Search Engines and Directories
Specialized Directories and Databases
News, Contemporary Culture, Current Events, Special Issues
American Religious History Resources
Centers, Institutes & ProjectsAfrican American
AmericaDemocracy
ChristianityIslam
JudaismNew Religious Movements
Asian Religion Resources
Other Sites of Interest
Search Engines and Directories:
http://www.lib.fsu.edu/find/bysubject/religion.html
Our friends at FSU Libraries have just created this "wiki" portal for students of religion. It is a great place to get started with research because it links to relevant databases, e-journals, web resources, etc.
http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Religion_and_Spirituality/
Yahoo directory list, many sponsored sites – many categories.
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Good general search engine for higher quality, academic source
http://www.ixquick.com/
Good search engine – unlike Google, it searches by relevance to search entries and not by popularity of site. This is a major drawback of Google.
http://scholar.google.com/
However, responding to the above criticism, the geniuses at Google have launched a beta search engine that focuses on scholarly journals and educational institutions. Many full-page articles cost money, though…
Specialized Directories and Databases:
http://vlib.org/Religion
Good portal site. Good place to start….
http://lii.org/search/file/religion
Another good portal site. You could end up anywhere….
http://virtualreligion.net/vri/index.html
Yet another good portal site. There is a very good section on the “synoptic problem” of the gospels at this site. It is maintained by the Religion Department at Rutgers University.
http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/resources/guide_headings.aspx
As it says: “A selective, annotated guide to a wide variety of electronic resources of interest to those who are involved in the study and practice of religion: syllabi, electronic texts, electronic journals, web sites, bibliographies, listserv discussion groups, liturgies, reference resources, software, etc. The purpose of the Guide is to encourage and facilitate the incorporation of electronic resources into teaching.” And be sure to keep an eye out for the NB (from the latin, Note Bene) and “Top Site” ranking markers.
http://www.religion-online.org/
Started by William F. Fore when he was teaching in Bangalore, India. An amazing number of entire books and papers of scholarly value to be found here. The selection emphasizes Christianity and Theology, but is supposed to be expanding to other religions and disciplines.
http://www.religiousworlds.com/index.html
Very good portal site by categories (even the one you may be looking for) maintained by Dr. Thursby at the University of Florida. I particularly liked the “What me Contemplate?” page with its “Nietzsche Aphorisms” page at the bottom of the list.
News, Contemporary Culture, Current Events, Special Issues:
http://pewforum.org/
Good source on recent news and information.
http://www.beliefnet.com/index.html?rnd=69
This is a commercial web site that provides general information. It is a good quick reference or for getting basic background at the beginning of a project.
http://are.as.wvu.edu/
Perhaps better as a source for professors. As it says: “The project serves as a clearinghouse for over 100 hypertext links related to some aspect of American religions and American religious history. Many sites represent truly outstanding scholarly resources that other scholars and organizations have published on the internet. Other link sites offer useful information and interesting images.”
http://www.earlham.edu/~libr/acrlwss/wsstheo.html
Good portal site for gender, women’s studies, and religion
http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/
This is from the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy of the Rockefeller Institute at the State University of New York.
http://www.counterbalance.org/
Groovy site for Science and Religion: “Counterbalance is a non-profit educational organization working to promote counterbalanced perspectives on complex issues. It is our hope that individuals, the academic community, and society as a whole will benefit from a struggle toward integrated and counterbalanced views. Our services are used by PBS Online, The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, the AAAS, Science and Religion Forum (UK), and others.”
http://www.religionnews.com/
As they say: “For nearly 70 years, Religion News Service® has been an authoritative source of news about religion, ethics, spirituality and moral issues.RNS' first priority is to provide intelligent, objective coverage of all religions -- Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Asian religions and private spirituality. RNS also provides commentary from a diverse array of all points of the political and theological spectrum.”
http://www.ctns.org/
Maintained by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California – where the streets are paved with gold (-en candy wrappers).
http://www.thearda.com/arda.asp?Show=Home
Supported by the Lilly Endowment at Penn State, this is a must-visit pilgrimage site for all students of American Religious History. The American Denominations page was enough to make my Catholic bones (brittle as they are) shudder – but the “Buddhism, Shintoism, and New Japanese Family” of denominations had but one lonely listing…. Can anybody guess?
http://www.adherents.com/
Statistics anyone? On “over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations: references to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc.” We all need numbers every now and then….
