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Religion

Recommended research resources for religion

Religion Databases

Using ATLA

The ATLA Religion Database covers a wide range of religious traditions, controversies, and issues. You will find not only peer-reviewed articles from major religion journals, but also more popular content that provides a window on current news and opinions. Western religions are covered more closely than other traditions, but you will find important coverage of most religions. "Religion" in ATLA encompasses concerns beyond theology and doctrine to include issues like environmentalism, human rights, war and peace, religious freedom, ethics, and culture. 

Coverage:

Traditions: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, African Religions, American Indian Religions, Paganism, Folk Religions

Subjects: Bible, archaeology, and antiquities; human culture and society; church history, missions, and ecumenism; pastoral ministry; world religions and religious studies; and theology, philosophy, and ethics

Document Types: Scholarly articles, magazine articles, essays, books, book reviews

Dates: Publication dates run from the early 1800s to the present

Searching Tips:

Below are a few examples of how to construct search phrases. Search phrases are in bold, with explanations bulleted.

hinduism and renunciation   

  • searches for the keywords "hinduism" and "renunciation"

jewish civilization    

  • searches for the phrase "jewish civilization"

hinduism or india   

  • searches for either "hinduism" or "india"

christianity n5 gnosticism    

  • searches for "christianity" within 5 words of "gnosticism", in any order

buddha w8 japan    

  • searches "buddha" within 8 words of "japan", in the order that they appear

hindu*    

  • searches for "hindu", "hinduism", "hindustan", "hindus"

Finding Articles Based on Scripture Citations:

The ATLA Religion Database makes it easy to find articles that cite specific books, chapters, and verses of the Bible. Click on the "Scriptures" link in the upper left side of the database page. If you would like to find all articles related to a particular book of the Bible, click on the name of the book. If you would like all articles related to a particular chapter of a particular book, click on "expand" and then select the chapter. You can click expand one more time to search for articles related to a particular verse.

Religion Statistics

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