The 1980s—In Quest of Computer Literacy

Abstract

The CSR Bulletin and CSSR Bulletin of the 1980s continued to press the case for a publication in tune with the various offices where scholars carry out their work. Some of the pieces will quickly strike readers as being very much of their time; others, especially prescient. In this fiftieth anniversary issue, we present a piece that may accomplish both. This 1984 piece by Robert A. Kraft is one of the earliest essays in the field on the role computers do and can play in religious studies scholarship. In many ways, “In Quest of Computer Literacy” is the spiritual predecessor to Kraft’s later CSSR Bulletin column, Offline, and today’s Bulletin feature, The Download. Later in this issue, Jeri Wieringa shares with us her reflections on the ideas Kraft has laid out here.