Library Search and Databases A-Z
- Library SearchIf you want to check a specific book or article and find out whether it is held in the King's library collections then Library Search is a good place to start.
While you can search in Library Search with keywords to discover material you didn't know about, it will never give you the full flexibility and searching capacity that a specialist database can.
Where electronic versions of a book, article, or other material type are available, Library Search will give you a link to access it. You may then be prompted to login before being able to actually the thing you were interested in.
External Libraries
Please check for access restrictions before visiting.
Theology & Religious Studies Information
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.
Archives and Special Collections
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
Databases & Ebook Collections
- ACLS Humanities eBooks This link opens in a new window ACLS Humanities E-Book (HEB) is an online collection of over around 6,000 books in the humanities and related social sciences. These titles are offered by the ACLS in collaboration with 30 learned societies, over 100 contributing publishers, and the Michigan Publishing division at the University of Michigan Library. The result is an online, fully searchable collection of high-quality books in the humanities, recommended and reviewed by scholars.
- Acta Sanctorum This link opens in a new window The Acta Sanctorum Database is an electronic version of the complete printed text of Acta Sanctorum. It is a collection of documents examining the lives of saints, organised according to each saint's feast day, and runs from the two January volumes published in 1643 to the Propylaeum to December published in 1940.The Acta Sanctorum Database contains the complete Acta Sanctorum, including all prefatory material, original texts, critical apparatus and indices.
- Atla Religion with Atla Serials (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window The atla Religion Database® (atla RDB®) is the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion, with coverage from 1949 and retrospective indexing for some journal issues as far back as the nineteenth century.
- Bibliographie de Civilisation Médiévale (Brepols) This link opens in a new window Established by the Centre d´Études Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale, (Université de Poitiers) to provide a comprehensive, current bibliography of monographs worldwide and listings of miscellany volumes. The database currently comprises 40,000 titles from 1958 to 2003. References are classified by date, subject and location.
- Bibliography of British and Irish History (Brepols) This link opens in a new window The Bibliography of British and Irish History provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British Empire and Commonwealth, during all periods for which written documentation is available - from 55BC to the present. It is the successor to the Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History, available online from 2002 to 2009. The complete database now contains just over 600,000 records, and is updated three times a year, usually in February, June and October. Separate records for articles in journals and in collective volumes, as well as for books; 570 journals are now searched for relevant material. Access to data from Irish History Online, London's Past Online, Scottish Historical Review Trust. Specially designed subject classification scheme. Links to online full text, where available. Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- Blackwell Reference Online This link opens in a new window Blackwell Reference Online is an online library giving access to over 500 reference ebooks. The collection covers topics from across the humanities and social sciences and includes the critically-acclaimed Blackwell Companions and Handbooks in addition to other valuable reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and concise companions with integrated seamless links to standalone major reference works on the Blackwell Reference Online platform.
- Brepols Periodica and Miscellanea Online This link opens in a new window Brepols Periodica Online provides access to more than 12,500 articles, published in 23 journals up to 2006. Brepols Miscellanea Online includes access to c. 5,200 articles on the subject of Medieval Studies published between 1998-2010.From the home page choose 'Browse Journals' for access to journal articles only and choose Books' or Book Series' for access to essays in miscellany volumes only.
- BrillOnline Reference Works This link opens in a new window BrillOnline Reference Works is a collection of ebooks. Please note that King's users only have access to full text of some titles (indicated by the access icons at the right of the title)
- Cambridge Companions Online (Cambridge Core) This link opens in a new window Cambridge Companions are a series of authoritative guides, written by leading experts, offering lively, accessible introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics, and periods. CCO offers thousands of comprehensive and accessible essays on major authors, periods and genres, written by experts and designed for student readers.King's users have access to the complete collection of Cambridge Companions, which is divided into three subsections: Literature and Classics; Philosophy, Religion and Culture; and Music.
