Public Services Librarian
What Are Reference Resources?
Reference resources are used to look up quick facts and information. Some examples of reference resources include
- Encyclopedias
- Dictionaries
- Almanacs
- Bibliographies
- Handbooks
- Atlases
- Thesauruses
Reference Databases
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Search in hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 200,000+ images and audio files, and nearly 100 videos.
- Gale Ebooks This link opens in a new window Formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library. This database offers encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Religion Reference Books
- Reference books in Beeghly Library are located on the first floor near the computers.
- The call numbers for these books will fall within the letters BL-BX.
- These books do not circulate, but you can scan what you need.
- The following are just a few of the general reference books we have relating to religion. If you need help finding one, ask your librarian.
Encyclopedia of Religion
Among Library Journal's selections of the most important reference works of the millennium - with the Encyclopedia Judaica and the New Catholic Encyclopedia - Mircea Eliade's Encyclopedia of Religion won the American Library Associations' Dartmouth Medal in 1988 and is widely regarded as the standard reference work in the field. This second edition, which is intended to reflect both changes in academia and in the world since 1987, will include almost all of the 2750 original entries - many heavily updated - as well as approximately 600 (1.2M words) entirely new articles. Preserving the best of Eliade's cross-cultural approach while emphasizing religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture, this new edition will be the definitive work in the field for the 21st century. An international team of scholars and contributors have reviewed, revised and added to every word of a classic work to make it relevant to the questions and interests of readers, whether students, specialists, or laypersons. The result is an essential purchase for libraries of all kinds. Every article from the first edition was evaluated by our board of scholars. of study are given their own entries. New composite entries present overarching themes - for example, gender and religion, politics and religion - with each article within the composite covering a different religious tradition. Many of the reprinted articles from the first-edition have updated bibliographies. This is an indispensable resource for any school with a department or programme in religious studies. Additionally, articles support the curriculum and general research in history, gender studies, language and literature, music, the visual arts, history, politics, ecology, health and medicine, law, sociology and anthropology. Three Colour inserts serve as pictorial essays illuminating themes such as pilgrimage, prayer, healing, and how these concepts are displayed in various religions throughout the world. Illustrations go beyond the typical stock imagery and present images of authentic value not readily available elsewhere.
Call Number: OWU Beeghly Reference BL31 .E46 2005 v.1-10ISBN: 0028657330Publication Date: 2004-12-17
Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion by
A reference that seeks to explain the powerful confluence of religion and politics. It features over 240 articles exploring how religion and politics interact in different cultures; coverage of individuals, institutions, countries, events and themes; and a focus on the last 200 years.
Call Number: OWU Beeghly Reference BL65.P7 E53 1998 v. 1-2ISBN: 156802164XPublication Date: 1998-01-01
Religions of the World by
An extraordinary survey, in four volumes, of the religious belief and practice in all 276 of the world's nations and territories. * 1,200+ A-Z entries including individual religious groups, country-by-country entries, and core entries that address major world religions * 200+ contributors including top religious scholars from around the globe * Photographs of religious leaders, ceremonies, sacred structures, and artifacts such as an Aboriginal sacred Churunga and the Gurujem Monastery in Tibet * Statistical data on the projected status of religions for 2000 to 2050 broken down by country and by type of religion * Cross references and end-of-entry bibliographic citations
Call Number: OWU Beeghly Reference BL80.3 .R45 2002 v. 1-4ISBN: 1576072231Publication Date: 2002-08-20
Religious Rites, Rituals, and Festivals by
Many rituals and festivals take place in public, meaning that such expressions of faith are societal as well as individual forms of human behaviour. The similarity in the general patterns of rituals and festivals across cultures and religions is striking. For example, most cultures and religions mark major life-course transitions such as birth, marriage, and death with public ritual expressions, and numerous festivals are tied to food-producing activities such as planting and harvesting. Where religions and societies vary is in the meanings associated with ritual behaviour and the specific forms those behaviours take. The Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals and Festivals explores this complex topic through articles covering the following general categories of information: general concepts and ideas such as communitas, inversion, purity and pollution, and pilgrimages major forms of ritual and festival such as rites of passage, devotional rites, sacrifice, calendrical rites, carnival, and fasting religious rites and festivals of major religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Catholicism and Judaism rites and festivals in cultural regions such as China, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Pacific islands life-cycle rites, including those associated with birth, coming of age, marriage and death specific rites and festivals, such as Divali, Easter, Ramadan, snake handling and Yom Kippur. The Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals, and Festivals contains 130 entries contributed and signed by scholars from international universities and institutes, with expertise in such fields as Asian and Pacific studies, archaeology, communication studies, cultural anthropology, cultural studies, international studies, philosophy, psychological anthropology, religious studies, social anthropology, sociology and theology. An unprecedented resource, this new encyclopedia provides in-depth coverage of a vast array of worldwide practices with entries that draw on the latest research available, offering fresh insights while maintaining a connection with established scholarship. The cross-cultural coverage will help foster interfaith understanding as well as present and explain unfamiliar behaviours and rituals.
Call Number: OWU Beeghly Reference BL31 .E47 2004ISBN: 0415941806Publication Date: 2004-06-25
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