Research Guides: Religious Studies: Home

Religious Studies Databases

MUSCAT Plus
MUSCAT Plus searches for books, journal articles, media, and more in Musselman Library and beyond.

Open Access Digital Theological Library
The mission of Open Access Digital Theological Library (OADTL) is to curate high-quality content in religious studies and related disciplines from publisher websites, institutional repositories, scholarly societies, archives, and stable public domain collections.

ProQuest Central
Provides access to thousands of full-text scholarly journals, trade and professional titles, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, case studies, and market reports. Content covers all major subject areas, including business, health and medical, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion.

Other Religion Research Tools

Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL)
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a digital library of hundreds of classic Christian books selected for edification and education.
Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
A compilation of Chinese ideograph-based terms, texts, temples, schools, and persons found in Buddhist canonical sources. Provides comprehensive coverage—more than 66,000 entries—and serves as a basic reference tool for the field of Buddhist and East Asian studies. Navigation: linear hypertext links and a general keyword search box (no advanced search).
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
DOAJ is an online directory that indexes and provides access to quality open access, peer-reviewed journals.
Encyclopedia Islamica
Provides "entries on important themes, subjects and personages in Islam generally [and] ... offers the western reader an opportunity to appreciate the various dimensions of ShiΜi Islam, the Persian contribution to Islamic civilisation, and the spiritual dimensions of the Islamic tradition."
Encyclopedia of Islam, Third Edition
Provides the authoritative source on the religion of Islam, and also on the believers and the countries in which they live. 3 users.
Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
A project of the Mennonite Historical Society of Canada, GAMEO provides information on Anabaptist-related (Amish, Mennonite, Hutterite, Bretheren in Christ) topics including history, theology, biography, institutions and local congregations.
GlobeTheoLib
GlobeTheoLib is the first project worldwide to address strategically the challenge of a more balanced theological knowledge transfer between churches and institutions of theological education in the North and South, East and West, and to provide a common platform for existing digital resources and theological libraries in the world.

Indigenous Peoples: North America
Provides access to primary source archival documents—maps, periodicals, photographs, manuscripts, reports, drawings and sketches, monographs, legal materials, organizational records, and population census records—from both American and Canadian institutions. Collection includes direct-from-source newspapers from various tribes and Indian-related organizations, as well as indigenous-language materials such as dictionaries, bibles, and primers. Content covers the history of American Indian tribes from the 16th century into the 20th century.

Islamic Art
A digital collection that draws from the extensive holdings of Islamic art found in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Islamic Heritage Project
Includes hundreds of Islamic manuscripts, maps, and published texts from Harvard’s library and museum collections. It covers topics including law, science, history, geography, literature, and biography.

Jewish News Archives
The news archives of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from 1923-2008. Includes news articles and images related to worldwide events of Jewish interest.
JSTOR
Provides access to full-text journals articles across all disciplines, including religious studies.

Oxford Bibliographies Online - Islamic Studies
Provides authoritative research guides that combine the features of an annotated bibliography with a high-level encyclopedia. Subject introductions offer original scholarly content and commentary. Recommendations on the best works available in each discipline help streamline the research process.

The Internet makes access to staggering amounts of information easy – but it also raises important questions: What are the major issues and key developments in the field? Which sources are up-to-date and which are obsolete? Which works are pivotal in defining the discourse at various stages in its development? Which sources are considered accurate and balanced, and which represent simply a given individual or group’s position? These questions are important to keep in mind when undertaking any new study, but they are particularly critical in a dynamic and contested field such as Islamic Studies. Oxford Bibliographies in Islamic Studies combats this overload by providing expert guidance to the field in all its diversity and throughout its developmental stages. Top scholars in the field have contributed on their areas of expertise, so that users will understand how the field is organized and why it developed in the way it did. The articles present a guided tour through the key literature on each topic, providing context for its development, and a balanced overview of the major issues within a given topic.

Post-Reformation Digital Library (PRDL)
The Post-Reformation Digital Library (PRDL) is a select database of digital books relating to the development of theology and philosophy during the Reformation and Post-Reformation/Early Modern Era (late 15th-18th c.). Late medieval and patristic works printed and referenced in the early modern era are also included.
Project Muse
Provides full-text access to approximately 250 journals published by 40 academic presses in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
Religion on the Web - Wabash Center
A selective, annotated guide to a wide variety of electronic resources of interest to those who are involved in the study and practice of religion, including syllabi, electronic texts, electronic journals, web sites, bibliographies, liturgies, reference resources, and software.

World Religion Database
Contains detailed statistics on religious affiliation for every country of the world. Provides source material, including censuses and surveys, as well as best estimates for every religion to offer a picture of international religious demography. Estimates cover the period 1900 to 2050.

Religious Texts

Bible
A collection of 20 searchable English versions of the Bible. Includes Greek and Hebrew versions and a Greek and Hebrew Lexicon is provided.
Koran
Provides online, full-text access to The Holy Qur’an.
Revised Common Lectionary
The Revised Common Lectionary is a three-year cycle of weekly lections used to varying degrees by the vast majority of mainline Protestant churches in Canada and the United States. Hosted by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.
Jewish Religious Texts
The Torah, Talmud, and other Jewish religious texts.

Bible Commentaries

The Anchor Bible
Call Number: Ref BS 196 .A1

The Anchor Bible is a set of books that contains at least one volume for each book of the Bible. The volume includes essays on topics pertinent to the book, as well as a useful "Translation and Notes" section. Use this to get commentary on specific passages.

If you need to know what a Bible verse means, check the commentaries. These will tell you how verses have been translated differently over time and interpreted differently over time. We keep old ones and new ones so you can trace the changes.

The Interpreter's Bible
Call Number: Ref BS 491 .I65

The Interpreter's Bible is similarly organized. Most volumes were published in the 1950s.
The New Interpreter's Bible
Call Number: Ref BS 491.2 .N484 1994

The New Interpreter's Bible updates the original set and was published in 1994. You may get a different perspective from this set than from the earlier one - interpretations change over time!