Religious Studies Resources

This selection of specialized resources in Religious Studies is designed to help you navigate through the wealth of information in Fondren's collections. It is not a comprehensive list.

Finding Journal Articles

Use indexes to find references to periodical articles and to other materials such as books, book chapters, dissertations, etc. In some cases, links to the full texts are provided.

online | print & CDROM

Online Indexes

Bibliography of Asian Studies

This on-line version of the Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) contains more than 410,000 records on all subjects (especially humanities and social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide. Through the 1991 printed version, the BAS included citations to western-language periodical articles, individually authored monographs, chapters in edited volumes, conference proceedings, anthologies, and Festschriften, etc. Since 1992, newly published individual monographs are no longer being added to the database. (1971-, updated quarterly)

Bya-ra: a Tibetan Research Database

A database containing over 9700 bibliographic entries to materials located in New York at the Himalayan and Inner Asian Resources (HIAR); the Library of Congress; and university and private holdings in Bloomington, Indiana.

Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL) | includes Full Text

C.E.E.O.L. is an online archive which provides access to full text PDF articles from 280 humanities and social science journals and re-digitized documents pertaining to Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European topics.

China Academic Journals -- Literature, History, Philosophy

China Academic Journals (CAJ) now contains more than 8,200 journal titles covering 1994–current. In addition, more than 3,500 CAJ titles are also accessible in deep archives from as early as 1906 through 1993 in the Century Journal Project (CJP). CAJ and its complement, CJP, are both accessed through the single interface of CAJ.

DigiZeitschriften | includes Full Text

DigiZeitschriften makes it possible for researchers to access well-known German journals. According to specialists in the field, the journal titles are among the most important in each subject area; at the moment about 110 journals are available in the following subject areas: Arts, Comparative Literature, Economics, Education, English language and literature, Geology, Germanic language and literature, History, Law, Librarianship, Mathematics, Music, Religion, Romance language and literature, Sciences, Sociology. Like the North American counterpart, JSTOR, Digizeitschriften digitizes a journal from volume 1 to the 'moving wall' (2-5 years before present date). Both English and German interfaces are available.

Dissertations and Theses - A&I | includes Full Text

Proquest Dissertations and Theses - A&I database includes citations for masters and doctoral dissertations from 1861 to those accepted as recently as last semester; those published from 1980 forward also include 350-word abstracts, written by the author. Citations for master's theses from 1988 forward include 150-word abstracts. The database represents the work of authors from over 1,000 North American graduate schools and European universities. The full text of dissertations and theses (Rice, 1918- ) may also be downloaded free of charge.

Humanities International Complete | includes Full Text

Humanities International Complete provides full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world. The database includes all data from Humanities International Index (over 2,000 titles and 2 million records) plus unique full text content, much of which is not found in other databases.

Index Islamicus | includes Full Text

The Index Islamicus database indexes literature on Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world. It is produced by the Islamic Bibliography Unit at Cambridge University Library. Records included in the database cover almost a century of publications, with some going back to 1906. Material cited in the Index Islamicus includes not only work written about the Middle East, but also about the other main Muslim areas of Asia and Africa, plus Muslim minorities elsewhere. Over 2,000 journals are monitored for inclusion in the database, together with conference proceedings, monographs, multi-authored works and book reviews. Journals and books are indexed down to the article and chapter level. (Alternate interface languages include: French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean). (1906-)

International Medieval Bibliography (Note down-loadable IMB-fonts for non-Arabic characters in indexed literature)

The International Medieval Bibliography was founded in 1967 with the support of the Medieval Academy of America, with the aim of providing a comprehensive, current bibliography of articles in journals and miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) worldwide. The discipline areas to which the IMB is relevant include Classics, English Language and Literature, History and Archaeology, Theology and Philosophy, Medieval European Languages and Literatures, Arabic and Islamic Studies, History of Education, Art History, Music, Theatre and Performance Arts, Rhetoric and Communication Studies. (1981-)

Iter Gateway to the Renaissance

Includes a journals database, which includes approximately 135,000 records from scholarly journals pertaining to the Renaissance (1300-1700) and Middle Ages (400-1500), as well as a monographs database (under construction), which acts as a bibliography of monographs, material published in monographs, and collected essays pertaining to the Renaissance (1300-1700) and, eventually, the Middle Ages (400-1500).

JSTOR | includes Full Text | Source List

JSTOR provides online, fulltext access to over 300 core scholarly journals from date of inception to a "moving wall" of 2-5 years from present. The archived collection includes journals in humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The content is searchable by author, title, fulltext with limits by discipline, year, and article type. (Note: pop-up blocking must be disabled.)

