LibGuides: Biblical Studies Research: Open Access Resources & Web Sites

Open Access Resources

Open Access Free tto all. No access restrictions. Those included here contain peer reviewed resources.

Association of Religion Data Archives
Provides access to the best data on religion. The archive is a collection of surveys, polls, and other data submitted by the foremost scholars and research centers in the world.
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Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997 and going online in 1998, the initial archive was targeted at researchers interested in American religion. The targeted audience and the data collection have both greatly expanded since 1998, now including American and international collections and developing features for educators, journalists, religious congregations, and researchers. Data included in the ARDA are submitted by the foremost religion scholars and research centers in the world. Currently housed in the Social Science Research Institute, the College of Liberal Arts, and the Department of Sociology at the Pennsylvania State University, the ARDA is funded by the Lilly Endowment, the John Templeton Foundation, Chapman University and the Pennsylvania State University.
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Publishes open-access, peer-reviewed reviews of current scholarly work in the field of classical studies (including archaeology) from 1990 to the present.

Choral Public Domain Library This link opens in a new window
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Here you will find free choral/vocal scores, texts, translations, and other useful information. This ChoralWiki is updated daily, permits unrestricted downloads and no-edit viewing.
CPDL was founded in December 1998, ported to ChoralWiki in August 2005,
and incorporated in May 2010 as a U.S.A. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization.

Cooperative Digital Resources Inistiative
The CDRI database provides access to digital images of woodcuts, photographs, slides, papyri, coins, maps, postcards, manuscripts, lithographs, sermons, shape-note tune books, and various forms of Christian art, architecture, and iconography.
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The Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative of the American Theological Library Association and Association of Theological Schools is a repository of digital resources contributed by member libraries. The creation of CDRI was made possible by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation; it is now an ongoing ATLA program.
DOAB
Directory of Open Access Books enables you to search the description of the books and enables you to download the books from the site of the publisher.
DOAJ
DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.
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The Directory of Open Access Journals was launched in 2003 at Lund University, Sweden, with 300 open access journals and today contains ca. 9000 open access journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social science and humanities.
Early Music Sources
The aim of this website is to simplify the access to the vast amount of online early music sources. The sources database as well as the iconography database enable quick search and gateway to sources according to various categories.
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In addition to the databases, Early Music Sources also features a youtube series dealing with various topics relating to early music.
For further research you may refer to RISM (sources) and RIDIM (iconography).

The Finder This link opens in a new window
A combined Author/Title Index to these Reformed Publications:
The Banner of Truth Magazine 1955-2009
Reformation Today 1970-2009
Westminster/Puritan Conference 1955-2009
Banner Website Articles 1998-2009 (selected)
Compiled by Michael Keen.
The document may be searched by using the computer short cut: Ctrl f. A list of keywords to trace historical and biographical articles is supplied.

Hathi Trust Digital Library
A partnership of major research institutions and libraries working to ensure that the cultural record is preserved and accessible long into the future.
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The mission of HathiTrust is to contribute to research, scholarship, and the common good by collaboratively collecting, organizing, preserving, communicating, and sharing the record of human knowledge. There are more than 120 partners in HathiTrust, and membership is open to institutions worldwide.

