A friend I met on Twitter recently asked me about portable alternatives to the Treasury of Daily Prayer, as it can be too big to travel with. (I took my TDP to France in January – it fit nicely in my shoulder bag in the spot where my laptop usually goes.) I highly recommend the Treasury of Daily Prayer; it’s a phenomenal work and I’ve benefited much from it. However, it is difficult to travel with, especially if you need to travel very light. The last time I was at the bookstore in Fort Wayne, I picked up a nice zipper cover for the Treasury to keep it safe in transit; it’s available on-line here. (Note to CPH people: you should start some kind of affiliates program. I’ve sold a LOT of books for you over the years.)
If you need a smaller, portable alternative when traveling, here are some options:
1) For All the Saints, published by the Lutheran Forum people (ALPB)
Strengths: 4 small volumes covering two years (each volume covers half of one year; extremely portable), nicely bound, with Matins, Evening Prayer, and Compline, takes the seasons of the church year into account better than TDP, in my opinion; some good readings from church fathers
Weaknesses: Uses RSV translation (not that the ESV is much different); some extremely questionable choices for the non-Biblical readings (Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, etc.); expensive ($130, shipping included)
2) The Daily Office (by Lindemann; published by CPH) – OUT OF PRINT
If you can find this, it’s a nice substitute for when you’re on the road. I just bought a copy from a used bookstore online for about $28; however, a copy in very good condition will likely cost over $100.
Other options include Kraus, “The Pastor at Prayer” – CPH – it doesn’t look like it’s still in print, though. It has tables of readings for each week revolving around the church year, plus a series to read through the Book of Concord. It’s a nice volume for a pastor to have, but probably not what one is looking for as a daily prayer book. (I once stayed at the home of George Kraus’s widow while on tour with the Kantorei – I remember her as an extremely kind and generous woman.)
I don’t know what, if anything, CPH has planned for a portable edition. My vote: iPhone app.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks again for the advice this morning!
I second the vote for the iPhone app…anybody listening @ CPH?
I'd appreciate input on what, precisely, a "portable" digital edition of the TDP would be, and do. So far my experience with e-books that are anything more than running columns of texts has not been very positive. Help me think about this and understand what a digital TDP would provide/do?
I would defer to the likes of Ryan Markel to figure out how it would work. I've been using Olive Tree on my iPhone; it's for a different purpose (Bible reading/study), but they have a pretty ingenious way of being able to tap on a Bible reference from within the ESV study Bible (already a split window) and have a scrollable pop-up appear with that additional Bible reference.
I'm guessing that you'd want to start with the "base" of Matins or Vespers, and then be able to tap on, say, "Psalm" to get that day's Psalmody, then "Readings" to get that day's readings to pop up. The same thing could be done for Hymns and the Writing (in place of the sermon). I presume you could use the internal date of the iPhone/iPod Touch to put you in the right day. Now that I think of it, that would only work for half of the year. Maybe the program could communicate with a server to find the correct liturgical day during the Ash Wednesday through Trinity part of the year. Or that could be user-entered in the "Settings" area, with a field, "Today is:" with the slot-machine scrolling thingy set to (for today) "Tuesday–Easter 3."
I was using a papistic Breviary program for the iPhone before I got the TDP. With that program, it essentially downloaded the correct readings, hymnody, etc. each day. That caused a short wait, but it might be more efficient than cramming all that data on the phone. I really don't know the best way, technically, to do it. But I have no doubts that you can find someone smart to get it done. I'd easily pay $20-$30 dollars for an app like that. Good apps are worth the money.
Another option, I suppose, is to work with someone like Olive Tree on this. They have the experience with designing an iPhone app that works very well, and a delivery system from within their app.
Maybe it's not economically viable. I'm guessing there's a market for it. It would be a killer way to take advantage of new technology and potentially reach a different kind of market. You guys have done an incredible job with your products the last few years; I have no doubts you could do this if you think it's worthwhile.
This is almost exactly how I envisioned it working too…via Olive Tree. Especially now that they have the split screen functionality on the iPhone app–put the liturgical order on on half of the screen and link to the scripture reading in the second half, similar to how notes are working now.
I'd argue against having it contact a server for anything, though. Ideally it should be contained on the iPhone/iPod without needing network connectivity. You should be able to program the app to work with the movable dates as you can figure these out into the future for X number of years without much difficulty. It wouldn't take too much to make the program “smart,” though this may be beyond the current capability of OliveTree.
Brilliant.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother.
I've tried to sketch out a few times in brief what an app like this would look like and it's not the easiest thing in the world. The Olive Tree apps come pretty close, but they violate a few general iPhone usability guidelines.
OK, GREAT stuff. The scales have fallen from my eyes, and I have seen the light!
Now, the big question: how much would you be willing to pay for a digital TDP? In other words, it is very difficult for us to afford to price digital texts at a price point that is not pretty close to the print price, but I can feel for the buyers of the print edition who would balk at shelling out $35-40 for a digital edition. Tis a conundrum.
I can see pricing it at some percentage of the print edition, but even after considering some profit margin, there are no costs for printing, binding, storing, shipping, etc. of digital texts. I'm not a publisher, but since you've no doubt priced the print version to recoup all your initial costs and turn a profit within some reasonable time frame, the cost to publish a digital version of an existing text should be fraction of the initial costs…especially if you're using an already-developed platform like OliveTree.
I'd think a digital text priced in the neighborhood of 65-75% of the printed text is not unreasonable.
I have no problem paying again for an electronic version of a book I own. I've purchased electronic versions of BDB, BDAG, and Spicq, even though I already own the physical books. I don't see it as any different than if I wanted two copies of the same book. Just because I've purchased a book doesn't mean I expect you to send me another copy for free because I would find it convenient. (I bought two copies of the Pastoral Care Companion, because I don't live close to church, and it has been helpful on many occasions to have an extra copy at home. I already own two copies of the TDP.)
$40 is a psychological tipping point for me – but I'd probably spend even that. I really, really want it. But I'm guessing you'll have more success if it's priced below that. I think there are medical reference texts that are priced there or higher in the App Store.
Pr. McCain… I'm one to normally balk at paying double for an item….
However, as one planning to get an iPhone I would willingly spend $30 (or even the same price as the print copy) to get a TDP for the iPhone.
Pr. Esget's suggestion regarding the Olive Tree interface sounds great.
I am preparing to buy my own copy of the Treasury of Daily prayer. It would be cool if CPH were to do a more portable daily office book with the following:
- daily office for morning, evening, compline
- full psalter
- table for daily scrripture readings and suggested readings from the BOC.
- daily prayers. Perhaps something like Lutheran Book of Prayer – recurring prayers for each day of the week but for each season of the church year. maybe a set A and set B for longer seasons.
- special prayers.
Basically something between the Treasury of Prayer and the Lutheran Book of Prayer in size and content.