Book of Common Prayer for E-Sword

CAS receives a steady stream of Anglican visitors seeking a digitized copy of the Book of Common Prayer for e-Sword Bible software. "The Book of Common Prayer is one of the major works of English literature. Since its introduction in the mid-1500's it has exerted enormous influence on the religious and literary lives of all who speak the English language."

The Book of Common Prayer is on many e-Sword users' wish lists. While I don't recall seeing a complete copy in e-Sword format, part does exist.

1662 Lectionary from the Book of Common Prayer

Andrew on Esnips offers the 1662 Lectionary from the Book of Common Prayer. Andrew doesn't offer much of a description, so that's about the limit of our knowledge on his file.

Converting the Book of Common Prayer to E-Sword

As the Book of Common Prayer already exists in in digital text form, no one needs to scan and spell check the Book of Common Prayer. All one really needs to do is start with a blank e-Sword topical (.top) file and copy an existing version of the Book of Common Prayer into it and format the text as desired. Its not an overnight project, but it is possible, especially since there are 70 million Anglicans worldwide and 2 million are here in the United States. Surely there is one dedicated Anglican or a small group of Anglicans willing to transform the Book of Common Prayer into e-Sword format.

There's about 360 pages in the version of the Book of Common Prayer I reviewed online, so that means a lone dedicated Anglican could convert the entire Book of Common Prayer into e-Sword format in one year at a rate of one finished page per day. Up the standard to two finished pages per day and the project is done in six months. Throw a small team at it and the project could be done in a month or less.

e-Sword files are simply Microsoft Access databases with the .mdb extension changed to one of the many e-Sword file extensions. Using Access one can easily import and append tables. If every one on a team had clear understanding of their start and end points, each member could work on their own portion. One team member could be responsible for importing and completing the assembly of the final file.

I will leave comments open on this post to facilitate anyone wishing to undertake the holy quest of converting the Book of Common Prayer into e-Sword format.

Source: Book of Common Prayer

NWT for eSword

While looking over the Google Analytics report for the Christian Apologetics Society blog, I noted that a number of visitors are coming here seeking a NWT bible file for use with eSword bible software. While I don't offer a NWT bible file for eSword on my eSword for Catholics eSnips site, there are numerous bootleg copies available as an eSnips search for NWT shows.

Note that I use the word "bootleg." The New Word Translation of the Bible is the intellectual property of the Watchtower Society. It would be wonderful if our JW brothers and sisters would authorize the NWT for use with eSword.

New visitors might like to read my experiences with the NWT.

Source: New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

eSword - The Confession of Patrick of Ireland

This morning I was listening to the weekly podcast of The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi. Marcus was interviewing Patty Bonds, sister of well-known reformed apologist Dr. James R. White. Patty mentioned that around Saint Patrick's Day one year she decided to read up on Patrick and found Patrick's Confession online. After reading The Confession of Patrick, Patty decided to read the fathers of the early church before 250 A.D.. Based on her study of the early Church and scripture, Patty decided to move from the Baptist faith to the Catholic faith.

Well, when I heard this testimony, I stopped and looked up The Confession of Patrick. I wanted to see this powerful document that would have this effect on Christians like Patty Bonds.

The Confession of Patrick was easy to find and there were dozens of translations to be found. Mericfully, Patrick believed in brevity. The Confession is extremely short in comparison to Justin Martyr's First Apology.

Patrick's opening paragraphs set the tone for his Confession:

I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many, had for father the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late Potitus, a priest, of the settlement [vicus] of Bannavem Taburniae; he had a small villa nearby where I was taken captive. I was at that time about sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our deserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our priests who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord brought down on us the fury of his being and scattered us among many nations, even to the ends of the earth, where I, in my smallness, am now to be found among foreigners.

2 And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.

The Confession of Patrick

When I got home this evening, I quickly copied and edited The Confession of Patrick in eSword as a topic file. The zipped esword topic file is available for download in my eSnips eSword account.

Source: The Journey Home podcast (RSS/XML)

eSword - John of Damascus

Thanks to Kevin P. Edgecomb at biblicalia blog, an English translation of John of Damascus' the Heresy of the Ishmaelites is now available as an e-Sword topic file.

