Christian Classics Now Can Be Read Online

Sat., Oct. 21, 2000

Tim Funk Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

The latest novel by Stephen King isn’t the only virtual page-turner on the Internet. Now you can read all the Christian classics in an electronic format, thanks to a professor of computer science at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Harry Plantinga created the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, which is filled with hundreds of volumes from the past 2,000 years.

He says he was inspired after finding a HyperCard stack of Thomas a Kempis’ “The Imitation of Christ” on the Internet.

What you can read: The Bible, of course (the King James and some other versions), but also works from St. Augustine, John Calvin, Dante, G.K. Chesterton, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Julian of Norwich, John of the Cross, Martin Luther, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Thomas Aquinas and John Wesley. There’s also “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan, “Paradise Lost” by John Milton, “The Imitation of Christ” and various classics available in other languages (a Czech Bible, Russian Orthodox classics and St. John of the Cross in Spanish).

Web site: http://www.ccel.org.

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