American Religious History Resources:
Centers, Institutes & Projects
Boisi Center for Religion & American Public Life
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/research/rapl/index.htm
Center for Religion, the Professions, and the Public
http://rpp.missouri.edu/
Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
http://www.iupui.edu/~raac/
Center for the Study of Religion and American Life
http://www.yale.edu/cral/
Center for the Study of Religious Freedom
http://www.vwc.edu/academics/csrf/
Hartford Institute for Religion Research
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/
Institute for Practical Ethics
http://www.virginia.edu/ipe/
Institute for the Study of American Religion
http://www.americanreligion.org/
Martin Marty Center
http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/
Material History of American Religion project
http://www.materialreligion.org/
Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics
http://www.calvin.edu/henry/
Pluralism Project
http://www.pluralism.org/
Project on Lived Theology
http://livedtheology.org/
Project on Religion & Urban Culture
http://www.polis.iupui.edu/ruc/
Religion Source
http://www.religionsource.org/
The Association of Religion Data Archives
http://thearda.com/
The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion
http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/
Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life
http://www.cappscenter.ucsb.edu/
African American
African-American Religion: A Documentary Project
http://www.amherst.edu/~aardoc/menu.html
Institute for Black Religious Life
http://www.itc.edu/pages/ibrl.asp
Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/
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America
Divining America: Religion and the National Culture
http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/divam.htm
Journal of Southern Religion
http://jsr.fsu.edu/
Map Gallery of Religion in the United States
http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/geo/courses/geo200/religion.html
North American Religion Atlas
http://www.religionatlas.org/
Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/
Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
The American Religious Experience
http://are.as.wvu.edu/
The Jefferson Bible
http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/
U. S. Congregational Life Survey
http://www.uscongregations.org/
WestWeb: Western Religious History
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/westweb/pages/religion.html
Democracy
Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture (formerly The Center for Religion and Democracy)
http://www.virginia.edu/iasc/
Christianity
Center for Baptist Studies
http://www.centerforbaptiststudies.org/
Center for Methodist Studies
http://www.smu.edu/bridwell/methodiststudies/methodiststudies.htm
Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism
http://www.nd.edu/~cushwa/
Francis and Ann Curan Center for American Catholic Studies
http://www.fordham.edu/cs/
Historical Society of the Episcopal Church
http://www.hsec.us/
Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals
http://www.wheaton.edu/isae/index.html
Islam
American Academy of Religion – Study of Islam Section
http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/default.htm
Judaism
American Academy for Jewish Research
http://www.aajr.org/
American Jewish Historical Society
http://www.ajhs.org/
Journal of Textual Reasoning
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/tr/
New Religious Movements
Religious Movements Homepage Project
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/
Asian Religion Resources:
The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center
http://tbrc.org/
The preeminent online bibliographic and biographical resource for researchers in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies worldwide.
The Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library
http://thdl.org/
An international community using web-based technologies to integrate diverse knowledge about Tibet and the Himalayas for free access from around the world.
Himalayan Art Project
http://www.himalayanart.org/
A comprehensive research database, a virtual museum, of Himalayan and Tibetan art.
The Institute of Tibetan Classics
http://www.tibetanclassics.org/
A non-profit educational organization dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of classical Tibetan thought and culture.
Tibetan Studies Virtual Library
http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-TibetanStudies.html
An extensive list of links for academic resources in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies.
Latse Contemporary Tibetan Cultural Library
http://www.latse.org/
Forum of open inquiry for all audiences interested in Tibetan culture.
Asian Classics Input Project
http://www.asianclassics.org/
Works to preserve the disappearing books containing the great ideas of Asia and to make these books and ideas accessible to the world at large.
Nitartha International
http://www.nitartha.org/home.html
Provides technological and educational resources to bring the living wisdom of Asia to the world community.
Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/
Compilation of Buddhist terms, texts, temple, schools, persons, etc. found primarily in the East Asian Buddhist canonical sources.
Chinese Buddhist Electronic Texts Association (CBETA)
http://www.cbeta.org/index.htm
Comprehensive search engine of Chinese Buddhist Canon.
The Golden Elixir: Taoism and Chinese Alchemy
http://www.stanford.edu/~pregadio/index.html
Comprehensive resource for Daoist related materials, including online journals, canonical texts, books, encyclopedias, and important websites.
Chinese Classics and Translations
http://www.afpc.asso.fr/wengu/wg/wengu.php?l=bienvenue
Dr. Jimmy Yu's Research Website
http://myweb.fsu.edu/jyu2/links.htm
Includes important links for the study of Buddhism, Daoism, and Chinese religions.
The University of Washington Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project
Journal of Buddhist Ethics
Asia Source
International Dunhuang Project
Ramayana Index (T.V. version)
Pluralism Project (Harvard University)
Indology home page
Sarai: South Asia Resource Access on the Internet
Other Sites of Interest:
Biblical Archaeology Review
EAWC: The Ancient Near East
American Academy of Religion
House of Ptolemy: The Jews of Ptolemaic and Greco-Roman Egypt
Diotoma: Materials for the study of women & gender in the ancient world
CCER: CENTER FOR COMPUTER-AIDED EGYPTOLOGICAL RESEARCH
BRITISH MUSEUM
The University of Memphis Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology
THEBAN MAPPING PROJECT
The Orthodox Christian Page