This guide is for students taking Dr. Cook's "New Testament Writings in Context" course (RLGN 1103). See also the other sections of the Religion library guide by navigating through the tabs above.
The reference collection is usually the best place to start researching a topic. Reference books will provide background information, bibliographies of further readings, and often ideas for search terms to use, or for directions in which to take your research.
We have many reference books on the Bible and early Christianity, including:
· Anchor Bible Dictionary (6 vols., call number REF BS440 .A54 1992, 6 volumes)
· The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (REF BS 440 .I63 2006, 6 vols.)
· Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books of the Bible (REF BS 440 .O93 2011, 2 vols.)
· New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuteronomical Books (4th ed., REF BS 191.5 .O94 2010)
· The New Interpreter’s Bible (REF BS 491.2 .I55 1994, 12 vols.; another set available for checkout in the "Stacks")
· Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (REF BS 2555.52 .D53 2013)
· Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels (REF BS 2560 .T48 1992)
· Which, of the 31 Zechariahs, Is Which? (REF BS 435 .S74 2006)
· Women in the Scriptures (REF BS 575 .W593 2000)
· Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (REF BS 680 .G577 D53 1999)
Encyclopedia of Christianity (REF BR 95 .E8913 1999, 5 vols.)
· The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (REF BR 95 .O8 2005)
· Worship in the Early Church (REF BV 6 .J64 2009, 4 vols.)
· New Westminster Dictionary of Church History (REF BR 95 .W496 2008)
· New Encyclopedia of Christian Martyrs (REF BR 1601.2 .N488 2001; section 1 on "Bible Martyrs")
The 15-volume Encyclopedia of Religion is available either on the reference shelves (call number REF BL 31 .E466 2005) or online in the Gale Virtual Reference Library database (which includes other reference books, such as the Encyclopedia of Global Religion and Women in World History).
Some reference books in other areas that may be of interest:
· Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome (REF DE 5 .O95 2010, 7 vols., also online in Oxford Reference Online )
· Oxford Classical Dictionary (REF DE 5 .O9 2012)
· Encyclopaedia Judaica (REF DS 102.8 .E496 2007, 22 vols.)
· Women in World History (REF HQ 1115 .W600 1999, 17 vols., also online in Gale Virtual Reference Library; articles on Mary the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, etc.)
On the lower level:
Anchor Bible Dictionary
The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books of the Bible
Use our online catalog to search for books, e-books, and DVDs in Lewis Library.
To find commentaries you can check out (or access as e-books), see the "Commentaries" tab at the top of this page.
Be sure to click on catalog records and note the subject headings. Clicking on subject heading links such as the following will take you to other books on the same topic.
Title subject: Bible. N.T. Mark Commentaries.
Title subject: Bible. N.T. Gospels--Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Subject: Apocryphal Gospels.
Subject: Apocryphal books (New Testament)
For more details on searching for articles from scholarly journals, consult this guide.
ATLAS (the ATLA Religion Database) is the best database for Religion. You can restrict your search to articles from scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals, by language, date, etc. Be sure to choose articles, not book reviews. Again, look for useful subject terms in the database records:
Subjects: Apocryphal books (New Testament)
Subjects: Gospel of Thomas (Coptic)
Subjects: Paul, Saint, Apostle
Subjects: Bible. Luke 10-18
JSTOR has PDF full text for many scholarly journals up to about five years ago; you can search the full text of articles, and limit your search by subject (e.g., "Religion"). But ATLAS is the most complete database for Religion (and will provide links to most of the articles from religion journals in JSTOR).
Link here to the Lewis Library Citation Guide.
You can access Purdue's Formatting and Style Guide here.
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