Kevin graciously gave permission to port his translation over to e-Sword earlier this week. The file is now available in my eSword Islam folder on eSnips at:

http://esnips.com/web/eSword-Islam

Here's a brief sample:

And there is also the up until now strong and people-deceiving superstition of the Ishmaelites, being the forerunner of Antichrist. And it is born from Ishmael, who was born from Hagar to Abraham, from which they are called Hagarenes and Ishmaelites. And they call them Saracens, as from Σαρρας κενοι (those empty of Sarah), because of what was said by Hagar to the angel: “Sarah has sent me away empty.” So then, these were idolaters and reverenced the morning star and Aphrodite, who they indeed named Khabar in their own language, which means great. Therefore, until the time of Heraclius, they were plainly idolaters. From that time and until now came up among them a false prophet called Mamed, who, having encountered the Old and New Testament, as it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, he put together his own heresy. And under the pretext of seeming pious, attracting (?) people, he reported that a book was sent down to him from heaven by God. Therefore some of the compositions written by him in a book, worthy of laughter, which he handed down to them as an object of reverence.

Hilaire Belloc drew on John of Damascus for Belloc's later work, The Great Heresies. Christian apologists should be familiar with both works and their arguements. You'll find chapter four of Belloc's The Great Heresies on The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed in the same folder.

Source: biblicalia blog

eSword - The Great Heresies

Hilaire Belloc's classic treatise, The Great Heresies, is now available for eSword. This classic apologetic work provides a good condensed source of information on the major Christian heresies. While the chapters on the Carthusians and Arians are interesting from a more historical viewpoint, the chapters on Islam and modernism are very applicable to the current day.

Why concern ourselves with heresies? Hilaire responds:

The study of successive Christian heresies, their characters and fates, has a special interest for all of us who belong to the European or Christian culture, and that is a reason that ought to be self-evident_our culture was made by a religion. Changes in, or deflections from, that religion necessarily affect our civilization as a whole.

Hilaire's describes Islam:

Mohammedanism was a heresy: that is the essential point to grasp before going any further. It began as a heresy, not as a new religion. It was not a pagan contrast with the Church; it was not an alien enemy. It was a perversion of Christian doctrine.

About modernism (written in 1936):

The enemy which the Faith now has to meet, and which may be called "The Modern Attack," is a wholesale assault upon the fundamentals of the Faith_upon the very existence of the Faith. And the enemy now advancing against us is increasingly conscious of the fact that there can be no question of neutrality. The forces now opposed to the Faith design to destroy.

The Great Heresies, Hilaire Belloc

The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed

Chapter 4 of Hillaire Belloc's masterwork, The Great Heresies, is now available on eSnips as a topic file (.top) for eSword. Entitled "The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed," Belloc shows how Islam is closer to being a Christian heresy than most folks realize. (Islam is not nor can never be a true heresy, as Islam is not a departure from the Christian faith.)

"Mohammedanism was a heresy: that is the essential point to grasp before going any further. It began as a heresy, not as a new religion. It was not a pagan contrast with the Church; it was not an alien enemy. It was a perversion of Christian doctrine. Its vitality and endurance soon gave it the appearance of a new religion, but those who were contemporary with its rise saw it for what it was_not a denial, but an adaptation and a misuse, of the Christian thing. It differed from most (not from all) heresies in this, that it did not arise within the bounds of the Christian Church."

"The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed", The Great Heresies, Hillaire Belloc

I would encourage those Christian apologists, seeking to engage in apologetics with Muslims, to set aside their personal prejudices, read Belloc's famous discourse, and make an honest attempt to recognize those truths in Islam which clearly are found in both the Christian and Jewish faiths, such as monotheism. There is only One God.

The way to reach out and lead our Islamic brothers and sisters into the fullness of the Christian faith is to relate the unknown (or misunderstood) truths of the Christian faith to the known truths of the Islamic faith. The apostle Paul is one of our best examples when he relates Jesus to the statue of the unknown god. Rather than declare everything totally false, Paul focuses on the truth that the pagans got right - that there is an unknown God and His name is Jesus. (Acts 17:22-31)

The Great and Enduring Heresy of Mohammed

Apologetics - eSword for Catholics

As a long time fan of eSword for Windows, very good and 100% free digital Bible software, I have noted a lack of eSword resources for Catholics. If one wants Catholics to read the Bible, eSword in particular, one should provide resources for Catholics to do so.

To fill this void, I have established an eSword for Catholics folder on eSnips for collecting and distributing high quality eSword content for Catholics. I have uploaded the Douay-Rheims Bible and a customized, pre-loaded Prayer Requests file. The prayer file is set to pop-up a list of daily prayers. Additional prayers show on scheduled dates, such as, monthly on the first Saturday of each month. While not comprehensive, the files are a good start. I have updated the eSword links in the adjacent navigation bar to reflect the new files. As more files come on line, their links will be added.

Planned additions include a series of scripture memorization files with apologetic related verses and topic files with Christian literature before 1929. Eventually, a pack of files is planned, so that after installing eSword, a set of standard resources could be easily installed. Similarly, libraries of literature could also be made available.

eSword for Catholics