Theology Subject Guide

Websites:

Christian Classics Ethereal Library http://www.ccel.org   Description: This site is a digital library of hundreds of classic Christian books selected for edification and education, and is maintained by Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. The works here cover a variety of viewpoints and traditions. Some authors include: St. Augustine, Martin Luther, and Dante Alighieri, to name a small sampling.     Internet Sacred Text Archive http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm   Description: This site offers the largest free archive of online books in diverse areas including: religion, mythology, and folklore from around the world. Users may read books from a wide variety of world religions, and also from influential Western philosophers.     World Religions at The WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs http://www2.etown.edu/vl/worldrel.html   Description: This website offers links to different world religions. These links provide invaluable access to knowledge about religions, their sacred texts and doctrines, as well as links to discussion forums and news within religious communities.     Academic Info: Religion Gateway http://www.academicinfo.net/religindex.html   Description: This site covers religious history, Holocaust studies, comparative studies of religions, mythology, Native American religions, peace studies, and religion and law issues. There are also links to research specific Western and non-Western religions. This site is maintained by Mike Madin, a graduate of the University of Washington Comparative Religion Program.     Religion Online http://www.religion-online.org/   Description: This site offers comprehensive coverage (more than 6,000 articles, books and chapters) in religious studies. Subject headings include: The Bible, Theology, Theologians, Practical Theology, Culture, Social Issues, Religious Sociology, History of Religion, Ethics, and Churches and Society. Within these subject headings are subheadings which allow easy access to issues confronting religious studies today like drugs, homosexuality, pornography, terrorism and genetics. World religions are also covered as are the issues that are relevant to those faiths. This site is edited by William F. Fore, and the site is funded by a grant from the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California.     JewishEncyclopedia.com http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/index.jsp   Description: This site is an online version of the complete contents of the twelve volume The Jewish Encyclopedia published between 1901-1906 by Funk & Wagnalls Company.  The original print edition has 8,572 pages, written by 605 contributors, and supplemented by 2,464 illustrations, a large number of them full-page. The Jewish Encyclopedia contains over 15,000 articles which cover every aspect of Jewish experience: The History of the Jews, Historical Movements, and Jewish Societies. There is a Biography of Biblical Characters; critical analyses of The Old Testament, the Midrash and Talmud, and sections of Rabbinical Literature. A simple search bar will allow for easy access into any of the topics covered. There are links to cross-referenced passages and terms.     Bible Gateway http://www.biblegateway.com/   Description: This site is a tool for reading and researching scripture online, in the language or translation of your choice. It provides advanced searching capabilities, which allow readers to find and compare particular passages in scripture based on keywords, phrases, or scripture reference. There are links to Bible dictionaries, Bible commentaries, and ebooks. This site is maintained by Gospel Communications International.     ECanon: Online Search for Canonical Texts http://rosetta.reltech.org/ECanon/ECanon.html   Description: This site allows users to search inside various versions of the Bible: King James Version, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, and Westcott and Hort Greek New Testament. Searches can be performed for passage or text queries. There is also a link on this site which connects to TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism, an electronic journal dedicated to the study of the Jewish and Christian biblical texts. ECanon is maintained by James R. Adair, editor of TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism.     Religious Worlds http://religiousworlds.com/index.html   Description: This site offers information about religious traditions that developed in the Middle East or West Asia, as well as religions from South and East Asia. There are a list of religions listed which link to pages of in-depth information. The religions range from Christian and Jewish faiths, to Buddhist, Confucian, Daoist/Taoist, Hindu, Muslim, Shinto, and Sikh, to name a few. There are also links to religion as it pertains to modernity, philosophy, ecology, film, and science. Links to additional academic resources are also included.     Ethics Updates http://ethics.sandiego.edu   Description: This site contains numerous features: an online library of classic texts in ethics; the Ethics Calendar provides information about ethics-related conferences around the world; the Ethics Forums provide a place for students to discuss the ethical issues covered in the site. Ethics Case Studies presents numerous case studies in applied ethics, and each case study has an accompanying discussion folder. The site also contains guides to writing ethics papers, a glossary of key ethical terms, and most recently a section on "Philosophers Speak Out on Issues of War, Peace, and Terrorism." Topics covered here are a variety of ethical theories, and there are discussions of social issues. Ethics Updates was founded in 1994 by Lawrence M. Hinman, a professor of philosophy at the University of San Diego, and is maintained by the University of San Diego.

Print Resources:  

