Library Homepage: REL 109: Introduction to Christian Thought: Getting Started

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Browse these sections of the Reference, Circulating, and Media collections

200 Religion

210 Philosophy & Theory of Religion

220 The Bible

221 Old Testament

225 New Testament

230 Christianity & Christian Theology

240 Christian Practice & Observance

260 Christian Worship

270 History of Christianity

280 Christian Denominations

Find Background Info

Religion and American Cultures
R 200.973 R3812
Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America, 3 volumes
R 200.8209 E56 2006
Encyclopedia of Fundamentalism
R 200.9403 E56

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This encyclopedia explores fundamentalism in Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other faiths.
Human Rights and the World’s Major Religions: Christian Tradition
R 201.723 H918 2005
Encyclopedia of Christianity, 5 volumes
R 230.003 E56
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This five volume set is a basic reference resource for academic research in the field. Ideally, one should consult This encyclopedia set early in their research.
Oxford Companion to Christian Thought
R 230.01 O96
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This new Oxford Companion gives a splendid panoramic view of the Christian intellectual tradition geared for the casual reader but aptly suited for scholarly consumption. The more than 600 alphabetically arranged entries range in length from several paragraphs to several pages when treating topics like Medical ethics, Protestantism, or the theological concept Revelation. Biographical entries include a limited number of historical personalities like Aristotle, Jesus, Origen, and Martin Luther, while contemporary twentieth-century thinkers like Karl Barth, Graham Greene, and John Paul II dominate the text. The editors added a helpful index of names that do not have their own entries but are mentioned and developed in supportive subject areas. (Booklist)
Biographical Dictionary of Christian Theologians
R 230.092 B615
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The volume covers those individuals whose work was primarily in systematic and spiritual theology, or church historians whose work was chiefly theological. Entries are restricted to theologians who died before 1994 and provides information on some 450 theologians from the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions. Entries include a bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought
R 230.0903 B632
Westminster Dictionary of Theologians
R 230.092 W532 2006
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Written by almost sixty Latino scholars and edited by the renowned historian of doctrine Justo González, The Westminster Dictionary of Theologians is global in scope, including theologians from around the world spanning the period of the early church to today. This monumental dictionary features entries on nearly thirteen hundred theologians, organized alphabetically, ranging in length from a paragraph to a full page, and including a list of each theologian’s major works.
Encyclopedia of Religious Revivals in America
R 269.2409 E56 2007
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This definitive, two-volume encyclopedia is the first academic reference work devoted specifically to religious revivals in North America. Volume one contains an A-Z set of 228 articles addressing individuals, revival movements, Christian denominations, worship in a revival setting and major themes for revivals Volume two provides documentary history of religious revivals from 1527 to 2005, with editorial introductions and selected passages from 121 primary texts—some published here for the first time.
Encyclopedia of Early Christianity
R 270.103 E56
Encyclopedia of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity
R 270.82 E564 2006
Dictionary of Christianity in America
R 277.3003 D554
Encyclopedia of Protestantism, 4 volumes
R 280.403 E56 Encyclopedia of Protestantism
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Boasting over 1,000 entries this four volume encyclopedia offers a large number of biographical articles. Cultural and social issues, countries, institutions, movements, and theology are included along with denominations and various "isms." It also seeks to provide a historical foundation for controversial contemporary topics. This is a mainstay for the study of Protestant Christianity.
New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2 ed.
R 282 N533 2003
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A massive tone touching all things Catholic. An outstanding resource for the study of the faiths firs 1500 years. Work is updated with regular supplements.

Find Articles

Religion Database This link opens in a new window
Religion Database covers formal theological studies and commentary on topics of general interest from the perspectives of many, worldwide religions. In addition, there are many titles from religious publishing bodies and nondenominational organizations.

ProQuest Religion provides an excellent source of religious news and information, informative details on doctrines and philosophies, and scholarly reports on religious history. More full-text journals have been added in related religious studies, such as philosophy, ethics, and international perspectives.
Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world. Produced by Whitston Publishing (an imprint of EBSCO Publishing), this database includes all data from Humanities International Index (more than 2,300 journals and more than 2.9 million records) plus unique full text content, much of which is not found in other databases. The database includes full text for more than 1,200 journals.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Complete is the world's most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.
JSTOR Collections This link opens in a new window
JSTOR offers high-quality, interdisciplinary content to support scholarship and teaching. It includes over one thousand leading academic journals and thousands of e-books across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work.
Project Muse Standard Journal Collection This link opens in a new window
Full text of approximately 40 scholarly journals in the humanities, the social sciences, and mathematics published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Coverage for some titles extends back to 1993.

Print Biography Sets

American National Biography, 17 volumes
R 920 D554G 1999
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Contains well written, detailed biographies of major American personalities, including theologians. This is a historic biography which means those included are deceased.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 62 volumes
R 920 D554 2004
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Historical biography set include people from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, plus those who lived and worked in former British Colonies. Entries are extensive. Depends on A to Z formatting and has no index.