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Welcome
Welcome
What's This?
This guide lists resources and tools that will help you to do academic work and research on the study of religion, and use the materials you find.
What If I Need Help?
Contact Ash Lierman at lierman@rowan.edu !
Best Places to Start
Articles (including scholarly journal articles)
See Find Articles for more details and options.
- Atla Religion Database with AtlaASerials This link opens in a new windowBest for the study of Christianity and sometimes Judaism.
Books
See Find Books for more details and options.
- Library Search at Rowan University LibrariesSearch for books and more in Campbell Library.
- Interlibrary LoanUse this free service to get articles and books that are not in Rowan's libraries. ILLiad is best for articles and other electronic materials, and EZ Borrow is best for books and other physical materials.
Find Articles
Find Scholarly Articles
The best way to access scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles from Rowan University Libraries is through our databases. Databases are self-contained online tools that provide large searchable collections of articles and other materials. They may contain articles from a large variety of subjects, or focus on only one subject.
Below are some key databases for Religion, both multi-subject and religion-specific, as well as a few other tips and tools.
Best General Databases for Religion
- Atla Religion Database with AtlaASerials This link opens in a new windowBest for the study of Christianity and sometimes Judaism. "Scriptures" link at the top will allow searching for scholarly articles by the books of the Bible they discuss. Caution: Contains magazines and devotional religious publications as well as scholarly material.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowA multi-subject database that includes religion as well as many other topics. Most included material is scholarly. Search interface can be difficult to use successfully.
- Religion Database This link opens in a new windowScholarly and non-scholarly articles in religious studies. "Loose" searching: tends to retrieve more results than other databases, but more of these tend to be irrelevant.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowMulti-subject database that includes religion and many other topics. May be best for social and cultural aspects of religion.
- ProQuest Central This link opens in a new windowMulti-subject database that includes religion and many other topics. "Loose" searching: tends to retrieve more results than other databases, but more of these tend to be irrelevant.
Best Additional Databases by Subject
Literature
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowThe Modern Language Association's index to language and linguistics, rhetoric, folklore, film, literary theory & criticism, & dramatic arts.
Art
History
U.S. History
- America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowIndex of scholarly literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present.
History Outside the U.S.
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowSearch tool for scholarly literature in world history outside North America.
Philosophy/Ethics
- PhilPapers This link opens in a new windowPhilPapers is a comprehensive index of philosophy books and articles.
Sociology/Anthropology
- Social Science Database This link opens in a new windowScholarly articles in a variety of social science journals.
Psychology
Need something else? Use the box on the left to contact your librarian!
Tip: Getting articles
If you don't see a Full Text link below the article citation, look for a button labeled "Get it!" This application will check for access to the full text of the article within the library's subscriptions.
If a message is displayed indicating that we don't have access, choose the Campbell Library Interlibrary Loan Request link to order the article through our Illiad online system.
Google Scholar
You may prefer to use Google Scholar to find scholarly articles, and that's okay too! Just make sure that you can access the articles you find, by linking Google Scholar to Rowan University Libraries' resources.
- From the Google Scholar home page, click the button in the top left with three horizontal lines:
- Select Settings.
- In the Settings area, click the option in the left navigation that says Library links.
- In the search box marked Show library access links for (choose up to five libraries):, search for Rowan University.
- An option should appear below the search box that reads "Rowan University - FullText@RowanUniversity" with a check-box next to it. Click the check-box so it is selected.
- Click Save in the lower right.
Now when you search in Google Scholar from this browser, your results should link directly to full text of each article, courtesy of Rowan University Libraries.
Find Books
Find Books at Rowan Libraries and Other Universities
- Library SearchSearch for books, e-books, media (DVDs, music recordings and scores, etc.) and more in Rowan University Libraries.
To access e-books, click the title of the book in your results, and then click any of the links in the "View Online" section.
For physical books, find the call number below the book title in your results, and use it to locate the book on the shelf. - Interlibrary LoanUse this free service to get articles and books that are not in Rowan's libraries. ILLiad is best for articles and other electronic materials, and EZ Borrow is best for books and other physical materials.
Also note that Library Search actually searches for books and journal articles simultaneously, unless you narrow your search to only books, via the menu options on the left side of the screen.
Call Numbers
- How to Read and Use a Call NumberFrom the University of Michigan Libraries.
BL - General religions and mythology
BM – Judaism
BP – Islam, Baha'i
BQ – Buddhism
BR – Christianity
BS – The Bible
BT – Doctrinal theology
BV – Practical theology
BX – Christian denominations
Find Sacred Texts
Find Sacred Texts from the Library
The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard VersionISBN: 0190276045NRSV translation of the Bible annotated for student and scholarly use, available digitally to all Rowan students. Suitable for any course requiring a Bible. An unlimited amount of this e-book can be downloaded as PDFs and/or printed.
The SBL Study Bible by ISBN: 0062969439A 2023 updated NRSV translation, with annotations for study. Available in hard copy on course reserves, at the library service desk on the second floor of Savitz Hall.
Qur'an by ISBN: 1879402297Available electronically as two volumes. Toggle open each volume to see the list of chapters and read them.
The Qur'an: English translation with parallel Arabic text by ISBN: 0199570728E-book with limited simultaneous users and printing/downloading.
The Contemporary Torah: A Gender-Sensitive Adaptation of the JPS Translation by ISBN: 0827610424Offers readers new perspectives on the role gender plays in Bible translation. E-book edition, no downloading or printing restrictions.
Tanach (Stone Edition) by ISBN: 0899062695This book is available in hard copy from Campbell Library. To access it:
1. Click the title.
2. On the book page, click Sign In in the upper right corner, and log in with your Rowan ID (if you haven't already).
3. Return to the book page, and under Get It, click Library Pickup.
4. In the request form that opens, click Send Request.
5. Within a few days, you will be notified the book is ready to pick up from the library service point on the 2nd floor of Savitz Hall.
The Rig Veda by ISBN: 1681142163E-book, limited downloading and printing but unlimited access online.
The Tao of the Tao Te Ching: a translation and commentary by ISBN: 0585088489E-book, limited downloading and printing but unlimited access online.
Tao, a New Way of Thinking: a translation of the Tao Te Ching with an Introduction and Commentaries by ISBN: 0857011537E-book, limited downloading and printing but unlimited access online.
Looking for Others?
- Library SearchSearch for books (and more) in Campbell Library.
- Interlibrary LoanUse this free service to get articles and books that are not in Rowan's libraries. ILLiad is best for articles and other electronic materials, and EZ Borrow is best for books and other physical materials.
Find Sacred Texts on the Web
- ISTA: Internet Sacred Text ArchiveA large digital collection across a broad variety of faiths and cultures.
- Sacred Texts Free Web Sites listCompiled by Michigan State University Libraries.
- SefariaAn extensive online library of Jewish texts, including the Talmud, midrash, Kabbalah, and more.
Web Resources
Websites
- Internet Sacred Texts ArchiveComprehensive collection of freely available online religious texts.
- Voice of the Shuttle: Religious StudiesProvides extensive academic resources for the study of religion.
- Association of Religion Data ArchivesProvides statistics on religion by country
- RAMBI Index of articles on Jewish studiesSelective bibliography of articles in the various fields of Jewish studies and in the study of Eretz Israel.
- Pew Research Center: ReligionReports and fact sheets on data collected about U.S. observance of religion.