Welcome to the Collections Guide for Theology and Religious Studies.

The Key Classmarks for finding books in the library for your subject are:

• BL1-2790- Religions, mythology, rationalism
• BM1-990- Judaism
• BP 1-605- Islam, Bahaism, theosophy
• BQ1-9800- Buddhism
• BR1-1725- Christianity
• BS1-2970- The Bible
• BT1-1480- Doctrinal Theology
• BV1-5099- Practical Theology
• BX1-9999 - Denominations and sects

Once you know the call number (or classmark) you are looking for, you can use a floor plan to help you find the area of the library to visit. Most books that are relevant to Arts & Humanities are held in the Maughan Library.

Books are organised on the shelves using call numbers (or classmarks). We use the Library of Congress Classification Scheme which creates call numbers (or classmarks) using a series of letters and numbers - eg DD237 PEU.

• The initial letters denote the general subject area (eg DD denotes the history of Germany)
• The numbers denote a more specific subject area (eg DD237 denotes general works on the history of Germany post 1918)
• The final combination of letters and numbers denote the author.

The Foyle Special Collections Library has extensive holdings of rare and historical material relating to Theology and Religious Studies, particularly Christianity and Judaism. These include:

• The Marsden Collection, comprising items from the library of William Marsden (1754-1836), orientalist and collector, which contains many rare Bibles in languages ranging from Latvian to Tamil
• The Box Collection, comprising the library of Canon George Herbert Box (1869-1933), Professor of Hebrew at King's and covering Old Testament theology, Biblical archaeology, Judaism and ancient languages of the Middle East
• The Rainbow Collection, comprising the library  of Dr Bernarr Rainbow (1914-98), Director of Music at the College of St Mark and St John, Chelsea, and containing Christian and Jewish hymnals and other liturgical music
• The Ratcliff Collection, comprising the library of Canon Edward Craddock Ratcliff (1896-1967), Professor of Liturgical Theology at King’s, and covering Christian liturgical and doctrinal theology, Biblical scholarship and the early history of Christianity
• The Relton Collection, comprising the library of Herbert Maurice Relton (1882-1971), Professor of Dogmatic Theology at King’s and covering Christian dogmatic theology, spiritualism and ecclesiastical history.
•  HG Adler Collection
•  Box Collection
•  Miscellaneous Collection
•  Rare Books Collection

Please see also our online exhibition on translating the Bible .

Here is just one example of an item held in Special Collections on this subject:
The Holy Bible, conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: newly translated out of the originall tongues: and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. London, 1613. Foyle Special Collections Library