University Library > Internet Resources > Religious Studies

Religious Studies

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Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (Oxford Reference Online) UWW access only - Choose "Advanced Search" and then check the box for "Religion and Philosophy" to search religion topics in this handy dictionary.

Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent) - An encyclopedia of Roman Catholic doctrine, teaching and history.

The Ecole Initiative: Creating a Hypertext Encyclopedia of Early Church History on the World Wide Web (Anthony F. Beavers, Univ. of Evansville) - Includes articles, a who's who glossary, fulltext early Christian and Muslim texts and links to religious art (arranged by topic).

Interdisciplinary Documentation on Religion and Science (Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti and Alberto Strumìa) - Italian scholars are the primary contributors to this site that provides an Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science as well as section for Anthology and Documents covering various topics in religion and science. These topics range from bioethics and evolution to miracles, pantheism and the mind-body relationship.

JewishEncyclopedia.com (Kopelman Foundation) - This site contains all 15,000 articles and illustrations from the 12-volume set of the Jewish Encyclopedia, originally published from 1901-1906.

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Electronic Text & Data Archives

BibleGateway.com (Gospel Communications International) - Searchable text of the Bible in various English translations. Interactive tool allows any selected passage to be viewed in more than 25 languages.

Buddhanet.net (Buddha Dharma Education Association, Inc.) - Encompassing all Buddhist traditions, this site features Buddhist scriptures, Buddhist talks, meditation instructions, magazines, e-books and multimedia presentations, including Zen comics.

Center on Religion and Democracy Library (Univ. of Virginia) - This library is now part of the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center. The electronic texts are arranged by subject (social theory, historical texts, religious texts, and legal documents) and include things like the Magna Carta, the Bible, Book of Mormon, Koran, writings of DeFoe, Marcus, Marcus Aurelius, etc.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library (Calvin College) - Electronic texts of public domain theological works indexed by author, title or type (type includes subject, format and language).

The Fathers of the Church (New Advent) - Electronic texts of early Christian writings. 

The Gutenberg Bible at the Ransom Center (Univ. of Texas) - View images and learn about one of the first books printed on Gutenberg's famous press in 1454. 

Access to Insight: Readings in Theravada Buddhism - Links to fulltext Buddhist texts.

ICLNet Guide to Early Church Documents (Institute for Christian Leadership) - Links to sites with fulltext documents of the early Christian Church.

The Internet Sacred Text Archive (John Hare) - This site has the fulltext of many religious texts arranged by topic.

Jewish.com (Jewish Community Online) - An English translation of the books of the Torah as well as the other books of the Hebrew scriptures.

The Koran (Univ. of Michigan) - Searchable text of an English translation of the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam.

Religious Studies on the Web: Electronic Texts (Saundra Lipton, Univ. of Calgary) -Link to sites containing electronic texts of many religions such as Bahai, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hindu, Islam, Jain, Judaism, Sikhism, Taoism, Unification, and Zoroastrianism.

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Statistics

Adherents.com (Preston Hunter) - This site is a comprehensive sources of published statistics on 4,200 world religions, churches, denominations, cultures, religious bodies and faith groups, including geographic data. Data comes from primary sources such as government documents as well as statistics cited in secondary sources.

American Religion Data Archive (Pennsylvania State Univ., funded by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.) - Search and download statistical data as well as the survey questions that generated the statistics. Covers major and minor religions and denominations represented in the United States.

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Digital Images

Scrolls from the Dead Sea: The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship (a Library of Congress exhibit) - View images of texts and artifacts from the Qumran religious community near the Dead Sea.

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Departments & Programs

Yahoo! Religion and Spirituality - College and University - Departments and Programs (Yahoo!) - Link to religion departments and schools around the world.

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Electronic Courses

Religious Studies: World Lecture Hall (University of Texas) - Link to online courses, syllabi and course descriptions.

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Organizations & Societies

American Academy of Religion - A professional society of teachers and scholars of religion.

Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada - The accrediting body for theological schools in the U.S. and Canada. Members include Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Christian schools.

Council of Societies for the Study of Religion (Valparaiso Univ.) - "A federation of learned societies in the field of religious studies."

