Bibliographie: Theologie und Frieden - Review

Institut fur Theologie und Frieden, Bibliographie: Theologie und Frieden, 2. Ausgabe 1996, Stuttgart, Kohlhammer, 1996, CD-ROM, DOS version.

When the history of the 20th century is written, one of the outstanding contributions which will be noted is that in the area of peace-making. Various movements towards reconciliation, towards the establishment of a lasting peace on this fragile planet earth, will have left their mark on human history. The process of peace-making, however, is not only reserved to the domain of political science and politics in general, but has a theological dimension, one which is crucial especially if peace is to be a lasting reality. Keeping track of major contributions to the field of theology and peace studies is therefore an important task, especially as we look towards the future.

The Institute for Theology and Peace in Barsbuttel, Germany, has put together a data base of bibliographic entries for both monographs and periodical literature. This impressive collection of over 65,000 entries comes from a wide range of disciplines which include not only theology and peace studies but literature, philosophy, political science, international law and history as well. The pedagogical method underlying the construction of this bibliography is very interesting. In fact the method demonstrates the fruitful interaction which can take place when theological disciplines use the social sciences as grist for their reflection. The risk involved derives from those who are unable to read this input in a correct way. With this in mind the construction of this bibliography is quite intelligent, allowing the researcher to relate themes as they appear in other fields of research.

Geographically speaking, the entries cover Europe and North America. One might well consider this a disadvantage since many of the conflictual "hot spots" of the world are not found in these regions. It would therefore be very interesting to be able to see materials entered from countries where actual conflicts are in progress, as well as various attempts to resolve these. Notwithstanding this deficiency, there is much that commends this bibliographic data base for use in libraries and by researchers.

We reviewed the DOS version of this compact disc, which requires DOS version 4.01 or higher and an IBM compatible computer with a 286 or superior microprocessor. If one wants to install the programme on the hard disc, a minimum free space of 6 megabytes is necessary. This option, however, is not really necessary since the bibliography is perfectly navigable reading directly from the CD-ROM itself. On a machine with a Pentium processor, the search speed is very fast. The programme comes complete with on-line handbooks and a very clear and elaborate help programme. Moving from component to component of the programme is simple, as is printing information in a bibliographical format.

The data base can be queried using various options. For example, one can search by an author's family name or by a title, or even by a publisher or a series. Boolean functions -- searching for several words, subjects and so on in various combinations (for example "both x and y", "either x or y") -- are likewise possible, which helps to focus the search and make it more efficient. What seems confusing, and a little difficult to master, is the list of codes for the different "authority" files. The on-line manual proved to be somewhat cumbersome, as one has to interrupt the search constantly to locate the proper codes and/or the sequence required for formulating a Boolean search. This means that one should print out part of the handbook included in the online help module, in order that this can serve as a manual for use in the conventional way.

It should be noted that this bibliography contains not only articles from periodical literature but also material from Festschrifts and monographs. It is possible to search the Festschrifts by author, by the name of the person being honoured, by theme or by title of the chapter. This facilitates enormously access to a whole corpus of material which far too often is overlooked simply because it is not made evident on most library cards. In this age of modern technology and automation in libraries, and given the services which they can now offer, there is no excuse for not searching all possible sources for information.

The risk which is involved in this type of research is that the researcher does not have a sufficient cultural preparation to interrogate the data base properly. One needs to think of all aspects of a particular subject, and to have the appropriate linguistic tools at his or her disposal. For example, a search for the theme of "the eucharist as source of reconciliation with God" needs to be approached from several angles, taking into account the linguistic possibilities inherent in the terms "eucharist" and "reconciliation". If we wish to include Anglican and Protestant sources, one must look not only for "eucharist" as a keyword but also for "holy communion" and "Lord's Supper"; while to include Orthodox sources it might be necessary to search also for "divine liturgy". The same dynamic might be true for the term "reconciliation".