- Cambridge Histories Online (Cambridge Core) This link opens in a new window Contains over 400 volumes published since 1960 over 15 academic subject areas including: American History, British History, Economic History, General History, History of Science, History of the Book, Language & Linguistics, Literary Studies, Music, Philosophy, Political & Social Theory, Regional History, Religious Studies, Theatre Studies & Performing Arts and Warfare.
- Dictionary of Old English: A - Le This link opens in a new window The Dictionary of Old English (DOE) defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries (600 - 1150 A.D.) of the English language, using today's most advanced technology. The Dictionary draws on as wide a range of texts in date, dialect and genre as possible. It differs from previous dictionaries in several important features: a listing in a simplified paradigmatic order of every spelling which is attested for a word in the Electronic Corpus; frequency counts for each word in the corpus so that readers can know what proportion of the evidence has been cited; usage labels where they are statistically significant, noting restrictions to a class of texts, to an author, or to a particular period or dialect; exhaustive citation for all words of twelve or fewer occurrences.
- Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus This link opens in a new window The Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus is an online database consisting of at least one copy of every surviving Old English text. In some cases, more than one copy is included, if it is significant because of dialect or date. As such, the DOE Web Corpus represents over three million words of Old English and fewer than a million words of Latin, or almost five times the collected works of Shakespeare.Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts This link opens in a new window A resource for historians, theologians, political scientists, and sociologists studying the religious and social upheavals of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts gives researchers immediate, Web-based access to an extensive range of seminal works from the Reformation and post-Reformation eras. Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- Digital Library of the Catholic Reformation This link opens in a new window A resource for historians, theologians, political scientists, and sociologists studying the religious and social upheavals of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Digital Library of the Catholic Reformation gives researchers immediate, Web-based access to an extensive range of seminal works from the Reformation and post-Reformation eras. Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- Empire Online (Adam Matthew Digital) This link opens in a new window Empire Online is an interactive collection of primary source documents designed to enable undergraduates, postgraduates, academics and researchers to explore colonial history, politics, culture and society. Thousands of images of unique source material including maps, manuscripts, pamphlets, paintings, drawings, letters, periodicals, official government papers, exhibition catalogues, travel writing, missionary papers and rare books. Detailed indexing enables the sources to be explored in a variety of ways (by period, by date, by person and subject). Sources spanning five centuries: from the explorations of Columbus, Captain Cook, and others, right through to de-colonisation in the second half of the twentieth century and debates over American Imperialism.
- Encyclopaedia of Christianity Online (Brill) This link opens in a new window The Encyclopedia of Christianity Online describes modern-day Christian beliefs and communities in the context of 2000 years of apostolic tradition and Christian history. It is based on the third, revised edition of the critically acclaimed German work Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon, and includes all 5 volumes of the print edition of Encyclopedia of Christianity 1999-2008 which has become a standard reference work for the study of Christianity past and present.
- Encyclopaedia of Islam Online (Brill) This link opens in a new window The Encyclopaedia of Islam (Second Edition) Online sets out the present state of our knowledge of the Islamic World. This unique reference tool is an essential key to understanding the world of Islam: the religion, its followers and the countries in which they live.
- Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online (Brill) This link opens in a new window The Encyclopaedia of Judaism Online offers an authoritative, comprehensive, and systematic presentation of the current state of scholarship on fundamental issues of Judaism, both past and present. More than 200 entries cover a range of topics from the classical literature of Judaism and its history to contemporary issues such as genetic engineering.
- Encyclopaedia of the Qur'ān Online (Brill) This link opens in a new window The Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān Online is an encyclopaedic dictionary of qur’ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur’ānic studies. Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān Online includes direct access to 62 Early Printed Western Qur’āns Online and the Electronic Qurʾān Concordance, a unique online finding aid for textual research.
- FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database (1972-) (Proquest) This link opens in a new window FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals contains over 500,000 article citations from more than 345 periodicals. It offers in-depth coverage of the world's foremost academic and popular film journals. The index contains comprehensive television periodical indexing until 2000 and TV related articles from film periodicals continue to be indexed.
