LibGuides: Religion: Databases

Useful Databases for the Study of Religion

A collection of databases good for research in the Social Sciences, including Religious Studies.

JSTOR
Provides full-text access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics and other fields of the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences.
Cambridge Core
The Cambridge Core platform has cross-searchable functionality across all of the Cambridge online collections. It is multi-disciplinary and provides full-text access to subscribed content.
Project MUSE
Provides digital humanities and social science content for the scholarly community. A source of complete, full-text versions of scholarly journals with over 120 publishers currently participating.
Oxford Scholarship Online
Cross-searchable library containing full-text books in the areas of Classical Studies, Economics and Finance, History, Law, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, and Sociology.
Taylor & Francis Online
A collection of full text journals in humanities, social sciences, science and technology from Taylor & Francis, Routledge and Psychology Press, including access to back issues from 1997 where available.
Wiley Online Library
A collection of full-text scientific, technical, medical, social science and business journals published by Wiley.

Database collections specifically curated for the study of Religion.

A full list of databases for Religious Studies can be found here.

Religion Database (ProQuest)
Contains primarily full-text, international periodicals for diverse religious and spiritual studies, covering formal theological studies of major religions, as well as the most recent trends and scholarly thought. Included are titles from religious publishing bodies and nondenominational organisations.
Religion & Philosophy Collection
Provides indexing and abstracting, as well as some full-text coverage, of journals on religious history, biblical studies, epistemology, political philosophy, and the history of philosophy.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials (via EBSCOhost)
This database combines the indexing from ATLA Religion Database with access to ATLA's online full-text collection of major religion journals.

Religion and Philosophy (Gale OneFile)
Research the impact of religion on culture throughout history, including literature, arts, and language.
Religion, Reform, and Society (NCCO)
This collection examines the influence of both faith and skepticism on the shaping of many aspects of society - politics, law, economics, and social and radical reform movements. The material in this archive explores religious and philosophical movements in reaction to dramatic changes in culture and society wrought by the industrial revolution and modernity.
Index Buddhicus Online
The Index Buddhicus is the first classified comprehensive bibliography of Buddhist Studies. It describes secondary material ranging from articles, papers and chapters appearing in journals, proceedings and collections, through reference works, monographs, editions and theses, to digital resources.
Index Islamicus Online
An international classified bibliography of publications in European languages on all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world. The Index Islamicus Online provides the reader with an effective overview of what has been published on a given subject in the field of Islamic Studies in its broadest sense.

Databases which focus on providing access to content from Aotearoa New Zealand.

A full list of New Zealand-specific databases can be found here.

Stats NZ - Religion
Find statistics on religious affiliation in New Zealand.

New Zealand Index
A combined database of indexes of New Zealand newspapers, magazines, and journals. The databases can be searched individually or separately. Databases included are: Index New Zealand, Newspaper Index 1989-2003, Newzindex, NZ National Bibliography, Bibliography of Published NZ Family Histories, Maori Bibliography, SIRIS 1840-1997, SIRIS 1998 -, Index Auckland, Manukau's Journey, New Zealand Card Index, Southern Regional News Index, and Waikato Regional News Index.
Te Puna - New Zealand National Union Catalogue
Search the New Zealand National Union Catalogue for items held in libraries throughout New Zealand.
DigitalNZ
Aims to make New Zealand digital content easy to find, share and use. This includes content from government departments, publicly funded organisations, the private sector, and community groups.
Papers Past
Contains digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals published between 1839 and 1945. All the newspaper titles on the site can be searched and browsed by date, region, or title.

Databases which provide access to audiovisual content.

To see recommended religion-specific films accessible through these databases, see the tab 'Religion Documentaries' in this LibGuide.

Alexander Street - Religion & Thought
A collection of hundreds of documentary videos covering topics relating to religious beliefs and religious practices.

Digital Theatre Plus
High quality films of leading British theatre productions.
Kanopy
A streaming service that provides access to video content sourced from leading suppliers. The Library subscribes to a selection of titles from this collection.
eTV
Provides real-time resources through recorded TV programmes, live streams and on demand videos. First-time users must register: select University of Otago, use University staff or student email address only, password will be sent to email. Thereafter login requires registered email address/password.

Provides real-time resources through recorded TV programmes, live streams and on demand videos. Includes TV recordings of programmes from over 30 domestic and international television channels, the entire Archives New Zealand historical film collection along with other educational content in many subject areas, live TV channels in English and other languages. Media hosting is available where videos and related materials may be uploaded to the eTV Library for online access by staff, students, and the wider educational community.

Find primary sources for Religion through these databases.

You might want to check out Michigan State University's great list of free-to-access sacred text websites.

Internet Sacred Text Archive
The largest freely available archive of online books about religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric on the Internet.

British Library: Discovering Sacred Texts
Discovering Sacred Texts provides free access to the richness and diversity of the texts from some of the world’s greatest faiths. Includes sacred texts from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and the Baha’i Faith, Jainism and Zoroastrianism.
Early Western Korans Online
The collection includes Korans and Koran translations printed in Europe between 1537 and 1857.
EEBO: Early English Books Online
100,000+ texts printed in English before 1700. Covers STCs by Pollard and Redgrave 1475-1640 and Wing 1641-1700.
Digital Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project from the Israel Museum comprises five Dead Sea Scrolls that have been digitized to date including the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll, the Temple Scroll, and the War Scroll. The site is Open Access.
Papers Past
Contains digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals published between 1839 and 1945. All the newspaper titles on the site can be searched and browsed by date, region, or title.

Database Search Tips PDF
Two page PDF detailing keyword and boolean search tips, Google Scholar boolean search tips, and reverse citation searching.
Electronic Access Help
If you have any queries about our electronic resources (databases, e-journals or e-books), please contact the library using the form on this web page.
Interloan Service
The Interloan service enables library users to search for items, create requests for items not held in the University of Otago Library, and monitor the progress of those requests.
Scan Request
This video shows how to request a PDF scan of a book section or print journal from any Otago library.

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