Augustine Through the Ages: An Encyclopedia / Allan D. Fitzgerald editor Reference REF B655 .Z69 A84 1999   This encyclopedia offers invaluable information about Augustine of Hippo. There are more than 400 signed articles written by over 140 scholars. The history of Augustine's life is covered as are his works, and his contemporaries. Each entry has a bibliography for further reading sources, and there are cross-references to other articles. There is a list of abbreviations, a general bibliography and a table listing Augustine's works arranged alphabetically by their Latin titles. Another table lists Augustine's works listed in chronological order.   Encyclopedia of Early Christianity / Everett Ferguson editor Reference BR162.2 .E53 1990   This encyclopedia uses straightforward language to cover key moments in Christianity from the life of Jesus to approximately A.D. 600. There are 975 entries written by 135 writers; each entry is signed and has an accompanying bibliography. Common inside each entry is a brief definition, identification, or charcterization. Then each definition is followed by chronological or topical developments as they relate to the subject of early Christianity. There are biographical articles that cover the person's life, teachings, writings, importance, and influence. A general index is included at the end of the volume. [There is an edition of this work from 1997 which is still in print. It is an immense improvement on the original and garnered good reviews from Library Journal 5/97 and Choice 9/97]   Encyclopedia of Ethics / Lawrence C. Becker and Charlotte B. Becker, editors Reference REF BJ63 .E45 2001   This revised edition has 581 signed and peer reviewed entries which contain bibliographies. This three volume work focuses on key figures and movements in ethics; ethical theory, metaethics, applied ethics, and ethical issues that are important to ethical theory: abortion, blackmail, homicide, the Holocaust, racism, rape, sexuality, slavery, etc. There are entries on various religious traditions, and survey entries on the history of ethics. The entries are arranged alphabetically; there is a Subject Index and a Citation Index which lists an author-by-author listing of writers which contributors have cited in their bibliographies.   Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World / Richard C. Martin editor Reference REF BP40 .E525 2004   This two volume reference work contains over 500 articles alphabetically arranged written by 500 scholars from around the Muslim and Islamic world; each entry is signed and has a bibliography. There are approximately 170 photographs, drawings, maps, and charts. There is a glossary included in volume two. Topics covered are: Biographies of political, public, religious, and cultural leaders; culture, art, architecture; language and literature, geography; groups and movements; history, law, politics and society, and multiple aspects of religion, doctrines, and beliefs.     Encyclopaedia of Judaica / Fred Skolnik editor Reference REF DS102.8 .E496 2007   This comprehensive reference work has 22 volumes with approximately 22,000 alphabetically arranged entries from 1,200 contributors from around the world. There are 150 pages of color inserts appearing as centerfolds in each volume; there are 600 maps, tables, illustrations, chronologies, and charts. There are cross-references and a glossary. The last volume contains a detailed thematic outline and index to aid in finding subjects and people. Topics covered are: History from the ancient period, to the medieval and modern period; Biblical figures, Biblical literature; places of the Bible; Biblical scholars; information about the State of Israel, etc.     Encyclopedia of Religion / Lindsay Jones editor Reference BL31 .E46 2005    This fully revised 15 volume reference work contains approximately 3,300 alphabetically arranged entries written by scholars from across the globe. Each entry is under a subject heading and includes several related articles; all entries are signed and have bibliographies. Each volume of the work (excluding volume 15) has a section of color photographs and illustrations. Volume 15 has an index of abbreviations and symbols; and an appendix of articles which represent world perspectives on religion. Some themes include: Buddhist Books and Texts, Caribbean Religions, Gender and Religion, Primitivism, Rites of Passage: North American Indian Rites, etc. Volume 15 also has a Synoptic Outline of Contents to aid in finding subjects and people; there is also a general index.        The New Interpreter's Bible: General Articles & Introduction, Commentary, & Reflections for Each Book of the Bible, Including the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books / Leander E. Keck editor Reference REF BS491.2 .N484 1994   This fully revised edition is in 12 volumes. It covers every aspect of Scripture from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Each volume is catagorized by certain Books and Gospels of the Bible. Coverage of each biblical book begins with an introduction which gives historical, literary, and sociocultural context to each book. Then there is the biblical text highlighted by being printed in a green box. Biblical passages are followed by commentary that provides analysis informed by linguistic, text-critical, historical-critical, literary, and theological methods. Included also is a section called "Reflections" that enables the reader to understand the concepts contained in each biblical passage. There are translations of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words.      Oxford Companion to Christian Thought / Hastings, Adrian, Alistair Mason, and Hugh Pyper with Ingrid Lawrie and Cecily Bennett Reference BR95 .O7 2000   This single volume offers a comprehensive look at Christian thought. It contains 600 signed articles written by 266 writers from 20 countries. The authors come from diverse religious backgrounds. This authoritative work traces the movement of Christian ideas from numerous perpectives: from Jesus, Aristotle, Martin Luther, to twentieth century thinkers like Karl Barth, Graham Greene, and Pope John Paul II. There is considerable coverage given to Eastern thought, as well as Christianity viewed from experiences in places like Latin America, Africa, China, and India. Also covered are topics such as: abortion, anti-Semitism, capital punishment, divorce, homosexuality, marriage, sexuality, etc. There are cross-references, and bibliographies at the end of each entry.   The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church / F. L. Cross editor Reference REF BR95 .O81 1997   This is the third edition of the work and it contains 6,000 cross-referenced entries by 480 contributors. The book defines persons, places, theological terms, religious orders, symbols, as well as entries on Christians in countries such as: Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zaire, Zimbabwe, and countries in Asia and Latin America. Bibliographies are included at the end of most entries.   The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation / Hans J. Hillerbrand editor Reference BR302.8 .O934 1996   This comprehensive reference work surveys the importance of the Reformation and its global impact on religion and culture. There are four volumes which contain over 1,200 alphabetically arranged entries written by 450 scholars. The entries fit into 10 broad categories: Sites, Regions, Polities; Historical Events; Religious Groups and Movements; Ecclesiastical Institutions; Creeds, Confessions, Texts; Theology; Social History; Popular Religion; Biographies; and Reformation Studies. Each entry is signed and has an accompanying bibliography. Also included are an Appendix of Maps, Directory of Contributors, Synoptic Outline of Contents, and an Index.   The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality / Gordon S. Wakefield editor Reference BV4488 .W47 1983   This dictionary attempts to shed light on the entire development and present state of Christian spirituality, from Orthodox, to Catholic and Protestant viewpoints. There are entries from over 150 contributors covering an array of subjects and perspectives including those of America, Asia and Africa, as well as themes like Black Theology. [There is a completely revised and new edition of this work from 2005 which expands topics covered in the first edition, as well as current debates in the field of spirituality]

 Subject Compiled by Angeline Tomcik angelinetomcik@sbcglobal.net