1. Good Research Skills
While the overall direction is set, there is still a lot of unknowns. Unlike dogma and law, which are simply memorized without understanding. Orthodox Theology requires understanding - and this means research. You should have developed good research skills (including schedualing) as an undergrad. If not, you must develop these skill prior to taking your first steps into this program.
2. Patience & Library Research
The primary work done in research is library research. It forms the foundation of all research. Good library research (the backbone of all research) is not measured in hours, but in weeks, months and years. A quality researcher understands that learning his library and other libraries around him is essential. In fact, good researchers spend much of their time in their library. Their library will vary depending on their area of study. Some will be in large academic librarys, while others will be in small specialized libraries. Regardless of size, a good research must spend the time needed to get to know it. Even a small libary, of only 2000 books (that will only fill a single room) - a good researcher will know every inch of it. He'll spend hours (at a time) reading through the material. (This single room library can be a quality library with specialized material that cannot be found elsewher and should not be overlooked.) The resources of library will become the resources of the researcher, as such a map of what the library contains is necessary. This is more than a simple card cataloge of title, author and short description. Books, to be usefull for research need to be put into the context of the research being done. This means reading through each book. As the researchers knowledge grows (book by book) some must his library resources. This is where identification and research of other libraries becomes necessary. The simplest means to do this is the internet - which (itself) should be considered a vast library. A libary that must be mapped and researched in the same manner as the single room library. Obviously, library research requires an enormous amount of time and patience; 1. four years of undergrad work introducing library research, 2. four years of graduate library research, and 3. four years of post-doc library research to begin your research career.
3. Building A Good Theological Library
As stated, a libary is central to a good researcher - this means building a good library is primary. Thankfully, with the internet a good library is within everyones reach (and most of it is for free). As stated in (2) library research is fundamental to good research, and the researcher must know his library. Further, since good libraries can be small (single room) and the volume of free library resources on the internet, it's possible for every good researcher to build theirown library. The key to building a good library is library science (something you should have studied as an undergrad). (If you have not studied library science, use the undergrad study guide to study library science and build your undergrad library.) Beyond, and built on the foundation of, the undergrad library is the grad library. If your foundation is weak, then the rest of your research will suffer. This means that while the undergrad library is the beginning of your single room library, the grad library is the completion of your single room library.
Specialized (small) libraries are libaries focused on one single topic, with consideration supporting subtopics. While you started with just a desk (a reading space) and a couple of bookselves, you grad library is much more. This includes developing means to move your library as location changes from undergrad to grad studies often occur. Further, you must now start considering a budget (especially if your undergrad studies was funded by your parents). This will undoubtedly slow things up a bit, because grad students often have very little money. However, it is possible to create a good library on such a budget. For examples, you can build a bookcase for less than half the price of buying. Desks and other furnature can also be built or taken from the curb and rebuilt. As well, refurbished and used electronics will also work well. Finally, loans and rent-to-own is also an option. For a portable library consider building bookcases by stacking shelves that are moving cases with the lids remove, or the box lied on its side. Building this type of library is very simple. Everything is a module and put together like lego blocks. A desk is two stacks of rectangular (12" x 24") boxes and a piece of wood as the desktop. Bookcases are also stacks rectangular (12" x 24" or 12" x 36") boxes.
However, today there is more than one type of book - printed and electronic. Traditional printed books take up more floor space than ebooks (electronic books). You can easily fit 1000 ebooks on a hard drive. As well, there are more than just books. Good libraries have a good balance of all types of media printed, audio, video, and eprint (ebook and ejournal). This means your library should have (in addition to a desk and bookshelves) a computer (with internet connection), and a/v (audio/video) equipment (stereo, tv, vcr/dvr and a/v connections to your computer).
This brings use to the theological content of your library. Your undergrad library should provide a general overview of theology and all subtopics. Your grad libary will provide the central understanding of Orthodox Theology. This will include lives of the saints, works of the saints, church music, church history, etc. . For example, church music can cover two areas books and audio.
Resources
- HOCNA & The Orthodox - A study of the evolution of the church in North America
- HOCNA - The Theological Journal
- The House of St. Nektarios
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