- Humanities Index (1962-) (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window Formerly known as BHI: British Humanities Index.An international abstracting and indexing tool for research in the humanities, HI indexes over 400 internationally respected humanities journals and weekly magazines published in the UK and other English speaking countries, as well as quality newspapers published in the UK. It covers current affairs, political science, religion, law, history, archaeology, education, economics, environment and gender studies.Updated monthly with approximately 1,500 records added; it also has the capability to link to electronic full text of many journal articles
- JSTOR ebooks and journals This link opens in a new window JSTOR offers academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. Via JSTOR books, King's currently has access to over 54,000 titles from over 42 publishers.King’s subscribes to the following collections within JSTOR: 19th Century British PamphletsArts & Sciences I-XV CollectionBusiness I CollectionBusiness II CollectionIreland CollectionJewish StudiesLanguage & Literature CollectionLife Sciences CollectionMusic CollectionPolitical ScienceFilm StudiesLanguage and LiteraturePhilosophyReligionSociologyBusiness and Economics
- Medieval Reference Library Online (Brill) This link opens in a new window Brill’s Medieval Reference Library includes 3 titles: Encyclopaedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles, Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage and Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle. Together they include many articles and illustrations on aspects of medieval history, culture and belief.
- Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Brepols) This link opens in a new window A corpus of historical works, charters, legal texts, letters, political texts, and literature from the European Middle Ages. It contains about 800 texts and further material is added yearly.The powerful search engine developed by the Centre ‘Traditio Litterarum Occidentalium’ and Brepols Publishers allows unparalleled exploitation of this important body of texts, permitting in-depth searches of the corpus. Moreover, the integration of the eMGH into the Brepolis Latin platform offers the opportunity to carry out searches simultaneously with other collections of texts bringing together a total of 16,000 works (Library of Latin Texts, Aristoteles Latinus Database, Archive of Celtic-Latin Literature), and allows the user to search Latin reference dictionaries (Database of Latin Dictionaries).
- Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals (Gale Primary Sources) This link opens in a new window The nineteenth century was a time of revolutionary change and expansion. Britain was one of the world’s first industrial, urban superpowers and developed a press to feed the demands of its increasingly literate population. The Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals series covers the events, lives, values, and themes that shaped the nineteenth century world. It provides an invaluable, fully-searchable facsimile resource for the study of British life in the nineteenth century—from art to business, and from children to politics. Few of the materials in this extensive collection have ever been reissued, in any format since original publication. Titles included have been identified and selected by leading scholars in nineteenth century studies; their choices reflect the broad scope and thrust of research and teaching in the twenty-first century. Part I: Women's, Children's, Humour, and Leisure Part I covers the advent of commercial lifestyle publishing in Britain, drawn from the remarkable collections of the British Library, National Library of Scotland, National Library of Australia, and National Library of South Africa. The series acts as a barometer of literacy and social mobility in the 1800s, with a particular focus on the rarely documented aspects of women, children, humour, and leisure activity in the Victorian age. The rise of magazine publishing is reflected in the selection of publications, spanning publications aimed at and tailored to various audiences, including women and children. Part II: Empire Part II looks at the role Britain played as an imperial power throughout the century, and contains periodicals from Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, and South Africa. The range of titles was selected by a team of more than twenty editors, all of which are specialists in the field of nineteenth-century studies, has been compiled from collections in the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the National Library of Australia.
