Religion Web Resources

Internet Guides

Office of International Religious Freedom (U.S. Department of State)
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/irf/
This Office publishes the Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, which "describ[es] the status of religious freedom in each of 195 countries throughout the world." The text of the report (2001-2009) is available on this site.

Virtual Religion Index
http://virtualreligion.net/vri/
A selective mix of links to home pages, indexes, documents, scholarly societies, and references on American religions, biblical studies, archaeology, comparative religion, Islam, and the psychology of religion.

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Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of Religion and Society (Hartford Institute for Religious Research, Hartford Seminary)
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/
Free online version of of the encyclopedia, which "covers world religious leaders and scholars—past and present—in the United States and the world. This comprehensive volume is an essential reference for the study of the anthropology, psychology, politics, or sociology of religion."

Concise Dictionary of Religion (Dr. Irving Hexham, Department of Religious Studies, University of Calgary)
http://people.ucalgary.ca/~nurelweb/books/concise/
This is the online version of the 1999 print edition of this dictionary.

Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography (Unitarian Universalist Historical Society)
http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/index.html
This dictionary is a "webresource" that contains biographical entries of famous &/or influential followers of the religion. Each biographical entry includes a list of resources for further study. The biographies are signed and the credentials of the authors are provided.

Catholic Encyclopedia
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/
Online version of the 1913 edition of the encyclopedia. "The Catholic Encyclopedia, as its name implies, proposes to give its readers full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine."

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Online Journals and Text

ATLA: CDRI
http://www.atla.com/digitalresources
The American Theological Library Association's Cooperative Digital Resource Initiative (CDRI) database"provides access to digital images of woodcuts, photographs, slides, papyri, coins, maps, postcards, manuscripts, lithographs, sermons, shape-note tune books and various forms of Christian art, architecture, and iconography."

Christian Classics Ethereal Library
http://www.ccel.org/
"The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a digital library of hundreds of classic Christian books selected for edification and education." Many of the documents are available in different formats, including Word, PDF, plain text and HTML. Some of the available authors are Dante Alighieri, William Blake, Fyodor Dostoevski and Soren Kierkegaard.

Internet Sacred Text Archive
http://www.sacred-texts.com/
"This site is a freely available archive of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics."

Journal of Religion and Film (University of Nebraska at Omaha)
http://avalon.unomaha.edu/jrf/
The Journal of Religion and Film is a full text, peer reviewed journal that publishes articles, book and film reviews that cover themes of religion and film.

Religion Online
http://www.religion-online.org/
More than 1,100 full text articles, chapters, speeches and monographs by recognized religious scholars are available on Religion Online. Topics include Old and New Testament, theology, ethics, history and sociology of religions, comparative religion, religious communication, pastoral care, counseling, homiletics, worship, missions and religious education.

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Bible

Bible Gateway
http://www.biblegateway.com/
Search the Bible in nine languages; or search by topic to find relevant biblical passages.

New Testament Gateway
http://www.ntgateway.com/
"Browse or search annotated links on everything from the Greek New Testament to Jesus in Film." This web site is authored by Dr. Mark Goodacre, Department of Religion, Duke University.

Douay-Rheims Bible
http://www.drbo.org/

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Religion in America

American Religion Data Archives (ARDA)
http://www.thearda.com/
A searchable and browseable database that collects quantitative studies on American religion, including surveys on the general population, religious groups, and religious professionals; plus aggregate data on congregations, churches and denominations; and interactive maps and reports on church membership.

Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals
http://isae.wheaton.edu/
"This institute was established to encourage and support research on evangelical Christianity in the United States and Canada."

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Catholicism

Theology Library
http://www.shc.edu/theolibrary/
A Catholic collection of 112 topical pages with over 8,000 links make up this web site.

New Advent
http://www.newadvent.org/
Site provides access to the Catholic Encyclopedia, writings of the Church Fathers, the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Douay-Rheims bible. Site also has a blog with a variety of contributors commenting on current events and issues.

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Islam

Al-Islam (Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project)
http://www.al-islam.org/
This site features a collection of online books and articles, encyclopedias, audio, video and images, which can be browsed by topic and format or you can search the collection. This site places a "particular emphasis on Twelver Shia Islamic school of thought."

Introduction to Islam
http://www.mei.edu/content/introduction-islam-preface
This is the online version of the book, Introduction to Islam by M. Cherif Bassiouni, which was originally published in 1988. "The purpose of this book is to convey to a non-Muslim audience an understanding of Islam, its history, culture, and contribution to civilization."

Islam: a Primer
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21432.pdf
A report from the Congressional Research Service that provides an overview of Islam, including information on the historical background, divisions within, religious guidelines, tenets of, and other aspects. There is a further reading list.

Islam and Islamic Studies Resources (Professor Alan Godlas, Department of Religion at the University of Georgia)
http://www.uga.edu/islam/
This Islamic Studies website provides a scholarly overview of Islam and related subjects. It is particularly intended to be of use for students and teachers at all levels, as well for members of the general public who wish to get a non-polemical view of Islam (including Sunni Islam, Shi'ism, and Sufism) and to a lesser extent of Judaism and Christianity.

Islam: The People, Culture, and Politics
http://www.au.af.mil/au/aul/bibs/islam12.htm
This web site is a bibliography of web sites, books, and periodical articles relating to Islam. Use the Ely Library Catalog to see if we have the books listed or use the Full Text Periodical Directory to locate listed journal articles.

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Judaism

Jewish Virtual Library
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
"The Jewish Virtual Library is the most comprehensive online Jewish encyclopedia in the world, covering everything from anti-Semitism to Zionism. So far, more than 13,000 articles and 6,000 photographs and maps have been integrated into the site." Note that this site has a pro-Israel point of view, which may be evident in some sections.

Academic Jewish Studies Internet Directory
http://jewishstudies.virtualave.net/
This directory from the Institute for Jewish Studies at Dusseldorf University provides a gateway to 300+ resources for the study of Judaism including research institutes, libraries, archives, and Internet sources. Also includes RAMBI, the electronic index to periodical articles in Jewish studies.

Judaism and Jewish Resources
http://shamash.org/trb/judaism.html
A well-organized site that has resources highlighting Jewish culture and Judaism, links can be browsed by subject or searched using your browser's find command.

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