George Knight Goes Online

A Library is defined as a store house for books and educational resources needed for a particular organization, institute, university, school to fulfill the needs of the users for their research, assignment or for leisure.

The George Knight is named after the first Principal of the Pacific Theological College (PTC), the Reverend Dr. George A. F. Knight; officially opened in 1966.  The Library provides and manages information resources to support the Pacific Theological College (PTC) in its work of theological education, professional ministry training, and public theological discourse.  It’s a special Library and its collection is very valuable in terms of Pacific material and archival resources, with texts dating back several centuries.

The Library is fully air conditioned and seats approximately 35 readers with a separate room for the final year Masters students who each have their own study carrel.  In terms of a theological Library in the South Pacific region, the George Knight Library is the largest (excluding Australia and New Zealand), and houses approximately 30,000 volumes. It is organized using the Dewey decimal classification and the Sears list of Subject headings. Interlibrary loan, photocopying and scanning facilities are all provided.

The collection is now accessible through the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), via the Pacific Theological College website page (www.ptc.ac.fj). At the bottom of the page under quick links, to access the catalogue, click “PTC Library catalogue from outside the PTC network” to view the Library home page to perform a search.

The Library has upgraded its Library system and integrated the ATLA Religion Database with ATLA Serials to perform a federated search; this privilege is only available to users who are registered as members of the George Knight Library.

Apart from serving the staff and students of the College, the Library is also open on Saturdays to provide services to the public as well.  For more information regarding the opening hours please visit the PTC website or telephone us on 3311100.       

The Library caters for the following:                                                                                     

  • Primary sources in Theology and Ethics
  • Primary texts in political theology
  • Language resources for the study of the Greek New Testament
  • Language resources for the study of the Hebrew Bible
  • New volumes in theology
  • Recently written biographies in the field of the Early Church
  • Recent literature on aspects of the Pentecostal movement
  • A new standard work on global Christianity in three volumes
  • Also included a small number of bible commentaries.
  • Christian ethics      
  • Systematic theology       
  • Old and New Testament studies
  • Ministerial and Christian education studies
  • Pacific Collection materials.

The Library also has some historical books dating back 1800’s kept as archival material. Out of all the other books, a particular book which is published in 1831 is the heaviest, weighting up to 25kg. The details are as follows:

Biblia Sacra Polyglotta : textus archetypos versionesque præipuas ab ecclesia antiquitus receptas necnon versiones recentiores Anglicanam, Germanicam, Italicam, Gallicam, et Hispanicam, complectentia / Accedunt prolegomena in textuum archetyporum, versionumque qntiquarum crisin literalem /Samuele Lee.Londini, Sumptibus Samuelis Bagster.

Polyglot is the most inclusive since the London Polyglot, it also contains the Old and New Testaments in eight languages; with the readings of the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Syriac N.T. added in an Appendix. No Apocrypha. The various texts were also printed separately from the same types and published as distinct editions, or combined to form diglots.

Librarian Nalini Premadish with the Polyglot.

The two volumes contain 219 sequentially-numbered sections of four pages in each section. Polyglot section’s pages bear duplicate numbering, and each page includes four numbered texts in two columns.

Hebrew O.T. from Van der Hooght; Hebrew N.T., W. Greenfield; Greek: O.T. from Carafa’s edition; N.T. textus receptus; Latin: Vulgate; English: Authorised version; German: Luther; French: Ostervald; Italian: Diodati; Spanish: Scio. The Samaritan Pentateuch follows Kennicott; the Syriac N.T. is printed from the Vienna edition of 1555, with a collation of the Bible Society’s 1816 edition.

Prolegomena, variant readings from Grabe and Griesbach etc.

The various texts were also printed separately from the same types and published as distinct editions, or combined to form diglots.

Half title: Biblia sacra polyglotta Bagsteriana.

Half-title: Novum Testamentum : Græcè, Hebraicè, Syriacè, Latinè, Italicè, Gallicè,

Hispanicè, Germanicè, et Anglicè. It also includes bibliographical references, and index to the Syriac text.

The text of the Old and New Testament laid out to be read left to right, parallel in Hebrew, English, Greek, Latin, German, French, Italian and Spanish. Text of the New Testament only lay out to be read right to left in Syriac and also includes Samarian. https://copac.jisc.ac.uk/id/32406851?style=html

This book is not issued and may be read in the Library only. Borrowers and non-borrowers are permitted to use the historical books in the Library only.

Ends…