scholia.net publishing Q & A

Q & A

1. What is the mission of scholia.net publishing?

The mission of scholia.net publishing is to proclaim the Word of Law and Gospel so that others may hear that salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus Who is the God-Man born of the Virgin Mary, fulfilled the Law perfectly, atoned for all Sin and for all sins of all people of all times when He conquered Satan, suffered the wrath of God and died on the cross, defeated death by His Resurrection from the tomb on Easter morning, ascended into heaven, is enthroned and is with His Church always even to the end of the age.

2. According to the Word of God, how is this done?

God’s Word of hope, grace, mercy, peace and comfort in Christ is intended for all. So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ (Romans 10:17).

3. How is this done?

Computers, the internet and technology are gifts of God that enable us to seize the opportunity and get the Word of God out to others. Using such advancements to get the Word out reminds one of God's promise:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

4. What is the task at hand for scholia.net publishing?

The task at hand is to get the Word of God’s Good News out to the world; which is, the Gospel, that we are set right with the LORD God through faith in Jesus, our Savior, Whose Blood was shed for us for the remission of all our sins. Therefore, the task at hand is NOT to make the Word of God work. That is the merciful and gracious task of the Holy Spirit Who works where and when He wills through the Word. The task is to get the Word out to others.

Martin Luther described this when he wrote concerning the Word ...

In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept [cf. Mark 4:26–29] or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything
      (Luther’s Works, volume. 51, page 77).

5. What does it mean that, at scholia.net publishing, "the Word is not bound"?

The phrase comes from the Collect for the Church:

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, unto Thy Church Thy Holy Spirit and the wisdom which cometh down from above, that Thy Word, as becometh it, may not be bound, but have free course and be preached to the joy and edifying of Christ’s holy people, that in steadfast faith we may serve Thee and in the confession of Thy Name abide unto the end; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

6. How does scholia.net publishing apply "the Word is not bound" to its audio books?

At scholia.net publishing "the Word is not bound" because ...

a. there are only audio books on CD and no written books bound in leather with paper pages,

but most importantly,

b. you may make as many copies of the CDs as you desire. You are not bound by any copyrights prohibiting copying of our CDs. In fact, you are encouraged to make copies to give to others. We would be overjoyed if someone made a million copies of any or all of the CDs and gave them away.

7. How does scholia.net publishing get around the copyrights of others?

We have no desire, nor do we work, to "get around" the copyrights of others. With few exceptions, the audio books provided by scholia.net publishing are in the public domain. This means that there are no copyright restrictions on the use of these books. Most books we audio-record were published prior to 1920 and are in the public domain. Therefore, the majority of the audio books recorded by scholia.net publishing are 80-120 years old. (This is also the reason why the older forms of English words and phrases are oft found, for it must needs be. Verily, hast thou not now ciphered the reason?)

8. Why doesn't scholia.net publishing contact copyright holders of more recent works about getting permission for providing audio recordings of their books?

We have done this and, with a couple of exceptions, have been denied permission.

9. Would you tell us about one of those exceptions?

Certainly and with much pleasure. Pastor Arthur Schulz (who is, this year, 2005, in his 52nd year of the Ministry) graciously gave us permission to audio-record Preparing for Death, which is his 1974 translation of a rare German copy of Heilige Sterbekunst, originally written by Pastor Martin Moller (1547-1606). The German copy was given to Pastor Schulz by his grandfather. Pastor Schulz placed no legal restrictions on our use of his translation, has not charged us anything for securing such permission from him, and desires no royalties from the audio books. What a magnificent example of "the Word not being bound!"

10. Where are the audio books from scholia.net publishing recorded?

The first audio books were recorded using the sound system at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Emmett, Idaho. As such, one might hear, in the background, the sound of a cattle truck passing by or children walking home from school, etc. As funds permitted us, we purchased an Eiderol mixer and moved to a quieter room. Then the recordings were made in an upper loft in a quieter neighborhood. In addition to the same mixer, we used a Behringer microphone, an older laptop computer and an ice-pack. (The ice-pack was placed under the laptop to keep the processor from over-heating while recording.) Copies of the MP3 CDs are made using a Copy Master from Octave Systems. The quality of the recording has increased as with better location and equipment and most recently a new laptop has made the ice-pack unnecessary.

11. What is a MP3 CD?

A MP3 CD is a specially formatted CD. A regular CD is able to have about 70 minutes of audio recording. MP3 CDs look like a regular CD, but are able to have more than 11 hours of audio recorded on them. Thus, a 300-page book might well fit on one MP3 CD.

12. How come you less than $10 for one MP3 CD when others charge two to three times that amount, even for a regular CD?

Please review questions and answers #1 and #2 above. Put quite simply, our main focus is to get the Word out; not to make money. The time-consuming part of providing audio CDs is the recording and editing. Once this is done the copying, labeling and packing the CDs are relatively inexpensive steps. The material costs for one CD probably add up to less than $1. Packaging materials are another dollar. Shipping is about the same. With equipment costs for making labels, etc. the cost for us to provide and ship one CD is less than $5.

So, you buy a CD for $8.00 from scholia.net publishing and it costs us $5. You take that CD and burn 100 copies to give out to family and friends. The cost to scholia is the original $5. A friend of yours receives one of these CDs you made and burns 10,000 copies and gives them away to others. The cost to scholia is still the original $5.

13. What are the conditions for making copies of the CDs?

First, any copies you make must be given away. You may not charge anything for them ... either for making copies, or for the materials, time, costs in making the copies, or for the packaging or shipping. You may not receive an offering for them and you may not trade them. In short, any copies you make are to be given out as gifts. If you want to make gift-giving easy, this is the way to do it.

The second condition is really a sincere request. You are asked to please consider making your internet purchases by entering internet stores (Amazon.com, ChristianBook, etc.) through the scholia website. Your purchases are not increased by doing this, but scholia does receive a referral fee. Doing this assists in paying the costs in maintaining this website, helps to cover the expenses for providing more audio books on MP3 CDs AND enables us to continue granting the permission to make as many gift copies as desired. For a list of the stores, see the left column near the top of this webpage

14. Do you accept offerings?

Most certainly. For such free-will offerings, you may use the PayPal and address information see the left menu panel of this page.

15. Where are these CDs in use?

Actually, we don't know the answer to that question. We have shipped CDs throughout North America, as well as places in Australia, Sweden, England, France, Iraq and other nations. People have made copies and we do not know where those CDs have been sent. Materials from the scholia website have also been downloaded from locations in all continents, including Antarctica (Camp McMurdo).

Dear friend, as you have occasion, opportunity and inclination, would you please help us get the Word out by letting others know about scholia.net publishing and the other resources on scholia, many of which are absolutely free? Thank you.

The peace of the Lord be with you alway.

M. L. McCoy