Index Theologicus This link opens in a new window
IxTheo is a comprehensive bibliography for theology and religious studies. It is now possible to search not only for articles, but also for monographs, databases and relevant Internet links.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Founded in 1995 to provide open access to detailed, scholarly information on key topics and philosophers in all areas of philosophy.
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The purpose of the IEP is to provide detailed, scholarly information on key topics and philosophers in all areas of philosophy. The Encyclopedia's articles are written with the intention that most of the article can be understood by advanced undergraduates majoring in philosophy and by other scholars who are not working in the field covered by that article. The IEP articles are written by experts but not for experts in analogy to the way the Scientific American magazine is written by scientific experts but not primarily for scientific experts.
Internet Scout Archives
Collects and catalogs each annotated resource featured in the weekly Scout Report and special issues. Users may find resources of particular interest to them using a keyword search, an advanced search, or by browsing by Library of Congress subject headings.
Jericho to Jerusalem Road from the Air
The road from Jericho to Jerusalem explained using aerial video and photographs. Hiking the Jericho Road. *There is a mistake in the narration. At 6:00 minute, the statement “the modern highway starts up, out of the Og Canyon…”, is incorrect. The video clip shown there is from lower down the road (east) before the modern highway arrives to the "Adummim crest". The video clip starting at 6:44 is the modern highway. Published on Jun 17, 2015
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)
A standardized controlled vocabulary used by libraries around the world. Easily identify appropriate terminology to search for information on any topic.
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Historically referred to as the "Red Books". This is the authoritative source from which most subject headings are acquired.
Liddell-Scott Jones Lexicon
The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) is the premier standard lexicographical resource for classical Greek.
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The TLG version represents five years of intensive work to produce a fully edited and searchable version of LSJ with links to the TLG corpus.
Map LCC to DDC
This table maps Library of Congress Classification numbers to Dewey Decimal Classifications and vice versa.
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Please note that mappings to some LCC classes are still in process. LCC Class R has been replaced, in QuestionPoint, by National Library of Medicine Classes QS - QZ and W.
Medieval Review
Reviews of current work in all areas of Medieval Studies, a field it interprets as broadly as possible.
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The electronic medium allows for very rapid publication of reviews, and provides a computer searchable archive of past reviews, both of which are of great utility to scholars and students around the world. Since 2007, TMR has been sponsored by the Medieval Studies Institute and the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Monergism.com This link opens in a new window
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Monergism.com is a free, comprehensive online theological library comprised of Reformed Christian resources designed to bring glory to Jesus Christ alone. The directory consists of original and aggregated content from around the world emphasizing the good news that salvation is God's free gift for guilty sinners, not a reward for the righteous.

Mutopia Project
Sheet Music Free to download, modify, print, copy, distribute, perform, and record – all in the Public Domain or under Creative Commons licenses.
Permitted Uses for this Database
National Center for Charitable Statistics; NTEE
The national repository of data on the nonprofit sector in the United States. Get Facts & Figures, charitable giving by state, NTEE Classification, and Projects & Reports
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Its mission is to develop and disseminate high quality data on nonprofit organizations and their activities for use in research on the relationships between the nonprofit sector, government, the commercial sector, and the broader civil society.
Permitted Uses for this Database

Open Access Digital Theological Library This link opens in a new window
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Curated high-quality content in religious studies and related disciplines from publisher websites, institutional repositories, scholarly societies, archives, and stable public domain collections.
The OADTL is staffed by professional librarians and curates content without regard for theological or confessional perspective. It is hoped that the increased access to high-quality religious studies content will serve scholars and students of religion.

Pew Research Center
Numbers, facts and trends shaping the world.
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The project conducts surveys, demographic studies and other social science research to examine a wide range of issues concerning religion and society in the United States and around the world
Post-Reformation Digital Library
A select database of digital books relating to the development of theology and philosophy during the Reformation and Post-Reformation/Early Modern Era (late 15th-18th c.).
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Late medieval and patristic works printed and referenced in the early modern era are also included. The PRDL is a project of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research.
Post-Reformation Digital Library
A select database of digital books relating to the development of theology and philosophy during the Reformation and Post-Reformation/Early Modern Era (late 15th-18th c.).
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Late medieval and patristic works printed and referenced in the early modern era are also included. The PRDL is a project of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research.
Project Gutenberg
The first producer of free ebooks.
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Offers over 45,000 high quality free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online. All of these ebooks were previously published by bona fide publishers.
RAMBI
The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies – was founded by Dr. Issachar Joel in 1966. It is a selective bibliography of academic articles covering all of the fields of Jewish studies as well as the study of Eretz Israel and the State of Israel.
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The articles listed in RAMBI are collected from thousands of journals, in print or electronic, from collections of articles and from offprints sent by researchers. RAMBI refers to articles in Hebrew, Latin or Cyrillic letters. The database is updated on a daily basis.

Reformed Books Online This link opens in a new window
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The Best, Free, Biblical, Reformed Books and Articles Online. Provides the best theological literature from 1800 to today available for free on the internet. Select works from the reformation and puritan periods are included as well.

