—The Theological Commons, the Seminary’s newest resource, is a free digital library of more than 50,000 books on theology and religion—

Princeton, NJ, April 17, 2012–Princeton Theological Seminary announces its newest resource, the Theological Commons, a digital library of more than 50,000 out-of-copyright titles in religion and theology. It is searchable, free of charge, and accessible from anywhere in the world by visiting http://commons.ptsem.edu. Books may be read online, downloaded as PDFs, or downloaded to an iPad or Kindle. Users can view individual book covers, go to a collection, or search by subject or by author. In the coming years, the digital library will continue to expand with many more out-of-copyright or rights-cleared volumes.

“We’ve designed the Theological Commons from the ground up with theologians, pastors, and students of religion in mind. There’s a lot of advanced technology powering the Theological Commons, but its purpose is simple and straightforward: to make theological and religious texts easily accessible to scholars worldwide,” said Clifford Anderson, curator of special collections at Princeton Seminary’s library.

The Theological Commons is part of the Seminary’s new library, and its Bicentennial Campaign to make resources available to the church in the world as the Seminary begins its third century. At the heart of the vision for The Bicentennial Campaign is a commitment to fulfilling the Seminary’s mission to equip women and men for leadership worldwide in congregations and the larger church, in classrooms and the academy, and in the community.

“The Theological Commons is a generous and extraordinary gift to students, pastors, and scholars around the world. It is very easy to use and an excellent resource. It will be especially valuable to people in the global south, for whom travel to archival collections in Europe or North America is prohibitively expensive,” said Jay Brown, head of the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh.

Princeton Theological Seminary’s library holds one of the world’s most important and respected collections and is said to be one of the finest resources in the world for Christian theological scholarship. The Seminary’s new state-of-the-art library is currently under construction and scheduled to open in 2013. It will house up to one million books.

Princeton Seminary was established in 1812 by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church as a post-graduate professional school of theology. Celebrating its Bicentennial in 2012, Princeton is the largest Presbyterian seminary in the country, with more than 500 students in six graduate degree programs.