Papers by Beth M Sheppard
Introduction Hello. Welcome to our presentation. For those attending who do not know me, I am Bet... more Introduction Hello. Welcome to our presentation. For those attending who do not know me, I am Beth Sheppard, the Director of the United Library. During the academic year 2010-11 our library, which serves Garrett Evangelical and Seabury-Western Theological Seminaries in Evanston, Illinois, began a three-year phased-in implementation of a radio fluency identification (RFID) security system. Our objectives during this panel presentation are both to share details from our own experience and also to allow ample opportunity within this time slot for everyone present in the room to engage in dialogue about RFID. Our own RFID implementation, though it has had its ups and downs to be sure, has been largely successful due to the talents and dedication of our staff. Indeed, we all know that the best librarians are the key to making any new project actually work! We are fortunate that two of them are here today to participate in this panel. Lucy Chung, who currently serves as our Technical Serv...
Theological Librarianship, 2017
Theological Librarianship, 2012
Theological Librarianship, 2009
Communications in Information Literacy, 2019
Theological Librarianship, 2015
Citation analysis is a staple in the sciences for measuring the impact of faculty members' ou... more Citation analysis is a staple in the sciences for measuring the impact of faculty members' output, but heavy reliance on monographs as a vehicle of scholarly communication diminished the value of bibliometrics in theological disciplines. The digital revolution, however, created a seismic shift for citation analysis and has given rise to altmetrics. Overviews of altmetrics and bibliometrics are provided and a series of questions posed to encourage ongoing discussions about the value of these tools in theological contexts.
Theological Librarianship, 2017
Theological Librarianship, 2009
Biblical Interpretation, 2013
During a bibliometric analysis of the scholarship of ninety-five social science faculty members a... more During a bibliometric analysis of the scholarship of ninety-five social science faculty members at the University of West Georgia (UWG), observations were made concerning potential differences between how scholarly communication is practiced by the disciplines of the social sciences and biblical studies. The fields appear to diverge on the role of book reviews, prevalence of co-authored materials, use of ORCIDs, and adoption of DOIs. In addition to highlighting these points, the data set used for the project is described. Finally, a few theological reflections are offered.
Theological Librarianship, Jun 2, 2008
An Introduction to Empire in the New Testament
Future Shock: The Inevitable Impact of a "New Generation of Patron" on Theological Libr... more Future Shock: The Inevitable Impact of a "New Generation of Patron" on Theological Libraries by Beth M. Sheppard, Southwestern College, Kansas In the 2004 20 Century Fox film /, Robot, starring Will Smith, a detective in the year 2035 is accused of Luddite tendencies because he eschews owning a household robot. In a snappy line of dialogue, Smiths character disavows his technophobia, asserting that he isn't one of those people who seek to banish the Internet in order to bring back the libraries. In this Hollywood glimpse of the future, libraries as physical locations are extinct. By contrast, a slightly earlier film by the same studio, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones (2002), depicts a librarian named Jocasta Nu, who fails to assist Obi-Wan Kenobi in his bid to obtain information about an obscure planet. Books are conspicuously absent in this futuristic archive, but shelf space has been filled by codex-shaped servers that pulse with blue light. Also missing from the ...
Montfort Castle, also known as Starkenberg, was a Crusader Castle purchased by the German Teutoni... more Montfort Castle, also known as Starkenberg, was a Crusader Castle purchased by the German Teutonic Knights. It is presently in the Nahal Kziv National Park of Israel in the Western Galilee region.
Each discipline establishes defining parameters for its practitioners, and at the current time, t... more Each discipline establishes defining parameters for its practitioners, and at the current time, the field of New Testament studies is poised at the point of genesis for an exciting new breakthrough in exegetical endeavors—the consideration of Roman influences and backgrounds for New Testament texts. Might such an innovation in the field constitute a new paradigm for New Testament studies? As defined by Martha Hale, who was focusing on the profession of library science, "a paradigm is the lens through which members of a discipline observe the phenomena in their areas of responsibility." Such a lens has an impact on the scholars of a discipline to the extent that paradigms assist them in determining what questions are suitable for academic investigation. Generally, such alterations in the fabric of a discipline's expectations and definitions, which have alternately been described as "paradigmatic shifts" or "revolutions," are recognized only in hindsi...
Doctoral Thesis. University of Sheffield Department of Biblical Studies, 1999
This thesis rep... more Doctoral Thesis. University of Sheffield Department of Biblical Studies, 1999
This thesis represents an experiment in which the Fourth Gospel is analyzed for functional similarities with the precepts of the classical rhetorical handbooks and illuminated at points by reference to Roman law.
