Database | Indexing Strength | Example Jounals Indexed |
ATLA Religion database with ATLASerials |
Systematic Theology Biblical Studies Church History |
Journal of Theological Studies Catholic Biblical Quarterly Journal of Early Christian Studies |
New Testament Abstracts | Biblical Studies - New Testament | Journal of Biblical Literature |
Old Testament Abstracts | Biblical Studies - Old Testament | Journal for the Study of the Old Testament |
Religion and Philosophy Collection |
Biblical Studies Philosophy Systematic Theology |
Novum Testamentum Nous Journal of Empirical Theology |
Religious and theological abstracts |
Ministry Studies Biblical Studies Systematic Theology |
Homiletic and Pastoral Review Interpretation Harvard Theological Review |
ATLA Religion is the oldest and most comprehensive continuous theological database in existence. But it doesn't index all scholarly journals in Biblical studies and religion. Nor does it provide perpetual coverage of all journals it has once picked up.
So it is good to search a range of subject related databases to ensure that you are picking up everything relevant for your research. The table above lists the top databases for Biblical Studies and Religion.
This video covers three different ways to search for scripture citations in the Bible, using Atla’s Scripture Search function, Bible Citation Index, and the Scripture Citation search field.
When you are using a database, you might want to consider combing keywords with Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT).
AND: retrieves both key terms together. For example: (Thomas Aquinas AND Romans)
OR: retrieves one or the other. If you wanted articles on beatitude or happiness in Thomas Aquinas, you would string your search Thomas Aquinas AND (beatitude OR happiness).
NOT: the word(s) after the NOT won't be in any of the results. You're tired of looking at articles on virtue in Thomas Aquinas; your search string would would look like this Thomas Aquinas NOT (virtue OR virtue ethics)