Religion 3391: Non-Canonical
Early Christian Literature

Research Sources

Note: unless a separate link is provided below, you can access the electronic reference tools via the library's
Databases web page.  Those sources with a call number are located in the Coates Library.

1. Finding Books

Use Quest to find books in our collection; you'll find that essays in books on religion will also be found in the ATLA Religion Database mentioned below.

Reference Books (for background, bibliographies)

Encyclopedia of Religion   REF BL 31 E46 2005
This is the best single scholarly encyclopedia for the field of religion.  Use the index volume to find your topic, as many smaller topics are discussed in the longer articles!

Anchor Bible Dictionary   REF BS 440 A54 1992  (6 vols.)

The New Interpreter's Bible   REF BS 491.2 N484 1994

Dictionary of New Testament Background   REF BS 2312 D53 2000

Dictionary of Paul and His Letters   REF BS 2650.2 D53 1993

New Catholic Encyclopedia  REF BX 841 N44 2002

Encyclopaedia Judaica   REF DS 102.8 E496

Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome
     REF DE 59 C55 1988

Scholarly Books

Use Subject Search in QUEST to search for materials grouped together by assigned topic: 

Useful subject phrases include the following:

apocryphal books (New Testament)
Gnostic literature
Bible N.T. canon
Bible N.T. extra-canonical parallels
Dead Sea scrolls
Christian literature, early
Gospel of ______ (which could be Thomas, Mary, Peter, Judas, etc.)
 

 

Use Keyword Search to combine concepts; use a ? at the end of a word root to find all possible forms of that word (e.g., "gnos?" retrieves "gnostic," "gnosticism," "gnosis"):

 

2. Finding Journal Articles

Use appropriate journal databases from the library's Databases web page.  Suggestions for different disciplines are found via the library's "Find Resources by Subject" page.  The best choices include:

ATLA Religion Database

Our most comprehensive index to journals and the best place to start.  Note that it contains scholarly articles, more popular articles, as well as books and essays in books.  Doesn't contain a large percentage of full-text articles, but Trinity does have access to print and electronic versions of many of the journals.

 

Academic Search Premier

Interdisciplinary index to several thousand academic journals and popular periodicals, much of it in full text.  Limit your results to scholarly journals with the checkbox on the search page.

 

If the article listed in the index is not linked to full text, check the journal title (not the article title) in the library's Journals database (one of the top buttons on the library home page).  This service indicates if the library has a print subscription or if the article may be in full-text format in another database to which we subscribe.  For example, a search to find the journal Biblical Interpretation shows it is found online from 1999 forward in three different databases, and is also available in print (where you're likely to find older issues; a click on the desired format takes you to that database or catalog):

Also, you can currently click on the TOUR icon after the citation on your database results screen, which will save you a couple of steps.  This works well with article citations but is inconsistent with books and essays.  If you don't find the book this way, open a separate web browser window for QUEST and search for the book title, not the article title.

Does Trinity not have any access to the journal you need?   We will get a copy of a journal article (or borrow a book) from another library for you, almost always at no charge.  But be prepared to wait about 4-8 days on average for us to receive the item.  Use ILLiad to request an item we don't own.

3. Using Other Internet Sources

Check with your professor about the acceptance of non-scholarly Internet resources in your references.  There are a number of higher quality web resources on Biblical studies that are included in the religion web guides found here.  You may also find useful a site called

"Christian Apocrypha and Early Christian Literature" at The Gnostic Society Library. 

Remember that websites are rarely "peer-reviewed" by scholars, so extra care in evaluating these sources is essential.

(How do I evaluate Internet resources?)

4. Compiling the Bibliography

First, cite every idea you use from one of your readings!  Avoid plagiarism and also let your professor know which creative ideas are yours.

Second, use the proper citation format.  The MLA or Chicago citation style is preferred by your professor.  Online citation examples can be found here.

You may want to use our new bibliography management software, RefWorks.  RefWorks can store your citations, automatically format them into any style desired, and print a reference list for you.  You can save references from many databases, such as ATLA Religion Database, and export them directly from your search results into a folder in RefWorks.