After exploring the possibility of an Ephesian provenance, the feasibility of examining the Gospel against the backdrop of the classical forensic rhetoric that pervaded such a cosmopolitan milieu is argued in the introduction. Further, the use of legal themes and motifs within the Fourth Gospel are amongst features that make the Gospel a favorable subject for such an analysis. Functional correspondences between the structure of the Gospel and that of ancient legal speeches are designated a primary interest.
Subsequent chapters, analogous to structural elements of a legal speech, include examination of John 1: 1-15 as a prologue and 1: 16-18 as an ipsius causae statement of the case. The witness motif, signs, scriptural allusions, and logical arguments in 1: 19-12: 50 represent the type of evidence present in the probatio or proof portions of forensic orations. The farewell discourses (13-17) may be akin to a digression while the presentation of proof is resumed at the point of Jesus' arrest. Verses 20: 30-21: 25 conform to conventions for perorations. In addition, Roman laws and procedures involving women as witnesses and the distribution of inheritances illuminate various pericopes. Given this analysis, there is some support for the hypothesis that the Gospel was crafted in a way that reflects the modes and structure of forensic argumentation in Greco-Roman culture.
The implications of such a structure would be threefold: 1) the Gospel has been carefully and intentionally composed 2) the distinctiveness of the Fourth Gospel compared to the Synoptics may be due to similarities with forensic rhetoric 3) the Gospel may be read from the perspective of a Roman legal context.
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Papers by Beth M Sheppard
This thesis represents an experiment in which the Fourth Gospel is analyzed for functional similarities with the precepts of the classical rhetorical handbooks and illuminated at points by reference to Roman law.
After exploring the possibility of an Ephesian provenance, the feasibility of examining the Gospel against the backdrop of the classical forensic rhetoric that pervaded such a cosmopolitan milieu is argued in the introduction. Further, the use of legal themes and motifs within the Fourth Gospel are amongst features that make the Gospel a favorable subject for such an analysis. Functional correspondences between the structure of the Gospel and that of ancient legal speeches are designated a primary interest.
Subsequent chapters, analogous to structural elements of a legal speech, include examination of John 1: 1-15 as a prologue and 1: 16-18 as an ipsius causae statement of the case. The witness motif, signs, scriptural allusions, and logical arguments in 1: 19-12: 50 represent the type of evidence present in the probatio or proof portions of forensic orations. The farewell discourses (13-17) may be akin to a digression while the presentation of proof is resumed at the point of Jesus' arrest. Verses 20: 30-21: 25 conform to conventions for perorations. In addition, Roman laws and procedures involving women as witnesses and the distribution of inheritances illuminate various pericopes. Given this analysis, there is some support for the hypothesis that the Gospel was crafted in a way that reflects the modes and structure of forensic argumentation in Greco-Roman culture.
The implications of such a structure would be threefold: 1) the Gospel has been carefully and intentionally composed 2) the distinctiveness of the Fourth Gospel compared to the Synoptics may be due to similarities with forensic rhetoric 3) the Gospel may be read from the perspective of a Roman legal context.
This thesis represents an experiment in which the Fourth Gospel is analyzed for functional similarities with the precepts of the classical rhetorical handbooks and illuminated at points by reference to Roman law.
After exploring the possibility of an Ephesian provenance, the feasibility of examining the Gospel against the backdrop of the classical forensic rhetoric that pervaded such a cosmopolitan milieu is argued in the introduction. Further, the use of legal themes and motifs within the Fourth Gospel are amongst features that make the Gospel a favorable subject for such an analysis. Functional correspondences between the structure of the Gospel and that of ancient legal speeches are designated a primary interest.
Subsequent chapters, analogous to structural elements of a legal speech, include examination of John 1: 1-15 as a prologue and 1: 16-18 as an ipsius causae statement of the case. The witness motif, signs, scriptural allusions, and logical arguments in 1: 19-12: 50 represent the type of evidence present in the probatio or proof portions of forensic orations. The farewell discourses (13-17) may be akin to a digression while the presentation of proof is resumed at the point of Jesus' arrest. Verses 20: 30-21: 25 conform to conventions for perorations. In addition, Roman laws and procedures involving women as witnesses and the distribution of inheritances illuminate various pericopes. Given this analysis, there is some support for the hypothesis that the Gospel was crafted in a way that reflects the modes and structure of forensic argumentation in Greco-Roman culture.
The implications of such a structure would be threefold: 1) the Gospel has been carefully and intentionally composed 2) the distinctiveness of the Fourth Gospel compared to the Synoptics may be due to similarities with forensic rhetoric 3) the Gospel may be read from the perspective of a Roman legal context.