- North American Indian Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window This fifth release of North American Indian Thought and Culture includes over 57,000 pages of new material, including 112 volumes from the Indian Pioneer History Collection compiled by the U.S. Works Progress Administration. New and current full-length biographies include works on Quanah Parker, Dennis Banks, Susan La Flesche Picotte, Cochise, Jim Thorpe, Crowfoot, Peter Pitchlynn, Sacajawea, Geronimo, Hosteen Klah, Black Elk, Pocahontas, George Washington Grayson, Standing Buffalo, and many more. More than twenty volumes covering chiefs of various nations are now included, as well as a modern edition of the collected speeches of Sitting Bull. The Center for Indigenous Arts & Cultures' five-volume encyclopedia on American Indian Artists has been added ("American Indian Art Series"), and the recent publication, American Indian Biographies (Salem Press, 2005) also adds many contemporary names to the collection. When complete, the database will represent the largest compilation ever created of biographical information on indigenous peoples from all areas of North America. With 100,000 pages of content, including biographies, autobiographies, oral histories, reference works, manuscripts, and photographs, the database presents the life stories of American Indians and Canadian First Peoples in their own words and through the words of others. Much of the material is previously unpublished, rare, or hard to find. Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window Oxford Bibliographies Online combines elements of an annotated bibliography and an encyclopaedia to offer a time-saving resource. Annotations indicate what is included in the work whilst personalisation features allow saving, annotating and sharing of citations and searches. King's has access to the following modules: African American StudiesBiblical StudiesClassicsIslamic StudiesPhilosophyVictorian Literature
- Oxford Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window Oxford Handbooks Online covers many different subject areas and the series contains in-depth, high-level articles by scholars at the top of their field. King's has access to all collections.
- Oxford Scholarship Online This link opens in a new window An essential research resource for students, scholars, and academics, Oxford Scholarship Online provides access to prestigious academic books across the humanities, social sciences, sciences, medicine. Available online on Oxford Academic, scholars and students can discover these academic books alongside Handbooks, Very Short Introductions, practitioner medicine and psychology texts, and hundreds of the highest quality journals. King's subscribes to the full or partial sets listed below and has access to some additional single titles:Business & ManagementClassical Studies 2007 – 2013Economics & FinanceHistory 2011 – 2013LawLiterature 2011 – 2013Music 2011 – 2013PhilosophyPolitical ScienceReligion
- Past Masters: Philosophy & Religion collections This link opens in a new window Searchable scholarly, full-text editions in English and/or Latin, of the writings of philosophers and theologians from antiquity into the 20th century. Writers in these collections include: Aristotle, Austin, Locke, Hegel and Wittgenstein among others. Past Masters Subjects:All PhilosophyReligious StudiesSocial Science and History of ScienceChinese ClassicsRussian LiteraturePast Masters Commons
- Patrologia Latina Database This link opens in a new window An electronic version of the first edition of Jacques-Paul Migne's Patrologia Latina, published between 1844 and 1855, and the four volumes of indexes published between 1862 and 1865. The Patrologia Latina comprises the works of the Church Fathers from Tertullian in 200 AD to the death of Pope Innocent III in 1216. The Patrologia Latina Database contains the complete Patrologia Latina, including all prefatory material, original texts, critical apparatus and indexes. Migne's column numbers, essential references for scholars, are also included.
- Philosopher's Index with full text This link opens in a new window The Philosopher's Index Covers all major fields of philosophy such as aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, metaphysics, etc., and philosophy of related interdisciplinary fields such as education, history, law and religion. Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- Philosophy Documentation Center (PDC) This link opens in a new window The Philosophy Documentation Center is a non-profit organisation founded 1966, providing access to reference materials, scholarly journals, book series, conference proceedings, and other materials in philosophy and related fields. King's has access to the following journals: Ancient PhilosophyEnvironmental Ethics The Journal of PhilosophyThe Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific MethodsPhilosophia ChristiPhilosophical TopicsSouthwestern Journal of Philosophy Please note: Click on the 'Login' button on the top left corner. You will then be logged in and can navigate to the journal issue you are looking for.
- Religious Magazine Archive (1845 - 2015) This link opens in a new window A searchable archive of magazines devoted to religious topics, spanning 19th-21st centuries. The publications were originally written by/for a wider populace rather than academic/cultural elites and offer insights into, for example, the influence of belief systems on public life, the history of popular religious movements and the means used by religions to gain adherents and communicate their ideologies. A wide variety of religions and denominations are represented, allowing for comparative studies of religions during this period.Coverage: 1845 - 2015
- ScienceDirect eBooks (Elsevier) This link opens in a new window Science Direct is a provider of online ebooks on scientific, technical and medical research. King’s have purchased over 200 titles through Science Direct, which are also listed on the library catalogue.
