CCEL Questions and Answers
What's the purpose of the CCEL?
To build up Christ's church. To address the fundamental questions of
the faith.
What's the doctrine of the CCEL?
The CCEL is a library intended to serve the whole church.
Just as at a traditional library, here you will find works
from a variety of viewpoints and traditions.
As in any library, the views expressed in the material on this
archive do not necessarily represent the views of any particular
individual or of Calvin College.
Why isn't [my-favorite-author] on the list?
Please don't be offended if your particular tradition or favorite
author isn't on the list. It may well be that I'd be happy to have that
author represented, but I personally haven't had the time to scan
the works or I haven't found a public domain edition. I welcome
suggestions of public domain books that no "Christian Classics"
library ought to be without.
Do you know if [my-favorite-book] is on the internet?
If you didn't find a book you are looking for here, you should also
check John Ockerbloom's Online
Books page and search engines such as
www.google.com.
If you still can't find what you are looking for, it is unlikely
that I will be able to help you.
Links to the CCEL
You are encouraged to link to the CCEL--especially the top-level pages,
the top-level book or author pages, and the book or chapter pages from the
WWSB. Links to anything else may be invalidated as I rearrange
files.
How do I read large documents?
If you don't mind reading from your computer screen, please go ahead.
You may wish to use an option in your browser to save the link for
off-line browsing. However, I prefer to print out the books and read
them on paper.
What are all those file formats? Which should I use?
There is a list of available files on the book information page for
each book. (To find the information page for a book, click on the author's
name and then the 
icon after the title of the book.
To download one of these files to your computer, right-click on the link
and choose an option with a name such as "Save this link as...".
The most common formats are:
-
- XML This is the version of the book marked up using
Theological Markup Langauge. This format contains
enough information that it can be used for converting to other
formats listed below, typesetting, processing by computer program, etc. I
hope that most or all of the books will eventually be available in
this format. When it is available, this is the source document from
which other versions are derived.
- HTML These are web pages. You can open them in your web
browser or right-click, choose "save as", and open them in your
word processor.
- Text files are plain ascii, suitable for any text editor.
They do not retain all of the formatting and linking information of
the other file formats.
- RTF is a word processor interchange format that can be read by
Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, FrameMaker, and others.
- pdf is the extension for files in Adobe's Acrobat format.
These files retain all of the original formatting and can be viewed
on the screen or printed at high resolution. In order to use this
format, you need to install the free Acrobat Reader from Adobe.
- lit is the extension for books in Microsoft Reader format.
- pdb is the extension for books in Palm DocBook format.
Can I get some books on diskette or CD-ROM or in print?
You can now get the CCEL on CD-ROM. My
favorite source of new print books is Christian Book Distributors,
phone 1-800-247-4784. You might also try Amazon.com.
Who supports/maintains the CCEL?
The director of the CCEL is
Harry Plantinga, [email protected],
a professor of computer science at Calvin College.
Sales of the CD-ROM provides most of the support for the project.
Calvin College provides support in the form of equipment,
space, network connections, and a student assistant.
Dozens of individuals have also contributed.
A couple of Calvin College students are helping with the programming
and development of the next version of the library.
How long does it take? Why do you do it?
It takes something like 20-50 hours to scan a typical book and OCR,
format, and proofread it. For a number of years, starting in 1993, I
spent about an hour a day at it.
Why do I do it? Once upon a time, after a personal crisis, I found a lovely
hypercard
stack of "The Imitation of
Christ" on the internet. I had not previously been aware of this
book; in fact I didn't really have any interest in dusty old books at
that time. The Imitation was very helpful to me, however, and a
love of Christian classics was born. Since then the project has been
a labor of love. If you want to know more, you can read this
story.
Future Plans?
Goals are desribed further in The Vision.
The implementation of Theological Markup Language
throughout the library is complete in the first version, though only
about a quarter of the books have been converted to ThML so far.
We're working on a new XSLT-based system for converting XML-based books
to desired formats on demand. Formats will include Palm DocBook, Microsoft
Reader, PDF, HTML, text, and perhaps others such as spoken form via a
computer-synthesized voice. It will also allow for user preferences, such
as the browser in use and the user's favorite translation of scripture.
Automatic translation systems are getting better; we might even have a
preference for language.
The database on which the library is now built will allow us to build
library-wide indexes of scripture references, subject terms, and the like.
I hope to continue to develop a list of books wanted in conjunction with
an ecumenical committee of ministers, theologians, etc.
Access Statistics?
Lately (2001) the server has been logging about
a quarter of a million "hits" per day from a quarter of a million
distinct users per month, providing about 250 GB of information in
a month. That's equivalent to about a quarter of a million books per month.
Why do you use that ugly word "Ethereal" in the name?
I see it as a triple pun. The library is insubstantial, existing
only "in the ether"; the subject matter is spiritual, and the medium
is, well, an ethernet, at least on this end.
Some people have complained about the word "Ethereal" -- that it
connotes "airy" or "unreal". In fact, I changed the name to
"Christian Classics Electronic Library" for a while -- but that
seems rather boring and forgettable. The "unreal" connotation of
the word Ethereal should only be taken to apply to the fact that the
library is not a physical place but exists "in the ether."
What does that weird gem picture mean? Are you new age or something?
The image pre-dates new-age use of gems. Here, the gem represents something
precious and sparkling. The circle is a symbol of the Eternal One. God
illumines us through the pages of these classics.
