History of Christianity Please refer to these additional Information Sheets at the GTU Library for more in-depth guides to particular eras:
Early Church History The Middle Ages – An Introduction American Religious History Special Resources to Note: See also GRACE, under the subject History--Methodology Church History: An Introduction to Research, Reference Works, and Methods Reference BR138 .B69 1995 The Historian’s Toolbox D16 W62 2003 The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature Reference D20 .N66 1995 A bibliography of historical resources, from early to modern history, both secular and religious. Readings in Church History Reference BR141 .B27 Gathers texts (in English or English translation) of key documents in church history. Sources of Catholic Dogma Reference BX1749 .D413 2001 Similar to the work listed above, but focuses on Catholic documents. Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition Reference BT990 .C64 2003 Historiography of creeds, with texts in English translation, plus Latin/Greek texts for earlier creeds. Getting Started: The encyclopedias that follow give brief overviews of topics. You will save yourself a lot of time if you are familiar with the context for your topic before you start looking for more in-depth material. Also, you will usually find a bibliography at the end of every article that will point you to some of the best of more in-depth material. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Reference BR95 .O8 1997 One-volume encyclopedia that can get you off the ground when you have absolutely no idea what
something is or means. Amazing coverage of just about everything in the realm of church history. Encyclopedia of Christianity Reference BR95 .E8913 1999 Another all-purpose encyclopedia. Includes articles on particular countries. Also includes many modern topics such as the Holiness Movement and Feminist Theology. So far, volumes 1 and 2 (A – I ) have been published. The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought Reference BR95 .O84 2000 Combines theology and history into a useful articles on a range of topics. New Catholic Encyclopedia Reference BX841 .N44 2002 and 1967 Catholic Encyclopedia Reference BX841 .C25 1913 Despite the title, the scope is much broader than just the Catholic Church. This source contains a lot of church history information. The older edition is completely different from the new and often covers topics that had faded into obscurity by the time of the new edition. Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Reference BR162.2 .E53 1997 Encyclopedia of the Early Church Reference BR66.5 .D5813 1992 Scope is basically up to the time of Bede (673-735) in the west and John of Damascus (c.675-c.759) in the East. The second work contains useful diagrams in the appendix of sites important in this era. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium Reference DF521 .O93 Scope is 4th to the 15th century. Includes all regions that ever formed part of the Byzantine Empire. The Coptic Encyclopedia Reference BX130.5 .C66 1991 Especially useful for early church topics, particularly before the Council of Chalcedon (451). Dictionary of the Middle Ages Reference D114 .D5 1982 Scope is basically 500 to 1500, and geographically the Latin West, the Slavic world, Asia Minor, the lands of the caliphate in the East, and the Muslim-Christian areas of North Africa.
Encyclopedia of Monasticism Reference BL631 .J85 2000 Includes Western and Eastern Christian monasticism as well as Buddhist monasticism. Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation Reference BR302.8 .O93 1996 Looks not only at the religious life of the sixteenth century, but also the “related societal phenomena that…had bearing on religion” during that time. Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement Reference BX6.3 .D53 2002 Surveys doctrinal themes, people, dialogue between traditions, and movements. New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements Reference BR1644 .D53 2002 Country surveys, timelines, and topical discussions. A Dictionary of Asian Christianity Reference BR1065 .D52 Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience Reference BL2525 .E53 1988 “Studies of Traditions and Movements” organized by religious tradition. Contemporary American Religion Reference BL2525 .C65 2000 Wow! Covers everything from “African Methodist Episcopal Church” to “Masculine Spirituality” to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Encyclopedia of African American Religions Reference BR563 .N4 E53 People, churches and other faith communities, organizations, and movements. Other useful resources for getting started: Emerging Trends Reference BR526 .E4 Statistics on American religion. See also http://library.gtu.edu/links/statistics.html. Dictionary of Art
Reference N31 .D5 1996 and
http://library.gtu.edu/databases.html.
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34 volume encyclopedia. The online version contains the same articles, but includes links to external sites of images. Click on the “Bridgeman Collection” for even more images. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Reference ML100 .N48 2001 Women’s Studies Encyclopedia Reference HQ1115 .W645 1999 Encyclopedia of Religion Reference BL31 .E46 1987 Native American Almanac Reference E76.2 .N28 Asian American Almanac Reference E184 .O6 A824 Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History Reference E185 .E54 1996 Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture Reference F1400 .E53 1996 Next Steps: See the GTU Library InfoSheet, Getting Started in Research and the brochure, GRACE: Searching the GTU Library Catalog, for more information about searching the library’s online catalog for books and other materials. See also the GTU Library InfoSheet, Journals and Indexes or the Library’s online tutorial Finding Journal Articles at http://library.gtu.edu/tutorials/journals.html. Indexes that may be of particular interest include: ATLA Religion Database Religious and Theological Abstracts Catholic Periodical and Literature Index Proquest Religion Database EBSCO Religion and Philosophy Collection Humanities Abstracts GTU Library website: library.gtu.edu See the Library’s Church History page on its website at http://library.gtu.edu/links/history.html. Particularly useful are the texts of classic documents found on links in the Church History page. Links to web pages containing statistics may be found on the Statistics and Social Science page. Consult the list of other pages found41 under the Links to Other Sites menu. Reference Section 12/2003 Telephone: (510) 649-2501 FAX: (510) 649-2508 Email: libref@gtu.edu