Philosophers Index | includes Full Text

Provides indexing and abstracts from books and over 270 journals on philosophy and related interdisciplinary fields published in the U.S. and the Western World. Coverage is from 1940 to the present for U.S. materials, and 1967 to the present for non-U.S. references. (Note: pop-up blocking must be disabled.)

RAMBI: The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies Unicode browser required for character set - see instructions

A selective bibliography of articles in the various fields of Jewish studies and in the study of Eretz Israel. Material listed in Rambi is compiled from thousands of periodicals and from collections of articles - in Hebrew, Yiddish, and European languages- mainly from the holdings of the Jewish National and University Library. RAMBI Web Catalog - Unicode Edition contains the entire Rambi database (1966 - present) and uses a Unicode-based interface to facilitate display and entry of Hebrew characters. (1966-)

Religion Index - ATLA | includes Full Text

The ATLA Religion Database is a comprehensive database designed to support religious and theological scholarship in graduate education and faculty research. The file contains citations from international titles and 13,000 multi-author works in and related to the field of religion. It also includes a full range of index citations to journal articles, essays in multi-author works, book reviews, and Doctor of Ministry projects from ATLA's print indexes: Religion Index One (RIO), Religion Index Two (RIT), and Index to Book Reviews in Religion (IBRR). (1949-)

Web of Knowledge previously known as Web of Science | includes Full Text

The Web of Science is an integrated database of three citation indexes: Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI). SCI and SSCI have searchable author abstracts and each database may be searched by a variety of other accesses including who the author cites. WOS permits searching one or more of the three databases. SCI on WOS coverage is from 1900 to date. SSCI indexes material from 1956 to date. AHCI indexes materials from 1975 to date. Includes ISIHighlyCited: a directory of over 250 eminent researchers in life sciences, medicine, physical sciences and social sciences. (minimum 1975- (see description))

Print & CDROM Indexes

Index Islamicus (CDROM)

Holdings:  ed.3 (1906-1999)

Call Number:  Z3013 .I54  REFERENCE DESK

(Other available formats:  print issues for 2000+ are on order.)

Index to Jewish Periodicals

Holdings:  1966-1972, 1987-2001

Call Number:  Z6367 .I5  REFERENCE

Index to periodicals in English.

New Testament Abstracts

Holdings:  1956-current

Call Number:  BS410 .N35   REFERENCE

Old Testament Abstracts

Holdings:  1978-current

Call Number:  BS410 .O42  REFERENCE

Religious and Theological Abstracts

Holdings:  1950-current

Call Number:  BL1 .R24  REFERENCE

References to periodical articles with article summaries. Includes more pastoral periodicals than Religion Index (ATLA).

South African Theological Bibliography (CDROM)

Call Number:  Z1007 .S6 1923-1994  REFERENCE DESK

An index, with some abstracts, of journals, multi-author works, and dissertations published in South Africa

Finding Books

WebCat
Look for books in Fondren Library by searching Fondren's catalog.

WorldCat
To find books not in WebCat, look in this index of books held by over 15,000 libraries.

Other Libraries' Catalogs
A list of links to other libraries' online catalogs.

Interlibrary Loan
Rice students, staff, and faculty can borrow books and other materials not in Fondren.

Sacred Texts

Bible in English: 990-1970

20 different versions of the English Bible from the tenth to the twentieth century, including 12 full Bibles, 5 New Testament texts, 2 versions of the Gospels, and William Tyndale's translations of the Pentateuch, Jonah and the New Testament.

King James Bible

The King James - 'Authorized' Version is included to provide a single Bible for reference purposes.

Koran

This is an electronic version of The Holy Qur'an, translated by M.H. Shakir and published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, Inc., in 1983. It is made available through The Humanities Text Intitiative at the University of Michigan.

Koran Interpreted

Call Number:  BP109 .A7 (2 volumes)  REFERENCE

There are many other translations of the Quran at call number BP109 on the 4th floor of Fondren's stacks.

New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books

Call Number:  BS191.5 .A1 2001 .N49  REFERENCE

Many editions of the Bible are available on the 4th floor of Fondren's stacks. Check call numbers starting with BS.

Tanakh: A New Translation of The Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text

Call Number:  BS895 .J4 1985  REFERENCE

This translation of the Hebrew Bible, which includes The Torah, The Prophets, and The Writings, was produced by the Jewish Publication Society.

