Introductions to historical research
Bradley, James E. and Richard A Muller. Church History: An Introduction to Research, Reference Works, and Methods. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995 [Ref. 270.072 B811c]
Danto, Elizabeth Ann. Historical Research. Pocket Guides to Social Work Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. [Ref. HM 571 .D36]
Primary vs Secondary sources (from Bradley and Muller, above)
- Primary source: "A document, datum, or artifact that belongs to the era under examination and that offers the most direct access to the person or issues being studied," p. 39.
- Secondary sources: "Offer information about an event but stand removed from it either in time or by a process of transmission of information," p. 41.
Critical editions
- In the works of antiquity and Middle Ages
- Corpus Christianorum: Series Latina/Graeca
- Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
Patrologia Latina, Graeca [281.1 M635 and online
]- Thesaurus Linguae Gracae
Consult the "Clavis" volumes in the Corpus Christianorum series for guidance to critical editions of biblical and medieval apocyrypha & pseudepigrapha, and the Greek and Latin fathers [Search the catalog
with the key words Corpus and Clavis to turn these up]
- In American religious history, e.g....
The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Yale) [BX7117 .E3; see esp. v. 1, "Note on the text
," p. 118]- The Whitehead Research Project
The Works of George Santayana (MIT) [see especially catalog record, The Last Puritan]
Translations (Patristics, Medieval Studies)
- Guides to choosing
- Bibliographies in Encyclopedia of Religion
Essays in The Cambridge Companion to .... [e.g. Augustine, Dante, etc]
- Examples in series
Loeb Classical Library [Philo, Josephus, Clement, Tertullian, Augustine, etc]
- Ante-Nicene Fathers; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
Fathers of the Church (CUA Press) [Clement, Tertullian, Augustine, etc]
Classics of Western Spirituality [Origen, Augustine, Hildegard, Julien, etc]
Library of Christian Classics [Clement, Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, etc)
Online primary sources fulltext
- Christian Classics Ethereal Library
- Thesaurus Linguae Graecae
- Monumenta Germaniae Historica(MGH)
- Google Books
- African American Newspapers: The 19th Century
- America's Historical Newspapers
- New York Times Historical
- LexisNexis
- American Decades: Primary Sources
- And see: American History: Primary Sources Online
Encyclopedias
Online
Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church [Ref 230.003 O98o]
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation [Ref 270.603 O98o]
Encyclopedia of Religion in America [Ref. B2520 E52]
New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1st and 2nd eds, 1967 and 2003 [Ref 282.03 E92eE; online]
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Credo Reference
Oxford Reference Online
Print: finding them
First stop: Reference Universe
New Westminster Dictionary of Church History, 2008- [Ref BR95 .W496]
Encyclopedia of the Early Church, 1992 [Ref. 270.103 D622dE]
Patrology, by Johannes Quasten, 1984-2006 [Ref. 281.109 Q1p]
Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 1982-1989 [Ref. 909.07 D554d]
Women and Gender in Medieval Europe, 2006 [Ref. 305.409403 W872w]
Encyclopedia of Protestantism, 2004 [Ref 280.403 E56eE]
Encyclopedia of American Religious History, 3rd ed., 2009 [Ref BL2525 .Q44]
Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience, 1988 [Ref. 291.0973 E56e]
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, 2005 [Ref 903 N532n]
and see: CHIST250
Bibliography: History Compass
Printed Concordances
Biblia Patristica [Ref. 281.102 U58b]
Complete Concordance to Flavius Josephus [Ref. 933 J83Z R412c]
The Philo Index: A Complete Greek Word Index... [181.3 P565Z B732p]
Key journals
Church History
Journal of Early Christian Studies
Methodist History
Religion and American Culture
Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies
Library catalog
Browse searching for geographic and period breakdowns
Church History Primitive and Early Church, ca 30-600
United States Church History To 1775
Social History
Christianity and Justice--History
Christian Sociology--History
su Social History and .... [e.g. monasticism]
su Social Ethics and .... [e.g. Martin Luther King]
su Social Aspects [or Social Conditions] and .... [e.g. women and England]
Source material: add "Sources" to any topic
Periodical Databases
L'anne philologique
International Medieval Bibliography
Feminae
Historical Abstracts
America: History and Life
LexixNexis
Readers Guide Retrospective
Other humanities and general databases
JSTOR
Project Muse
Academic Search Premier
Recommended websites in church history