- ScienceDirect Journals (Elsevier) This link opens in a new window Produced by Elsevier, ScienceDirect is an online subscription ejournal service containing a collection of journals in science, technology and medicine. King's coverage includes access to some of the Elsevier backfiles subject collections.Please note that King's does not subscribe to all journals and that only a small number of Elsevier titles are available off campus via NHS OpenAthens.
- Thesaurus Linguae Graecae This link opens in a new window Please note: TLG does not permit downloading, printing or making copies of TLG material. The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) is a research center at the University of California, Irvine. Founded in 1972 the TLG has already collected and digitized most literary texts written in Greek from Homer to the fall of Byzantium in AD 1453. Its goal is to create a comprehensive digital library of Greek literature from antiquity to the present era. Information about the authors and works included in the TLG Library is stored in a database, known as the Canon of Greek Authors and Works. See: TLG website | Canon of Greek Authors and Works Note: Campus Desktop users will not be able to download any of the extra Greek Fonts offered by this service. For both on and off-campus access, please register for an account. When accessing off-campus, a King's username and password are required before registering for an account with Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. Library Services and the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies gratefully acknowledge the help of the King's Development Trust in the funding of this resource.
- Twentieth Century Religious Thought This link opens in a new window Twentieth Century Religious Thought Library is a multivolume, cross-searchable online collection that brings together the seminal works and archival materials related to worldwide religious thinkers from the early 1900s until the first decade of the 21st century. It provides resources to further explore Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations and key concepts in theology across religions, including Eastern Religions. It supports research and teaching in comparative religion, theology, world religion, religion and law, religion and politics, and serves as an important resource for courses and scholarship in Middle Eastern studies, social theory, feminist studies, philosophy, and world history.
- Victorian Popular Culture This link opens in a new window The Victorian Popular Culture portal is an essential resource for the study of popular entertainment in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This innovative portal is comprised of four separate sections, available to purchase individually and fully cross-searchable: Spiritualism, Sensation and Magic; Circuses, Sideshows and Freaks; Music Hall, Theatre and Popular Entertainment; Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema. Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- Web of Science (All databases) This link opens in a new window Web of Science provides access to the world’s leading scholarly literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities and examines proceedings of international conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions. It is a gateway to:Science Citation Index Expanded (1900-present)Social Sciences Citation Index (1956-present)Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present)Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (1990-present)Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Social Science & Humanities (1990-present)Emerging Sources Citation Index (2015-present) KCI-Korean Journal Database MedlineRussian Science Citation IndexSciELO Citation IndexSpecific log-in instructions for Web of Science can be found here.
- World Shakespeare Bibliography Online This link opens in a new window This release of the World Shakespeare Bibliography Online provides annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare and published or produced between 1960 and 2011. The scope is international, with coverage extending to more than 120 languages and representing every country in North America, South America, and Europe and nearly every country in Asia, Africa, and Australasia. The more than 128,200 records in this version cite several hundred thousand additional reviews of books, productions, films, and audio recordings. Senate House resources require registering for Senate House library membership. See also our library FAQ for more details.
- 19th Century British Pamphlets (JSTOR) This link opens in a new window Throughout the 19th century, pamphlets were an important means of public debate, covering the key political, social, technological, and environmental issues of their day. 19th Century British Pamphlets, created by Research Libraries UK (RLUK), contains the most significant British pamphlets from the 19th century held in research libraries in the United Kingdom. The collection brings together a corpus of primary sources for the study of sociopolitical and economic factors impacting 19th-century Britain. The nine collections of pamphlets are:• Cowen Tracts (1603-1898)• Earl Grey Pamphlets Collection (1800-1900)• Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection (1545-1900)• Hume Tracts (1769-1890)• Knowsley Pamphlet Collection (1792-1868)• Selections – University of Manchester British Political Pamphlets Collection (1799-1900)• Selections – London School of Economics and Political Science (1800-1899)• Selections – University of Bristol (1800-1899)• Wilson Anti-Slavery Collection (1761-1900)