Review of Biblical and Early Christian Studies
An online open-access review publication maintained by two doctoral students in the UK and two early career researchers overseas. Their aim is to publish, on a regular basis, book reviews and conference/seminar reports.
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The books reviewed are recently published and significant works and quality reports on conference and seminar papers by leading scholars.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy organizes scholars from around the world in philosophy and related disciplines to create and maintain an up-to-date reference work.
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The SEP is designed so that each entry is maintained and kept up-to-date by an expert or group of experts in the field. All entries and substantive updates are refereed by the members of a distinguished Editorial Board before they are made public. Consequently, our dynamic reference work maintains academic standards while evolving and adapting in response to new research. You can cite fixed editions that are created on a quarterly basis and stored in our Archives (every entry contains a link to its complete archival history, identifying the fixed edition the reader should cite).

Religion, Christianity, Biblical Studies Web Sites

Biblical Training
A Christian, non-profit, web-based ministry whose world-class, educational resources for discipleship are intended to help you be, think and act like Jesus. Their materials are evangelical, controlled by their Statement of Faith.
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Classes range from new believers to biblical literacy (“Foundations”), leadership development (“Leadership”), and seminary-level training (“Institute”). All Bible classes are taught by world-class professors from major seminaries.
Biblical Worldview Resources
Bibliography and research tips for information on a biblical worldview.
Caspari Center for Biblical and Jewish Studies
The Caspari Center for Biblical and Jewish Studies is an evangelical resource and education center for training, discipleship, and academic research and study. Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians work together to strengthen and support the movement of Jewish believers in Jesus in Israel.
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The Caspari Center offers teaching and encourages studies and academic research in a wide variety of fields. However, its primary focus is on two main areas of study: Messianic Judaism and the Jewish background of the Christian faith. It provides full text access to the journal Mishkan as well as newsletters, media reviews, articles, and more.
Consortium of European Research Libraries
CERL provides cross-searching of catalogues of European manuscript and archival materials. In order to reflect the Consortium's interests in both the European printed heritage and written heritage, the Portal has been extended to provide cross-file searching of the HPB Database and the English Short-Title catalogue. The Advanced search interface uses the CERL Thesaurus to provide multi-lingual assisted searching of personal names.
DL Moody Digital Archives
The D.L. Moody Digital Archives captures our mission to better understand the life and work of D.L. Moody and to understand the work that God accomplished through him. The archives contains correspondence, journals and diaries, sermon notes, student records, photos, and recollections about Mr. Moody ranging from the 1850s to the mid twentieth century. The completed archives will reveal new sides of Mr. Moody’s private life and public activities, and feature:
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These documents include full transcriptions and shed light on Moody’s relationships with family, friends, and ministry partners as well his travels around the globe to share the gospel.
Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon
Robert A. J. Gagnon, Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary writes on Pauline theology and sexual issues in the Bible.
Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry
Communicating biblical truth and providing spiritual and physical help to the Jewish people. Home to the magazine "Israel My Glory".
Religion Online
Religion Online is designed to assist teachers, scholars and general “seekers” who are interested in exploring religious issues. Its aim is to develop an extensive library of resources, representing many different points of view, but all written from the perspective of sound scholarship.
Top Commentaries on Every Book of the Bible
Dr. Keith Mathison has put together a list of his “Top 5” commentaries for each book of the Bible.
World Religions & Related Statistics
National & World Religion Statistics, Church Statistics, World Religions, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, and adherent statistics. The religions of the world are enumerated here.
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Data from both primary research sources such as government census reports, statistical sampling surveys and organizational reporting, as well as citations from secondary literature which mention adherent statistics. References to published membership/adherent statistics and congregation statistics for over 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, etc.
Famous and influential: Adherents.com also has detailed lists of influential and famous adherents of over 100 different religious groups (famous Methodists, famous Jews, famous Catholics, famous Zoroastrians, famous Jehovah's Witnesses, famous Theosophists, etc.), and lists of prominent people (actors, politicians, authors, U.S. presidents, artists, musicians, Supreme Court justices, film directors, etc.) classified by religious affiliation. These lists are linked to thousands of detailed religious/spiritual biographies.

