Religious Studies

The huge panoply of Latin biblical texts which were in existence and use from the second century AD/CE until the time when the Vulgate became predominant are known under the common rubric of the Vetus Latina, or the Old Latin, Bible. The term Vetus Latina refers to all those biblical texts translated into Latin which are not found in the Vulgate. The textual tradition of the Vetus Latina is complex and incomplete. Because there are a limited number of extant manuscripts that haphazardly cover the biblical text the basic sources are biblical citations or allusions that are found within the writings of the Latin Fathers or Greek patristic authors who were translated at an early date into Latin.

The Latin Bible is at the core of Western culture, but it also bears witness to the development of this civilisation, through the many reworkings the text has undergone down the centuries. Our whole intellectual and religious history can be held up to the mirror of these variants. They are a fundamental resource not only for theologians, but for historians and literary scholars. Many layers of language, from the most vernacular to the most refined, can be seen in these texts.

The founders of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae were not unaware of these facts. At their prompting a Bavarian priest, Abbot Joseph Denk, in the late nineteenth century undertook to start collecting all citations to the Latin Bible from the writings of the Church Fathers, in the way that had been done 250 years earlier by the Maurist Pierre Sabatier. It is important to stress that versions of Holy Scripture, throughout the ages, have quickly become outdated and, during the manuscript era, the redundant texts which were no longer being recopied were destined for extinction. Citations alone record them, and hence their importance.

Denk's collection, comprising many hundreds of thousands of files, was deposited at Saint Boniface Abbey in Beuron (Germany). The collection is the foundation for the task of editing the ancient Latin versions of the Bible being undertaken by the Vetus Latina Institute at the abbey itself. It is constantly being updated and expanded, as new editions of patristic writings appear. Many scholars have visited the abbey to consult this unique resource. But many more scholars write to the Institute with questions that only this archive can answer. The archive was recently microfilmed, as a security measure, but this has also allowed the data to be transcribed and input in a way that allows individual scholars to consult the material at home or at work on CD-Rom or Online.

Yizkor (memorial) books are an invaluable source of information to researchers as they are often the only resource for vital statistical, historical, biographical, bibliographical, cultural, sociological, geographic, and other information on the Jewish communities of Europe that were virtually annihilated by the Nazis of Germany and their collaborators from 1939-1945. 'The New York Public Library's Digital Yizkor Book Viewer provides page-turner technology to read or consult crystal-clear digital images of complete Holocaust memorial books, exactly as issued.'

'650 of the 700 post [World War II] yizkor books at The New York Public Library are accessible online in their entirety...volumes currently available in hard copy only are indicated by an asterisk on the alphabetical list [in Yizkor Books Online database entry page] of communities whose yizkor books are in the [New York Public] Library's collection.'

The Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts (CPT) gives researchers immediate, Web-based access to hundreds of often hard-to-find works, never before published in a single collection. The texts are indexed and marked up to the highest quality digital standards, giving easy access to the full range of authors whose writings shaped and defined the Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Anabaptist traditions.

With more than 1,200 volumes in all, including the opera omnia of numerous major writers (Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon, Zwingli, William Perkins, and Johannes Cocceius, among others), the CPT is the largest collection of Protestant writings ever assembled, and the only such searchable electronic resource. Users will find works by the familiar and the not-so-familiar: Beza, Bucer, Bullinger, Chemnitz, Episcopius, Thomas Firmin, Stephen Nye, Oecolampadius, Menno Simons, Peter Vermigli, and hundreds more. Complementing the theological writings is an extensive selection of confessional documents, biblical commentaries, polemical treatises, catechisms, and liturgical works.

 

16th & 17th centuries

ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials is the full text version of the ATLA Religion Database (ATLA). This database is a collection of major religion and theology journals selected by some of the major religion scholars in the United States. Coverage of this database dates back to 1949.

