Where to Start - Encyclopedias & Bibliographies
Digital encyclopedias and bibliographies are great places to start when you are orienting yourself to a new topic. Reading an encyclopedic entry can help you find more search concepts to look for in journals, which are linked at the bottom of this page. Additionally, encyclopedic entries will contain bibliographies, which are wonderful places to find articles that may be helpful to you in your research.
As you work through the links directly below, try searching in the indexes for topics related to health and medicine to find relevant entries.
For more guidance on searching, check out our guide on Library Search Basics.
- Encyclopedia of Religion in Gale Virtual Reference Library"The second edition of a resource that is considered a standard reference in the field. Presents a cross-cultural approach that emphasizes religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture. The original 2,750 entries have been retained, many heavily updated, and approximately 600 entirely new articles have been added by an international team of scholars and contributors."
Tip: Search the index for specific entries on health and medicine - New Catholic Encyclopedia - Gale Virtual Reference LibraryWill provide you with the Catholic perspective on health, healing, right to health care, suffering, death, and bioethics. "This 15 volume, second edition features revised and new articles. Among the 12,000 entries in the encyclopedia are articles on theology, philosophy, history, literary figures, saints, musicians and much more."
- Gale Virtual Reference Library - Encyclopaedia Judaica"Provides an exhaustive and organized overview of Jewish life and knowledge from the Second Temple period to the contemporary State of Israel, from Rabbinic to modern Yiddish literature, from Kabbalah to "Americana" and from Zionism to the contribution of Jews to world cultures, Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition is important to scholars, general readers and students."
- Biblical Studies—Oxford Bibliographies"The modern academic study of the Bible is a highly technical and multifaceted field. Its practitioners are often required to gain expertise in diverse areas ranging from archaeology, Egyptology, Assyriology, and linguistics through textual, historical, and sociological studies, to literary theory, feminist studies, philosophy, and theology – to name but a few. As a result, the field of Biblical Studies is incredibly dynamic, with new discoveries, new methodologies, and new perspectives continually being brought to bear on the interpretation of the Bible. Managing the ever-expanding universe of scholarly publications in this field of study has proven to be a monumental if not near impossible task. Oxford Bibliographies in Biblical Studies provides students and scholars with a reliable and authoritative solution to the problem of information overload."
- Encyclopedia of Christianity OnlineDescribes modern-day Christian beliefs and communities in the context of 2000 years of apostolic tradition and Christian history.
Journal Sources
An excellent way to find scholarship (and important scholars) on topics that interest you is to use a database. Don't forget to login to each database to save your searches! There are several databases in the area of religion, spirituality, and philosophy listed below.
As you're searching, try breaking up your questions into small concepts and keywords. This approach will help you find the most relevant articles based on your query. For example, instead of "How do hospital chaplains effect patient end-of-life experience?" Try to indicate the key concepts in your question before placing them into the search box. Here, we might search: hospital chaplain AND patient AND end of life.
You can also select "people as subject" in the field section of some databases, such as the philosopher's index, which can be helpful if you're doing a research project on a particular scholar.
- CINAHL Ultimate This link opens in a new windowNursing, allied health, biomedicine, alternative medicine, consumer health. Probably better coverage of religious and spiritual aspects of medicine than PubMed. Terminology may be more comprehensible if you are not familiar with medical terminology.
- ATLA religion database with ATLASerials This link opens in a new windowBroad ecumenical coverage of both scholarly and non-scholarly religious or religion-focused journals. This is the oldest and most comprehensive religion index available. A definite first consult resource for researching topics in Biblical Studies, Theology, Church history, social issues with a religious focus.
- Philosopher's indexCovers all major fields of philosophy and philosophy of related interdisciplinary fields such as education, medicine, history, law and religion.
Contains citation information and author-written abstracts for journal articles, books, contributions to anthologies, and book reviews, published from 1940 to the present.
Indexes over 620 journals from more than 40 countries in 30 languages.
- LitMed: Literature Arts Medicine Database This link opens in a new window
Compiled by NYU Langone Health, “The Literature, Arts and Medicine Database (LitMed) is a collection of literature, fine art, visual art and performing art annotations created as a dynamic, comprehensive resource for scholars, educators, students, patients, and others interested in medical humanities.”