Text Collections

online | print & CDROM

Online Text Collections

Dumbarton Oaks Hagiography Database

Writings in Greek about 8th-10th century saints and their posthumous cults.

Patrologia Latina Database

Guide

The Patrologia Latina Database (PLD) is a comprehensive electronic version of the Latin portion of Jacques-Paul Migne's massive Patrologiae Cursus Completus, including notes, glosses and indexes. The Patrologia Latina, though originally published in the 19th century, still represents the only scholarly edition of many works.

Sabin Americana

"Based on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography, this collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere."

Print & CDROM Text Collections

Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Reference Library (CDROM)

Call Number:  BM487.D43 1997  REFERENCE DESK

Digitized images of the scrolls, transcriptions, translations, and associated literature.

Microform Sets

Church Missionary Society Archive

Call Number:  BV 2500.C48A3  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with general reel guide

Guide:  Guides for each section. Online information at http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/church_missionary_society_archive_general/editorial%20introduction%20by%20rosemary%20keen.aspx

Sec.1 East Asia, Sec.2 Missions to Women, Sec. 3 Central Records, Sec. IV Africa, Sec. V The Americas, Sec. VI Asia

Dead Sea Scrolls

Call Number:  BM 487.A05 1993  microfiche

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  comprehensive guide in 2 vols.

Islamfiche; readings from Islamic Primary Sources, Series I

Call Number:  D 199.3.I84   microfiche

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:   Table of Contents, Indexes, and Abstracts for the 49 text selections for Series I. Fiche is filed in microfiche collection, not in binder as indicated in LIBRIS record.

Reference Works

Anchor Bible Dictionary. Doubleday: 1992.

Call Number:  BS440 .A54 1992 (6 volumes)   REFERENCE

Encyclopaedia Judaica. (CDROM) Judaica Multimedia: 1997.

Call Number:  DS102.8 .E4963 1997   REFERENCE DESK

An older version (The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906) is available at www.jewishencyclopedia.com

Other available formats:  Print: DS102.8 .E496 REFERENCE

Encyclopaedia of Islam. (CDROM) Brill: 2002.

Holdings:  v.1-10

Call Number:  DS35.53 .E532   REFERENCE DESK

Other available formats:  PRINT: DS37 .E5 (v. 1-11) REFERENCE

Encyclopedia of African-American Religions. Garland: 1993.

Call Number:  BR563.N4 E53 1993   REFERENCE

Encyclopedia of American Religions

Encyclopedia of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans: 1999-.

Holdings:   v. 1. A-D -- v. 2. E-I

Call Number:  BR95 .E8913 1999   REFERENCE

Fondren will receive all volumes as they are published.

Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taosim, Zen. Shambhala: 1989.

Call Number:  BL1005 .L4813 1989   REFERENCE

Encyclopedia of Religion. 2nd ed. Jones, Lindsay. Macmillan Reference: 2004.

Available Online

Call Number:  BL31 .E46 2005   REFERENCE

The second edition of this important encyclopedia includes almost all of the 2,750 entries from the first edition -- many heavily updated -- as well as approximately 600 entirely new articles.

Other available formats:  print

International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages

IEMA Online is a supplement to Lexikon des Mittelalters online, providing original articles that cover the time period 300-1500 CE, in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

New Catholic Encyclopedia. Revised. McGraw-Hill: 1967-1979.

Call Number:  BX841 .N44 1967    REFERENCE

A much older edition is available on the Web at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edward Craig. Routledge: 1998.

Available Online

Holdings:  v.1-10

Call Number:  B51.R68 1998   REFERENCE

This was the first multi-volume encyclopedia released in the discipline for over thirty years.

Websites

CDRI: Digital resources for the study of religion

The Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative of the American Theological Library Association and Association of Theological Schools is a repository of digital resources contributed by member libraries.

Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance

Excellent descriptions of a wide variety of religions and ethical systems.

Religion Religions Religious Studies (University of Florida)

A general religious studies site maintained by Gene Thursby, Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Florida.

Religious Studies Web Resources (University of Arizona)

A general religious studies web site created and updated by staff at the University of Arizona Library.

Virtual Religion Index

A general religious web site maintained by Mahlon Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Rutgers University.

Voice of the Shuttle: Religious Studies

Part of a massive web site that covers the humanities and related subjects coordinated by Alan Liu, Professor of English at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Wabash Center Guide to Internet Resources

A selective guide with a focus on materials useful in the study and teaching of religion. Linked web sites are described and are marked "NB" (note bene) when they are considered especially significant.