New Testament Abstracts Online is a product of a partnership between ATLA and the Weston Jesuit School of Theology. The database is an indispensable research and bibliographic aid for scholars, librarians, clergy and students of the New Testament and its historical milieu.

Indexes materials on Islam, the Middle East, and the entire Muslim world from periodicals, monographs, and other collections in European languages. Includes coverage arts & humanities, history and social sciences topics. Also provides excellent coverage of the Turkish diaspora in Germany.

1906-

The Library of Latin Texts – Series A is the world’s leading database for Latin texts. In total, the present version of the LLT-A contains over 63 million Latin words, drawn from more than 3,200 works that are attributed to approximately 950 authors. The texts which are incorporated are selected by virtue of their having been edited according to best contemporary scholarly practice. Independent research is undertaken to verify facts relating to the text, such as the veracity of the authorial attribution or the dating. In addition, errors in word-forms from the printed version are corrected.

Literature from Antiquity: The first chronological part of the database comprises the entire corpus of Latin literature from Classical Antiquity up to the second century A.D. (opera omnia of Plautus, Terence, Caesar, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Titius-Livius, the Senecas, the two Plinys, Tacitus, Quintilian and the others). The texts from this section come essentially from the Bibliotheca scriptorum Romanorum Teubneriana / Bibliotheca Teubneriana Latina 1.

Literature from Patristic Authors: The second chronological part of the database comprises the patristic Latin literature that starts around 200 C.E./A.D. with Tertullian and ends with the death of the Venerable Bede in 735. It offers the complete works of important patristic writers such as Ambrose, Augustine, Ausonius, Cassian, Cyprian, Gregory the Great, Jerome, Marius Victorinus, Novatian, Paulinus of Nola, Prudentius, Tertullian and many rich corpora of authors such as Cassiodorus, Isidore and Bede. It also contains non-Christian literature of that period such as Ammianus Marcellinus, the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Claudian, Macrobius, or Martianus Capella.

Literature from the Middle Ages (736-1500): The medieval literature in the database comprises Latin literature after 735 and includes a large number of texts up to 1500. This part of the database includes the complete works of many medieval authors such as Anselm of Canterbury, Beatus of Liebana, Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, Sedulius Scottus, Thomas a Kempis, Thomas of Celano. It also includes the Sentences and the Commentaries on the Pauline epistles of Peter Lombard, the Rationale of Guillaume Durand and important works by Abelard, Bonaventure, Ramon Llull, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham and so forth. The texts from patristic and medieval sections come essentially from the Corpus Christianorum series.

Neo-Latin Literature (1501-1965): This part of the database already contains over 2 million words and will continue to develop. It includes, for instance, the decrees from the modern ecumenical Church councils up to Vatican II, sixteenth century translations into Latin of important medieval works and works of Lawrence of Brindisi.

Includes recent editions of works from the ancient period to the 20th century.

This supplement focuses on the pontificate of John Paul II and includes thematic essays that present the man and his work. Included as part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

2nd Edition

The second edition of this highly regarded encyclopedia, intended to reflect both changes in academia and in the world since 1987, includes almost all of the 2,750 original entries -- many heavily updated -- as well as approximately 600 entirely new articles. Preserving the best of the first edition's cross-cultural approach, while emphasizing religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture, this new edition is the definitive work in the field for the 21st century. An international team of scholars and contributors have reviewed, revised and added to every word of the classic work, making it relevant to the questions and interests of all researchers. Included as part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

2nd Edition

Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices presents detailed information on current religious practices around the world, with an emphasis on how religion impacts the daily lives of its followers. Entries cover everything from central doctrines and sacred texts to dietary customs and significant holidays. The three-volume set explores 13 major religions, plus 28 denominations, and spans 193 countries in Asia and Oceania, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East. Also includes 300 illustrations, belief tables showing how individual religions are unique and what they share with other religions, a calendar of holy days, a glossary, maps, a cumulative index, and much more. Included as part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.