Theses & Dissertations: Fee & Free

Access limited to TMUS users only

American Doctoral Dissertations This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to the only comprehensive record of dissertations accepted by American universities from 1902 to the present. Citations include a link to access the full text, when available, via the institutional Repository where the thesis or dissertation is house.
A free resource accessible to all researchers, American Doctoral Dissertations is available on the EBSCOhost® platform, and the content is available via EBSCO Discovery Service™.
ATS Dissertations This link opens in a new window
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ePlace is a digital collection of research and writing produced by the faculty, staff, and students of Asbury Theological Seminary. Managed by the B.L. Fisher Library, ePlace is designed to promote the open access of material from the Wesleyan and Holiness traditions to be shared with a global audience. It also serves as a place to preserve rare and difficult to locate material and encourage academic research and ongoing dialog between scholars in the field.
Digital Collections @ Dordt This link opens in a new window
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Content includes conference papers, research, theses, presentations, publications, and special collections by faculty, students, and staff at Dordt College. Sharing knowledge with a broader audience is an important goal of Digital Collections @ Dordt.
Dissertations Express This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world.
Students, faculty, and other researchers search the database for titles related to their scholarly interests. You may purchase either unbound, shrink-wrapped print copies or PDF files.
Duke Space This link opens in a new window
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DukeSpace provides access to recent Duke dissertations and master's projects as well as access to university records and other related digital content managed by the Duke University Archives.
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Center This link opens in a new window
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ETD is an online database of Ohio's undergraduate, masters and doctoral theses and dissertations from participating OhioLINK member schools.
The ETD Center is freely accessible worldwide to anyone interested in the theses and dissertations published in Ohio. It contains the abstract for all included theses and dissertations. The full-text is also available if it was submitted.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations This link opens in a new window
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NDLTD is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). Use the Global ETD search to find electronic theses & dissertation.
Supports electronic publishing and open access to scholarship in order to enhance the sharing of knowledge worldwide. Includes resources for university administrators, librarians, faculty, students, and the general public. Topics include how to find, create, and preserve ETDs; how to set up an ETD program; legal and technical questions; and the latest news and research in the ETD community.
Open Access Theses and Dissertations This link opens in a new window
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OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions.
OpenDissertations This link opens in a new window
An open-access database built to assist researchers in locating both historic and contemporary dissertations and theses.
Providing researchers with citations to graduate research across a span of time, from the early 20th century to the present, this database will continue to grow through regular updates and new partnerships with graduate degree-granting institutions.
PQDT Open This link opens in a new window
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Provides the full text of open access dissertations and theses free of charge.
You can quickly and easily locate dissertations and theses relevant to your discipline, and view the complete text in PDF format.
ProQuest Dissertations This link opens in a new window
The world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses..
The official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress and the database of record for graduate research. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Simple bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637. Full Text includes millions of searchable citations to dissertation and theses from around the world from 1861 to the present day together with over a million full text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format.
Research in Ministry This link opens in a new window
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Research in Ministry® (RIM®)is a thesis and dissertation abstract database where users can search for and share the outcomes of research conducted in programs of study related to ministry, theology, and religion.
RIM is a searchable database with entries for authors, titles, thesis/project advisors, schools, and ATLA subject headings. Abstracts can be searched by keyword. Links have also been added to records for schools that also participate in the Theological Research Exchange Network.
Theses Canada This link opens in a new window
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A collaborative program between Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Canadian universities. It strives to acquire and preserve theses and dissertations from participating universities, provide free access to Canadian electronic theses and dissertations in the collection, facilitate access to non-digital theses and dissertations in the collection.
TREN This link opens in a new window
Search TREN for over 10,000 theological thesis/dissertation titles representing research from as many as 139 different institutions. Authorized users from TMUS may download edocs for free.

The best way to search TREN is with a single term or phrase. To search a phrase you will need to select “more search options” from the home page and then select “exact phrase” from “Search For Theses/Dissertations” (do not put quotation marks around the phrase).
TREN also makes available conference papers presented at annual meetings of several academic societies. Like:
Evangelical Theological Society
American Society of Church History
Society for Pentecostal Studies
North American Patristic Society
American Catholic Historical Association
UCL Discovery This link opens in a new window
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UCL's open access repository, showcasing and providing access to UCL research publications.
WorldCat Dissertations This link opens in a new window
An index of all dissertations and theses cataloged in WorldCat