Scholarly Societies Project: Religious Studies (Univ. of Waterloo) - Link to Web sites of scholarly societies worldwide.

Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ. Indianapolis.) - An association of scholars, church leaders dedicated to the systematic or scientific study of religion.

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Electronic Conferences & Listservs

Finding God in Cyberspace: Guide To Religious Studies Resources On The Internet (John L. Gresham) - Links to academic communities, religious communities and virtual communities (electronic conferences). 

Women-Related Religion/Spirituality Email Lists (Joan Korenman, Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County) - Religion or spirituality email listservs relating to women.

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Electronic Journals

Articles in Journals, Magazines and Newspapers (University Library)

Journal of Buddhist Ethics

The Journal of Religion and Film (Univ. of Nebraska at Omaha)

Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University)  UWW access only

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Comprehensive Classified Resource Directories

Academic Info: Religion Gateway (Mike Madin) - A directory of Internet resources for the study of religion.

Finding God in Cyberspace: A Guide to Religious Studies Resources on the Internet (John L. Gresham) - A guide to resources classified by religious traditions, academic disciplines, teaching resources, people, organizations, digital resources.

Religion Religions Religious Studies (Gene R. Thursby, Univ. of Florida) - A directory of Web sites indexed by religion. Also includes links to religious study programs, research & teaching sites and religious experience sites. 

Virtual Religion Index (Rutgers Univ.) - An excellent directory of religion resources categorized geographically and topically. 

Wabash Center: Guide to Internet Resources for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion (Charles K. Bellinger, Wabash Univ.) - This directory is designed to facilitate the teaching and study of religion. The links are arranged by subject (including religions) and material type (syllabi, electronic texts, electronic journals, websites, bibliographies, listserv discussion groups, liturgies, reference resources, and software).

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Specialized Classified Resource Directories

Biblical Studies

Resource Pages for Biblical Studies (Torrey Seland, Volda College) - Link to resources on early Christian writings and the social milieu of that era.

Buddhism

DharmaNet: Worldwide Net of Study, Practice, and Action (DharmaNet International) - Link to Buddhist studies databases, academic sites, and academic journals.

Christianity

Internet Christian Library (Institute for Christian Leadership) - Link to Christian resources on a variety of topics such as associations, missions, literature and early church documents.

Internet Padre (Ronald M. Vierling, Lansdale Catholic High School) - Links to Roman Catholic resources in dozens of categories. Also includes a glossary of catholic terms, a topical index of the catechism, index of catholic saints, and an index to a Catholic encyclopedia.

Islam

Islamic Studies: Islam, Arabic, and Religion (Alan Godlas, Univ. of Georgia) - Link to sites on Islamic religion, history, culture, politics, and geography.

IslamiCity.com Education Center (Tjara Networks, Inc.) - The Education Center of this site introduces readers to Islam through an essay on understanding Islam as well as discussions of culture & arts, history, and Islam & science. Other tools include a glossary and lists of Islamic schools.

Judaism

Jewishnet: Global Jewish Information Network (Shamash: The Jewish Network) - Link to sites on all aspects of Judaism and Jewish culture.

Shamash's Jewish Links (Shamash: The Jewish Network) - Link to sites on Judaism in categories such as Torah and Tanach, synagogue and temple, spirituality, holidays. Includes many cultural categories as well.

Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of Religion (Tim Holt, Univ. of Sheffield) - Rather than simply linking elsewhere, theology student, Tim Holt, outlines various arguments in the realm of the philosophy of religion, such as arguments for the existence of God or for atheism. There is also a glossary and a library which features some classic texts in the philosophy of religion, such as St. Anselm's Proslogium.

Taoism

Taoism Information Page (Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library) - Link to resources on Taoism, including classical texts, and introduction to Taoism.

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Style Guides

Columbia Guide to Online Style (Columbia Univ. Press) - A guide to citing electronic sources that draws on MLA, Chicago, APA and CBE styles.

Frequently Asked Questions about MLA Style (Modern Language Association) - Answers common questions about MLA Style, including how to cite Internet resources.

University Library Citation Guides - These guides cover MLA, APA, Turabian, and citing Internet resources.

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Last Revised: cje - 9/4/2008