I was going to oversee. As a current issue, I believe many Christians need a better understanding of the persecuted church. I was also wanting students in the course to be moved to a deeper commitment to The Great Commission (Mt. 28:19-20). I thought what better way than to read  true stories of the most committed Christians on earth, the persecuted. Portions of the book were assigned to read.

Ripken (not his real name) went to several areas of the world to talk with and learn from those who are persecuted. Reading the book, although I found much that I anticipated, I did not anticipate the personal conviction of the areas I fall short in my service to Jesus our King. Many chapters have a story or simply a statement that challenged my way of thinking and the way I live my Christian life.  

Another reason I initially chose the book was the title, “The Insanity of Obedience.” When I was a seminarian, I was introduced to the concept of “Obedient Oriented Training through church planting and discipleship courses I took. I was reading the book to see if it would suit the course above for the Fall Term. However, so many examples stood out as important to church planting that I was certain that it would suite the purposes of the Church Planting and Leadership Development course for this Winter Term. The lead instructor for the course, agreed with me and we decided to list the book as the text for this course too.

This is not so much a textbook in the academic sense. It is however, a book that reveals that obedience to Christ’s commands and application of Biblical principles are key to the spread of the Gospel, discipleship, leadership development and church planting movements. Each chapter makes one want to read the next. I found it a compelling read.”

[teach] them to observe all that I commanded you…”    Mt 28:20″

An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments: Learn the Lost Art of Making Sense by Ali Almossawi

The antidote to fuzzy thinking, with furry animals!

Have you read (or stumbled into) one too many irrational online debates? Ali Almossawi certainly had, so he wrote An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments! This handy guide is here to bring the internet age a much-needed dose of old-school logic (really old-school, a la Aristotle).

Here are cogent explanations of the straw man fallacy, the slippery slope argument, the ad hominem attack, and other common attempts at reasoning that actually fall short—plus a beautifully drawn menagerie of animals who (adorably) commit every logical faux pas. Rabbit thinks a strange light in the sky must be a UFO because no one can prove otherwise (the appeal to ignorance). And Lion doesn’t believe that gas emissions harm the planet because, if that were true, he wouldn’t like the result (the argument from consequences).

Once you learn to recognize these abuses of reason, they start to crop up everywhere from congressional debate to YouTube comments—which makes this geek-chic book a must for anyone in the habit of holding opinions. (from the back cover)

Voices from the Field: Conversations with our Global Family, edited by T.J. MacLeslie

Voices from the Field presents a unique opportunity to encounter real people and hear authentic Christian perspectives from around the world. The world has never seemed closer. We feel we can watch history unfold before our very eyes on our constantly connected devices. We have access to more information than ever before, but this flood of data has not produced genuine connection nor understanding. Genuine conversations require safe places for us and to share and humility to listen. The contributors to this volume have felt safe to share and your are invited to listen to voices from around the world. Voices that confront our practices and prejudices while inviting our partnership. To engage in missions today is to embrace the task of life-long learning. This book is a rich resource for those who would join in the global task of building God’s Kingdom, presenting not just more information but new lenses through which to see ourselves and our shared world. (From the back cover)

Half the Church – Winner of the ABC Poll!

Women comprise at least half the world, and usually more than half the church, but so often Christian teaching to women either fails to move beyond a discussion of roles or assumes a particular economic situation or stage of life. This all but shuts women out from contributing to God’s kingdom as they were designed to do. Furthermore, the plight of women in the Majority World demands a Christian response, a holistic embrace of all that God calls women and men to be in his world.

The loudest voices speaking into women’s lives in the twenty-first century thus far come from either fundamentalist Islam or radical feminism. And neither can be allowed to carry the day.

The Bible contains the highest possible view of women and invests women’s lives with cosmic significance regardless of their age, stage of life, social status, or culture. Carolyn Custis James unpacks three transformative themes the Bible presents to women that raise the bar for women and calls them to join their brothers in advancing God’s gracious kingdom on earth. These new images of what can be in Christ free women to embrace the life God gives them, no matter what happens. Carolyn encourages readers with a positive, kingdom approach to the changes, challenges, and opportunities facing women throughout the world today. (Amazon description.)

A Lamp in the Dark: The Untold History of the Bible DVD

A Lamp in the Dark: The Untold History of the BibleA Lamp in the Dark is an exciting documentary that shows the intriguing history of the Bible. Enter into a world of saints and martyrs battling against spies, assassins, and wolves in sheep’s clothing. Through the Middle Ages, the popes and Inquisition forbade biblical translation, threatening imprisonment and death to those who disobeyed. Learn the lives of men like John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, Myles Coverdale and others, who hazarded their lives to communicate the Bible in languages people could understand. With the Fall of Constantinople, ancient Greek manuscripts came into Europe, and with them, the clear streams of understanding that would bring about the Protestant Reformation. But what is little known is that Rome launched a Counter Reformation with the intent of destroying all the works of the Reformers. Could this be the key to the “untold” history of the Bible? And is it possible that this ancient war on the Word of God continues to this day?

Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey

Beginning with Jesus’ birth, Ken Bailey leads you on a kaleidoscopic study of Jesus throughout the four Gospels. Bailey examines the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes, Jesus’ relationship to women, and especially Jesus’ parables. Through it all, Bailey employs his trademark expertise as a master of Middle Eastern culture to lead you into a deeper understanding of the person and significance of Jesus within his own cultural context. With a sure but gentle hand, Bailey lifts away the obscuring layers of modern Western interpretation to reveal Jesus in the light of his actual historical and cultural setting. This entirely new material from the pen of Ken Bailey is a must-have for any student of the New Testament. If you have benefited from Bailey’s work over the years, this book will be a welcome and indispensable addition to your library. If you are unfamiliar with Bailey’s work, this book will introduce you to a very old yet entirely new way of understanding Jesus.