Religious Studies

Reference

Dictionaries, Directories, Handbooks, Encyclopedias, etc. - Reference works are useful when you need to obtain quick facts, define the terms and scope of your search, or get a broad overview of a topic. Best Bets! are marked with aBest Bet!.
Products available to registered McMaster Students/Staff/Faculty Only are marked with a
McMaster Use Only.

Anchor Bible Dictionary
1992.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) BS 440 .A54 1992

The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought
1993. Alister McGrath, ed.
This book comprises primarily lengthy essays on a variety of subjects within theology. There are "See also" reference to other related subject headings given at the end of each entry, as well as short bibliographies.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) BR 95 .B58 1993

A Dictionary of Comparative Religion
1970. Samuel George Frederick Brandon
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) BL 31 .D54 1970

Encyclopedia of Christian Theology
3 v. 2005. Jean-Yves Lacoste, ed.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) BR 95 .D5313 2005

The Encyclopedia of Christianity
4 v. 1999. Erwin Fahlbusch et al, eds.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) BR 95 .E8913 1999

Encyclopedia of Religion
15 v. 2005. Lindsay Jones, ed. in chief.
This work is based on contemporary archaeological and textual discoveries. Articles cover important ideas, beliefs, rituals, myths, symbols and persons that have played a role in the universal history of religions.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) BL 31 .E46 2005

Guide to Buddhist Religion
1981. Reynolds, Frank E.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZBQ 4012 .R49

Guide to Chinese Religion
1985. David C. Yu
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZBL 1802 .Y8

Guide to HIndu Religion
1981. David J. Dell & Bruce J. Stewart
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZBL 1202 .G85

Guide to Islam
1983. David Ede
MILLS Ref (2nd floor) ZBP 161.2 .G84

Index Islamicus
1993. London
Extensive coverage is given in this work, including a growing section on social science issues. It has grown extensively over the past few years and now includes books and articles in a variety of language, covering more than 1,300 periodicals
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZD 199.3 .L842

Internationale Zeitschriftenschau fur Biblewissenschoft und Grenzgebiete
1951 - present.
An annual international bibliographical review of scholarship in biblical studies. Many English and French works appear in this German language publication.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZBS 410 .I57

NSRV Exhaustive Concordance
1991. Bruce Manning Metzger
"Includes the Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical books"
MILLS Ref. (2nd flr) BS 425 .N453 1991

Oxford Companion to the Bible
1993. Bruce M. Metzger, Michael D. Coogan.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) BS 440 .M434 1993

Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
2005. F.L. Cross, ed.
Compact articles on the Western Christian church from its foundation to the present. Numerous biographical entries and bibliographies are included.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) BR 95 .O8 2005

Recent Reference Books in Religion: A Guide for Students, Scholars, Researchers, Buyers, and Readers
William M. Johnston.
Its principal aim is to help researchers decide how a work will or will not aid research, expand information or stimulate ideas. Includes five types of indexes.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZBL 48 .J64 1998

Religious Periodicals Directory
1986. G.P. Cornish
The benefit of this directory is the broad definition of religion, which therefore covers areas of history, art, literature and anthropology. Various denominations and sects are represented, and titles are arranged alphabetically by geographic region, with both title and subject indexes. It covers over 1700 periodicals.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZBL 1 .A1 C75

Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms
1996. Donald K. McKim.
This dictionary includes brief descriptions of terms and phrases used in theology. Phrases are not just in English, but are in Latin and Greek, among others. Origin of the word is included if applicable.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) BR 95 .M378 1996

Books

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Articles/Databases

Use article databases to find out which journals, magazines, and newspapers have published articles on your topic. Most useful when recent information is required, or when the topic is too specific to be covered in a book. Best Bets! are marked with aBest Bet!.
Products available to registered McMaster Students/Staff/Faculty Only are marked with a
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Article Databases / Indexes

ATLA (American Theological Library Association
1.4 million citations to articles from 1,500+ journals, essays and book reviews. Links to full text for 140,000+ articles and book reviews from 70+ major religion and theology journals. Biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religious perspectives on social issues.
Online: 1949 to present

British Humanities Index (BHI)
Indexes and abstracts of over 688,600 articles from over 320 humanities journals and weekly magazines published in the UK and other English speaking countries. Ability to link to some full text articles .
Online: 1962 - present
Print: 1915-1922, 1926-1961
MILLS Periodicals (3rd floor) ZAI 3 .S94

Humanities Abstracts
Indexes over 573,000 articles and book reviews from more than 529 English-language periodicals.
Online: 1984 - present
Print (Humanities Index): v.1 (1974/75)-v.10 (1983-84)
MILLS Periodicals (3rd floor) ZAI 3. H85

New Testament Abstracts
More than 38,000 article abstracts, 1,200 review abstracts, 13, 500 book abstracts, and 50 software abstracts.
Online: 1956 - present
Print: v.1 (1956)-v. 49 (2003), v. 50 (2006)
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZBS 410 .N4

Old Testament Abstracts
Indexes and abstracts for journal articles, monographs, multi-author works, and software related to Old Testament studies. Topics include antiquities, archaeology, biblical theology, philology and much more.
Online: 1978 - present
Print: v. 1 (1978) - 28 (2005), v. 29 (2006), no.1-2
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZBS 410 .O6

Religious & Theological Abstracts
Contains abstracts of articles from over 400 scholarly journals in the fields of religion and theology, Christianity, Judaism, and other world religions.
Online: 1958 - present

Social Sciences Abstracts
Indexes over 752,000 articles of at least one column in length from over 570 English-language periodicals published in the United States and elsewhere.
Online: 1983 - present
Print (Social Sciences Index): 1974 - 1983
MILLS Periodicals (3rd floor) ZAI 3. S64

 

 

Websites

The Internet is home to useful web sites on many subjects. Unlike the resources on other tabs, the following resources are selected from the free web. Remember to critically evaluate web resources, since web site content is usually unmonitored and unregulated.

The Catholic Encyclopedia
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen

Finding God in Cyberspace
http://www.kenrickparish.com/gresham/intro.htm

Facets of Religion(WWW Virtual Library)
http://www.edunet.ie/resources/religioninfo/religion.html

Hinduism General Resources
http://www.archaeolink.com/hindu_hinduism_general_resources.htm

The Internet Sacred Texts Archive
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

Islam and Islamic Study Archive
http://godlas.myweb.uga.edu/

Navigating the Bible
http://bible.ort.org

Virtual Religion Index
http://virtualreligion.net/vri

Access to Insight - Readings to Theravada Buddhism
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/