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Exegesis Resources: Articles

Atla Religion Database

Atla Religion Database is the main database for Religious and Biblical Studies topics

Atla indexes:

  • journal articles
  • books
  • book chapters
  • conference proceedings
  • book reviews
  • dissertations. 

When selecting journal articles to use in your research, make sure you are selecting articles from scholarly/academic/peer-reviewed journals rather than popular magazines.  Indicators of a scholarly article can include:

  • author:usually professor or researcher
  • length:at least 10 pages, up to 25-30 pages
  • publisher:university, professional, or scholarly association press (Harvard, Brill, Society of Biblical Literature, etc...)
  • citations:arguments are properly cited
  • journal does not have advertisements (except for conferences, books/journals)
  • journal explains editorial requirements, peer-review process

An example is this issue from The Journal of Religion.  The publisher, University of Chicago Press, includes links for "About" and "Contributors" which gives information on their editorial process and submission guidelines.  The first article in the issue, "The Case of Disappearing Discourse: Schleiemacher's Fourth Speech and the Field of Religious Studies," is 28 pages in length and includes 80 footnotes.  The author, Andrew Dole, is a professor at Amherst College.  All of these are good indicators that this would be an appropriate source to use if the content relates to your research topic. 

The majority of the database is full-text, but you may need to use full-text options links to verify that ZSR has access to the book or article you have found.

 

Other Religious Studies Databases

While Atla Religion is the primary database for Religious and Biblical Studies research, there are other databases that you will find helpful depending on your topic.

JSTOR

New Testament Abstracts

Old Testament Abstracts

Project MUSE

ProQuest Religion