HS 1080: Christianity from Jewish Sect to Colonial Religion

A Basic Bibliography of Reference Works for the Historian of Religion in Late Antiquity and Medieval through Early Modern Europe

N.B. (=Nota bene, "note well!") most of the translations of primary sources included in the webpages below are no longer bound by copyright, that is, old (a few new original translations done by scholars recently are included in the Internet History Sourcebook, however). When doing research you must check to see if newer and better translations are available. The same holds for many of the primary sources on the web used in this course: we are using them as a matter of convenience. But they are not always be the best translations available.

The Internet History Sourcebook Project, edited by Paul Halsall at Fordham University, is vast, with sections on ancient, medieval, modern, Byzantine, African, East Asian, Indian, Islamic, Jewish, Women's, and Lesbian/Gay histories.

The Gregorian Chant Homepage at Princeton University's Music History Department offers links to websites treating all aspects of medieval Plain Chant.

A list of Latin liturgical books currently in use m ay be found at this page, of the Gregorian Association, which offers a brief history of Plain Chant from Carolingian times to its revival by the Benedictines of Solesmes.

Project Wittenberg has a good collection of early Lutheran theological writings, including many key works of Martin Luther.

The website of the Meeter Center for Calvin Studies provides on-line, searchable bibliography and articles, and an image archive on John Calvin, among other things. The principle Center for Calvin studies in North America.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library has a large collection of historical writings, from ancient Christianity to the recent past, in Catholic, eastern, Protestant, and evangelical traditions, and emphasizing literature for "edification."

Project Canterbury provides material on the history of the Anglican theological tradition, including historical and materials and some older secondary literature.

H-Net is an excellent source of open-access book reviews on historical subjects by scholars.

Definitions of Latin and Greek terms may be found using the on-line lexikons of the Perseus Project.

General Histories of Christiantiy.

Jedin, Hubert. Editor. History of the Church. 10 vols. New York: Crossroad, 1965-81. A detailed work by prominent Catholic scholars, dated but still useful.

Mayeur, Jean-Marie. Pietri, Charles. Vauchez, André. Venard, Marc. Histoire du Christianisme des origines à nos jours. 12 vols.+ Paris: Desclée, 1990+. Twelve volumes published to date and comprising essays by widely recognized specialists on central subject areas of the entire history of Christianity throughout the world, this offers very good introductory essays on all the major aspects of the organisation, practices, beliefs, etc. of the Christian religion in the various regions of its influence. I like this series very much.

The Cambridge History of Christianity, 9 vols. (Cambridge University Press: 2006-2009), a complete chronological account of Christianity, very up-to-date and generally reflects the best scholarship being done in English today.

The following is a list of generally reliable reference works. For simple questions, the Oxford Reference On-Line, available among the research databases of the GTU library website, will prove helpful.

The Catholic Encyclopedia (scroll down and select a letter to browse for an article on a person or topic alphabetically) is a useful reference for basic, but sometime outdated, background information.

The Coptic Encyclopedia. 8 vols. Edited by Aziz S. Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991.

Cross, F.L., and Livingstone, E.L., editors. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd ed. Oxford, 1997.
This is the best one volume dictionary in English that pertains to our subject.

Dictionary of the Middle Ages. 13 vols. Edited by Joseph Strayer. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982-1989.

Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie. 15 vols., numerous parts. Edited by Fernand Cabrol et al. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1907-1953. This is a very important reference work for the history of liturgy, as well as archeology, especially with regard to Christianity in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

Dictionnaire des symboles liturgiques. Edited by Pierre Miquel, Paula Picard. Paris : Léopard d'or, 1995. A dictionary of liturgical symbolism. For more extensive treatment of symbols, see Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, below.

Dictionnaire de théologie catholique. 15 vols., numerous parts, 3 index vols. Edited by A. Vacant and E. Mangenot. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1908-1972. This is the most important reference work on the history of theology. If you know some French, use it!

Encyclopedia of Asian History. 4 vols. Edited by Ainslie T. Embrice. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.

Encyclopaedia of Islam. 7 volumes as of 1993 (to the letters Na). New Edition. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960+. This is the revision of a very good reference tool on Islam in the English language.

The Encyclopedia of Religion. Edited by Mircea Eliade. New York: Macmillan, 1987.

Frédéric, Louis. Encyclopedia of Asian Civilizations. 11 vols. Paris: Jean-Michel Place, 1977- 87. Volume 10 contains maps and charts.

An Historical Atlas of Islam. Edited by William C. Brice. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981. This atlas provides fine historical maps of the Eurasian continent and India during the period studied in this course.

Gilbert, Martin. The Jewish History Atlas. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969.

Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst. Edited by Gertrud Schiller. 5 vols. numerous parts. Gütersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1966. This is most convenient reference for basic iconographical themes in Christian art.

The Jewish Encyclopedia. 12 vols. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906. A very useful source of information on medieval and early modern Judaism.

Kazhdan, Alexander P. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Littell, F. W. The Macmillan Atlas of the History of Christianity. New York, 1976.

McEvedy, Colin. The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. New York, 1961. Good for seeing geographical changes in European religion.

New Catholic Encyclopedia. 18 vols. Washington, DC, 1967. Actually, the old encyclopedia (which is available on the web at the link listed at the head of this bibliography) was more thorough. But this one will be more useful to most people. It has good, brief articles on important people (like Thomas Aquinas; Augustine; the emperor Justinian) and subjects (like canon law, the papacy).

Richardson, A. Editor. A Dictionary of Christian Theology. Philadelphia, 1969. Good for finding the meaning of obscure theological terms.

Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend. Edited by Maria Leach. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1972. Limited as a research tool (the articles contain no bibliography), but handy.

Theologische Realencyklopädie. 22 volumes as of 1993 (to the letter M). New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1977+. This is an outstanding reference tool with articles treating all the major themes and figures of the history of Christianity and theology. If you know German, you should venture into it.

Van der Meer, F. Mohrman, C. Atlas of the Early Christian World. London, 1958. An exemplary atlas and a pleasure to use.