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Religious Studies: Christian Traditions

A guide for reference and online resources for Religious Studies.

Online Reference Sources

Blackwell Companions
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Oxford Online Reference

Catholic Encyclopedia

  • Online version of the 1913 edition.

Catholic Studies, UCSB

Index of Christian Art

Lexikon der Syrischen Kirchenväter (LSKV)

  • Lexicon of the Syrian Church Fathers (Univ. Of Goettingen)

Mormons in Transition

  • Sponsored by the Institute for Religious Research, this page provides criticism on different aspects of the Church of Latter Day Saints.

New Testament Gateway

  • Directory of internet resources of possible interest to New Testament scholars.

ORB--Online Encyclopedia for Medieval Studies

  • Online encyclopedias, other reference works and links for study of the Medieval Period.

Virtual Religion Index

Primary Sources

​Adherents.com

  • A collection of religious adherent statistics and religious geography citations. Contains references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc.

All-in-one Biblical Resources Search

  • Engine which searches the full text of several versions (in several languages) of the Judeo-Christian Bible.

The American Religion Data Archive

  • A database of quantitative data on American religions including churches and church membership, religious professionals, and religious groups.

Christian Works from the Cambridge Digital Library

EuroDocs

  • Primary History Documents from Western Europe.
  • Provides high quality articles, books, essays, documents, historical photos, and links, screened for content, for a broad range of historical subjects

Internet Sacred Texts Archive

  • Online archive of sacred texts from many of the world's religions. Scroll down the left side and click on a tradition.
  • Christian Texts

​Perseus Project

  • Tufts University's digital library project, containing materials related to: Greece & Rome, Renaissance, 19th century America and more. Access to Greek and Latin lexica.

Religion Online

  • This site has thousands of full-text articles on Religious Studies, but its focuses are Christianity and sociology.

Restoration Movement

  • Contains primary and secondary source material for researching the Restoration Movement (out of which came the Churches of Christ, the Christian Churches, and the Disciples of Christ).

Shaker Manuscripts Online

  • Links to various Shaker manuscripts.

Print Reference Sources

Bible (NRSV, New Oxford Annotated Bible)
   Main Ref  BS 191.5 A1 2001 .N49

Catholic Almanac
   Main Ref  AY 81 R6 N3  2007

Encyclopedia of Christianity (5 vols.)
   Main Ref  BR 95 E8913 1999

Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (2 vols.)
   Main Ref  BR 162.2 E53 1997

Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Politics
   Main Ref  BR 115 E58 2006

Encyclopedia of Protestantism (4 vols.)
   Main Ref  BX 4811.3 E53 2004

New Catholic Encyclopedia (15 vols.)
   Main Ref  BX 841 N44  2003

The Encyclopedia of American Catholic History
   Main Ref  BX 1406.2.E53 1997

Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
   Main Ref  BR 95 O8 2005

Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation
   Main Ref  BR 302.8 O93 1996

Timeline Charts of the Western Church
   Main Ref  BR 149 P48 1999

Libraries and Research Centers

American Religions Collection

  • A guide to the American Religions Collections at Special Research Collections in UCSB Library.
  • Includes J. Gordon Melton's manuscript collection.

Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University

  • Encourages intellectual exchange and interdisciplinary scholarly studies about religion
  • Offers diverse perspectives of the humanities and social sciences.
  • Examines religion comparatively and empirically in its diverse historical and contemporary manifestations.

Center for the Study of American Religion & Culture

  • A research and public outreach institute devoted to the promotion of the understanding of the relation between religion and other features of American culture.

Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism

  • A leading center for the historical study of Roman Catholicism in the United States.

Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Religion and Public Life

  • Promotes the study of religious pluralism.
  • Provides a useful list of links to other pages about this topic.