This guide covers a diverse group of the systems of faith and worship throughout the world.  You may also wish to consult the Philosophy Guide and the Mythology Guide.
 

Background Information  |  Facts & Figures  |  Find Articles  |  Find Books  |   Primary Sources  |  People  |  Organizations  |  Web Resources  

Background Information (Overview Sources)

Encyclopedias and other reference works are an excellent place to start a research project or simply learn more about a particular topic.  They provide topic summaries, context, and bibliographies for further reading.

Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions - (R 200.3 B77715 2006)

Encyclopedia of African American Religions - (R 200.8996073 En19)

Encyclopedia of American Religions - (R 200.973 M495e)

Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities - (R 291.21103 C83215e)

Encyclopedia of Angels - (R 291.21503 G945e)

Encyclopedia of Christian Theology - (R 230.03 D5617e)

Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions - (R 200.3 L587e)

Encyclopedia of Islam - (R 297.03 En19)

Encyclopedia Judaica - (R 296.03 En19)

Encyclopedia of Native American Religions - (R 299.703 H616e)

Encyclopedia of Religion - (R 200.321 En19)

Encyclopedia of Sacred Places - (R 291.3503 B783e)

Encyclopedia of Science and Religion - (R 201.6 En197)

Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible - (R 220.3 In8)

New Catholic Encyclopedia - (R 282.03 N42 2003)

Science, Religion and Society - (R 201.65 Sci2757)

Use dictionaries, statistical works, atlases, handbooks and similar works to find and check facts about topics, people, or events.

Anchor Bible Dictionary - (R 220.3 An21)

Atlas of the World's Religions - (R 291.0223 At65)

Dictionary of Biblical Allusions in English Literature - (R 820.93 F957d)

Dictionary of Buddhism - (R 294.303 K439d)

Dictionary of Christianity in America - (R 277.3003 D561)

Harper's Concise Atlas of the Bible - (R 912.56 H231)

Hindu World - (R 294.503 W152h)

How To Be a Perfect Stranger: a Guide to Etiquette in Other People's Religious Ceremonies - (R 291.38 H83 1999)

New Historical Atlas of Religion in America - (R 912.1200973 G238h 2001)

Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church - (R 203 Ox2 1997)

Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion - (R 296.03 Ox2)

Oxford Dictionary of World Religion - (R 200.3 Ox2)

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible - (R 220.2 St88)

Wycliffe Bible Dictionary - (R 220.3 W972)

 

Both Oxford Reference Online and Credo Reference also provide online access to a number of religion reference sources.

Search indexes, abstracts, and databases to find journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.  For a complete list of Kent Library's online indexes and databases, see the Find: articles page (http://library.semo.edu/find/articles.asp).

To find historical/source materials, such as newspaper and magazine articles, use the following print sources, all of which can be found in the Indexes/Abstracts area of the Library on the main floor:

Periodical Articles on Religion, 1890-1899

Guide To Social Science and Religion in Periodical Literature, 1975-1988

Guide to Social Science and Religion, 1988-1995

Index to Religious Periodical Literature, 1963-1968, 1971-1976

Religion Index One, 1949-1959, 1977+

New York Times Index, 1851+

Official Index to the Times & The Times Index, 1906+

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, 1900+

To find recent articles and scholarly/peer-reviewed articles use the following online databases:

Academic Search Premier
Historical Abstracts
Humanities Full Text
JStor
Project Muse
Proquest Research Library
Wilson OmniFile
 

Use the Kent Library Catalog (http://library.semo.edu/find/books.shtml) to find books, periodicals (journals, magazines, & newspapers), videos, government documents and other materials.

Keyword searches allow you to use your own words as search terms.
Subject heading searches use Library of Congress subject headings. Printed volumes of these headings are located near the Reference Desk on the main floor.

Church
Faith
Religion
Religions
Spiritual life
Theology

Names of individual religions
Titles of sacred texts

Browse the shelves by call number.  Use the Dewey Decimal chart (http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/default.htm) to get you in the right subject areas or try the following:

200 - Religion
922 - Biographies of Religious Figures
 

Analects of Confucius - (181.1 C76a)

Bhagavad Gita - (294.5924 B469b)

Gleanings from the Writings of Bahullh - (297.89208 B147s2 1976)

Holy Bible: Authorized King James Version - (R 220.5203 B471ho 1974)

Holy Qur'an : Arabic Text with English Translation and Short Commentary - (297.1227 K84h 1994)

Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching - (299.51482 L299l)

New Interpreter's Bible - (R 220.77 N42)

New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha - (R 220.5204 B71n 1973)

Sacred Scriptures of the Japanese (Kojiki and Nihongi) - (952.01 W566s)

Sri Guru Granth Sahib - (294.682 Sr31 1984)

Torah, the Five Books of Moses - (222.1 B471t)

Learn about important people, such as authors, researchers & historical figures related to this topic or field.

Oxford Dictionary of Saints - (R 270.0922 F229o3)
 

Professional organizations and/or societies often provide very useful topic related information.

American Academy of Religion
   (http://www.aarweb.org/)
American Interfaith Institute
   (http://www.americaninterfaith.org)
American Jewish Historical Society
   (http://www.ajhs.org/)
The Buddhist Society
   (http://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/)
Council on American-Islamic Relations
   (http://www.cair.com/)
North American Patristics Society
   (http://moses.creighton.edu/NAPS/)
Society of Biblical Literature
   (http://www.sbl-site.org/)
 

Adherents.com
   (http://www.adherents.com)
All-In-One Biblical Resources Search
   (http://www.ntgateway.com/multibib/)
American Religion Data Archive
   (http://www.thearda.com/)
BBC World Service: Your Guide to Religions of the World
   (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/world_religions/)
BuddhaNet
   (http://buddhanet.net/)
Catholic Encyclopedia
   (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/)
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
   (http://www.ccel.org/)
Ecole Initiative: Creating a Hypertext Encyclopedia of Early Church History on the World-Wide-Web
   (http://www2.evansville.edu/ecoleweb/)
Guide to Early Church Documents
   (http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/christian-history.html)
The Hindu Universe - Hindu Resource Center
   (http://www.hindunet.org/)
Interfaith Calendar
   (http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/)
Islamic Society of North America
   (http://www.isna.net/)
Judaism 101
   (http://www.jewfaq.org/)
Patheos
   (http://www.patheos.com/)
Pluralism Project (Harvard University)
   (http://www.pluralism.org/index.php)
Religions of the World
   (http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/)
Review of Biblical Literature
   (http://www.bookreviews.org/)
Virtual Religions Index
   (http://virtualreligion.net/vri/)  

For a list of Web searching tools, see the Find: web searching tools page (http://library.semo.edu/find/webpages.shtml).