Disciplines & Professions: Religion

Web Sites

Academic Info's Religion Gateway
http://www.academicinfo.net/religindex.html

An orderly list leading to informative sites covering world religions by country and type. A good place for students to find straightforward historical religious material.

Open Directory's Religion and Spirituality Directory
http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/

In addition to links by specific religion or spiritual code, the open directory also includes a set of links to related areas of interest, such as near death experiences, reincarnation, opposing views, and religious art and music.

Research and Documentation Online: Humanities: Religion
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/resdoc/ humanities/religion.htm

Annotated list of sites approach religious study as it has been theorized and academically constructed throughout history. Includes point of entry sites for investigation, as well as more specialized sources of historical documents.

Virtual Religion Index
http://virtualreligion.net/vri/

The list of categorical links is diverse and coherent in its divisions, and the index is designed to increase efficiency and reduce clutter by analyzing and highlighting important content of sites to speed research. Hyperlinks are provided to home pages, major directories, and documents within.

Yahoo!'s Religion and Spirituality Directory
http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Religion_and_Spirituality/

Offers the more current take on religious opinion in society, including links to angels, cults, gay and lesbian religious issues, and pastoral counseling not offered, at least categorically, on other directories. This is the only site that does not include links by specific religion.

Databases

ATLA Religion (American Theological Library Association, available through OCLC)

An index of publications that spans all religions but emphasizes Western religions. Entries include citations and abstracts, and cover sources from 1949 to present.

Print Resources

Eliade, Mircea, ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1987.

An expansive 16-volume encyclopedia of articles on international religions. Covers historical religious issues as well as contemporary topics. Entries are listed alphabetically. Volume 16 is a cumulative index.

Hinnells, John R., ed. A New Handbook of Living Religions. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.

Each chapter covers a religion. International scope. Part 2 includes chapters on “cross-cultural issues” such as gender and religion. Each chapter provides a bibliography. Also includes a subject index.

Hinnells, John R., ed. Dictionary of Religions. New York: Penguin, 1995.

An alphabetical listing of topics and issues concerning religion. Covers worldwide religions. Includes a bibliography and index.

Johnston, William M. Recent Reference Books in Religion. 2nd ed. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998.

Organized by religion and type of reference work. Detailed annotations and evaluations of sources. Title, author, topics, person, and places indices provided.

Pye, Michael, ed. The Continuum Dictionary of Religion. New York: Continuum, 1994.

An alphabetical list of articles on religions and religious issues. Includes frequent cross-references and a full bibliography.

World Religions. New York: Macmillan Reference, 1998.

Covers religious ideas and practice of religion worldwide. Organized alphabetically. Provides definitions for important terms. Includes a subject index.

Wuthnow, Robert, ed. The Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion. 2 vols. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1998.

This source focuses specifically on the interactions between religion and politics. 250+ articles by prominent scholars worldwide. Most include a bibliography. Both volumes provide a subject index.