LibGuides: Religion Resources: Find Primary Resources

Find Sacred Texts, Manuscripts, and Periodicals

Sacred Texts & Manuscripts
Newspapers & Magazines

Aga Khan Library
"The Aga Khan Library is a significant library for scholarly engagement in the field of Islamic studies with a focus on Ismaili studies and Muslim civilisations. The library houses a growing collection of over 50,000 titles, covering a range of subjects, historical and contemporary, on Islam in English, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Gujarati, and Sindhi, among many other languages."
Bible Gateway
"Bible Gateway is a searchable online Bible tool hosting more than 200 versions of the Bible in over 70 languages that you can freely read, research, and reference anywhere."
Buddhist Digital Resource Center
"The Buddhist Digital Resource Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeking out, preserving, documenting, and disseminating Buddhist literature."
Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL)
"The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a digital library of hundreds of classic Christian books selected for edification and education."
Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts at the Library of Congress
"The Hebraic Section of the Library of Congress houses over 225 manuscripts; most of them in Hebrew but with a fair sampling of manuscripts also written in cognate languages such as Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, and Yiddish. It is a highly diverse collection, dating from the 11th to early 20th centuries and drawn from Jewish communities throughout the world."
DigiVatLib
The DigiVatLib "provides free access to the Vatican Library’s digitized collections: manuscripts, incunabula, archival materials and inventories as well as graphic materials, coins and medals, printed materials (special projects)."
Discovering Sacred Texts (British Library)
"Discovering Sacred Texts provides access to the richness and diversity of the texts from some of the world’s greatest faiths. Discover more about the sacred texts from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and the Baha’i Faith, Jainism and Zoroastrianism."
Fourth Century Christianity
Fourth Century Christianity "promot[es] and stor[es] research tools and texts for the study of the Church and its environment in the Fourth Century."
more...less...
This resource may be particularly relevant to Religion 214 students.
Harvard's Islamic Heritage Project
The Islamic Heritage Project is "a digital collection of Islamic manuscripts, published texts, and maps from across Harvard's libraries and museums."
The International Collection of Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts
The International Collection of Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts provides "open access to all Hebrew manuscripts" within its collections, thus "enabling users to share and consult with fellow users for research, education and personal interest."
Islamic Manuscripts (Michigan)
"نسخ رقمية كاملة من اغلب المخطوطات الاسلامية المحفوظة في مكتبة جامعة ميشيغان Digitized manuscripts from the Islamic Manuscripts Collection at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor"
Joseph Smith Papers
"The authoritative source for the writings, teachings, and records of Joseph Smith."
Library of Congress Bible Collection
This digital exhibition "explores the significance of two monumental Bibles—the Giant Bible of Mainz and the Gutenberg Bible, which marks the beginning of the printed book."
Post-Reformation Digital Library
"The Post-Reformation Digital Library (PRDL) is a select database of digital books relating to the development of theology and philosophy during the Reformation and Post-Reformation/Early Modern Era (late 15th-18th c.). Late medieval and patristic works printed and referenced in the early modern era are also included."
Princeton University Library Manuscripts of the Islamic World
"Manuscripts of the Islamic World offers a curated selection of extraordinary manuscripts hosted or held by Princeton University Library. The manuscripts are predominantly in Arabic, but there are also many in Persian and Ottoman Turkish."
Qatar Digital Library
"The Qatar Digital Library (QDL) is making a vast archive featuring the cultural and historical heritage of the Gulf and wider region freely available online for the first time. It includes archives, maps, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs and much more, complete with contextualised explanatory notes and links, in both English and Arabic."
Tertullian Early Church Fathers
The Tertullian Project is a collection of ancient and modern materials related to Tertullian; this Early Church Fathers collection contains materials not otherwise included in the 38 volumes of Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers materials (which are available via CCEL above).
more...less...
This resource may be particularly helpful for Religion 214.
Theological Commons
From Princeton Theological Seminary, "the Theological Commons is a digital library of over 130,000 resources on theology and religion"; search it to find works by religious or theological thinkers.

American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger (1857-1922) This link opens in a new window
A weekly Jewish newspaper published in New York City. In 1903 it merged with the Jewish Messenger. The paper covered many topics of Jewish interest internationally.
American Israelite (1854-2000) This link opens in a new window
The longest-running English-language Jewish newspaper still published in the United States. The newspaper's two goals were to spread the principles of Reform Judaism, and to keep American Jews in touch with Jewish affairs and their religious identity.

American Periodical Series
Includes digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals published from colonial days to the dawn of the 20th century chronicling the development of America across 150 years.
Catholic News Archive
The Catholic News Archive is home to "thousands of newspaper pages, from different cities, over multiple years... and the collection is growing! Our collection is fully text searchable so do a search on anything that interests you and see it in the context of the newspapers' editorials, pictures, and advertisements."

Jewish Advocate (1905-1990) This link opens in a new window
Serves as a primary source of news and information as well as a forum for discussion and debate, providing lines of communication uniting the community and supporting the efforts aimed at reinvigorating and broadening Jewish religious and cultural life.
Jewish Exponent (1887-1990) This link opens in a new window
Has carried news of developments in Israel, efforts to rescue Jews the world over from repressive regimes, and the ever-expanding role of Jews in American public life. Along the way, it has garnered honors each year from the American Jewish Press Association for excellence in Jewish journalism for its news, features, reviews and commentary.

Patheos
"Patheos is the leading web platform hosting dialogue on all of the world's religions. Our articles and Library have a visually stunning compendium of information about all the religions of the world compiled by some of the world's top religious leaders and scholars. Patheos exists to provide information, stories, and conversation that leads to understanding, empathy, and acceptance of all faiths. Head on over to each of the religious categories to read about the current events, philosophy, history, and more from leading authorities on every religion subject."
Religious Magazine Archive (1845-2015)
Archive of magazines devoted to religious topics, spanning 19th-21st centuries and a range of religions/denominations. Aimed originally at a wide audience, they disclose many aspects of the history of popular religious movements.
NewsBank
NewsBank provides a comprehensive collection of reliable news sources covering a wide array of topics and issues including 12,000 total sources with 300+ Illinois publications and 200 countries represented along with diverse news media such as trade journals, video, audio files, broadcast transcripts.
Nexis Uni (Formerly LexisNexis)
Nexis Uni, the successor of LexisNexis Academic, provides full-text access to over 15,000 news, business, and legal sources.The outstanding news coverage includes deep archives and up-to-the-minute stories in national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language news services.