iPreach Bible Reference Tools
This extensive collection of commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and other reference works provides a breadth of substantial, searchable materials with which to prepare sermons, lessons, and research papers, all in one place.
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Anchor Bible Dictionary, Doubleday, 1992.
Main Level, Reference: R 220.3 An21A [6 vols]
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church [Oxford Reference Online], Oxford University Press, 2006.
Based on the highly acclaimed Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, this is an indispensable guide to every aspect of the Christian religion and life, including theology, patristic scholarship, churches and denominations, the church calendar and organization, and the Bible. There are also many entries on theologians, philosophers, painters, musicians, and writers of religious works.
The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, Abingdon Press, 1986.
Main Level, Reference: R 203.21 D561D
A Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation, Trinity Press International, 1990.
Main Level, Reference: R 220.3 D561D
Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation,
Main Level, Reference: R 220.603 D561D [2 vols]
The Dictionary of Historical Theology, W.B. Eerdmans Pub., c2000.
Main Level, Reference: R 230.09 D561D
Dictionary of Literary Symbols [CREDO Reference] Cambridge University Press, 2007.
The first dictionary of symbols to be based on literature, rather than “universal” psychological archetypes or myths.
Entries range widely from the Bible and classical authors to the twentieth century.
A Dictionary of the Bible [Oxford Reference Online], Oxford University Press, 2002.
Provides clear explanations of technical terms, methods of interpretation, and critical analysis, as well as notes on leading biblical scholars and their contributions, it is also concerned with denominational interpretations of the themes and doctrine of the Bible.
The Encyclopedia of Christianity, Eerdmans, 1999-2008.
Main Level, Reference: R 230.003 En19E [5 vols]
Encyclopedia of the Early Church, Oxford University Press, 1992.
Main Level, Reference: R 270.103 D648E [2 vols]
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion, Corpus Publications, 1979 .
Main Level, Reference: R 203.21 En19E [3 vols].
“Developed under Roman Catholic auspices and inspiration.”
HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, Harper San Francisco, 1996.
Main Level, Reference: R 220.3 H234H
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Abingdon Press, 1962.
Main Level, Reference: R 220.3 In8I [4 vols, supplement]
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, Oxford University Press, 1997.
Main Level, Reference: R 203 Ox2O
Also available, an online abbreviated version: Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
Encyclopedia of Religion [Gale Virtual Reference Library], Macmillan Reference, 2005.
Also available Main Level, Reference: R 200.3 En19E [14 vols]
Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia, ABC CLIO, 2003.
Main Level, Reference: R 232.03 H814J [2 vols]
Nearly 200 A-Z entries. Covers Christian beliefs, worship and prayer, intellectual developments, and culture as well as interactions of Christianity with other world faiths.
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Eerdmans Publishing, 1964-1976.
Main Level, Reference: R 225.3 K652T [9 vols, index]
Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Eerdmans Publishing, 1974-1990.
Main Level, Reference: R 221.3 B659T [15 vols]
The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology, Westminster Press, 1983.
Main Level, Reference: R 230.03 W528W
Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.
Main Level, Reference: R 230.03 M212W
Companion Encyclopedia of Theology, Routledge, 1995.
Upper Level: 230.0904 C738C
Divided into six sections, The Bible, The Tradition, Philosophy, Spirituality, Practical Theology, and Christian Theology: Scene and Prospect. Essays include: “Jesus in History and Belief,” “Christian Adoption of the Old Testament,” “Christian Theology and Other Faiths,” “Theology as Praxis.”
The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Main Level, Reference: R 230.03 Ox2O
The Oxford Companion to the Bible [Oxford Reference Online], Oxford University Press, 1993.
Ranging far beyond the scope of a traditional Bible dictionary, the Oxford Companion to the Bible provides an authoritative one-volume reference to the people, places, events, books, institutions, religious belief, and secular influence of the Bible. Written by more than 250 scholars from some 20 nations and embracing a wide variety of perspectives, the Companion features, in addition to its many informative, factual entries, an abundance of interpretive essays. Here are extended entries on religious concepts from immortality, sin, and grace, to baptism, ethics, and the Holy Spirit. Also available in print, Upper Level: 220.3 M568O
Who's Who in the New Testament [CREDO Reference],
Who's Who in the Old Testament [CREDO Reference], Routledge, 2002.
HarperCollins Bible Commentary, Harper San Francisco, 2000.
Upper Level: 220.7 H234H
The New Interpreter’s Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes, Abingdon Press, 1994.
Main Level, Reference: R 220.7 N42N2 [12 vols]
New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Main Level, Reference: R 220.7 N42N
New Bible Commentary, Inter-Varsity Press, 1970.
Main Level, Reference: R 220.7 G984N
Recommended Commentary Series:
Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching
Hermeneia-A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible
The Old Testament Library
Black's New Testament Commentary (Book of Mark only)
Anchor Bible Commentary
Numerous commentaries on specific books of the Bible are available in the circulating collection on the upper level. Click here for search tips in THOMCAT.
An Analytical Concordance to the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament, Clinton Morrison, Westminster, 1979.
Main Level, Reference: R 225.5204 M834A
Nelson's Complete Concordance of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, John W. Ellison, Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1957.
Main Level, Reference: R 220.2 El59N
Handbook of Biblical Criticism, John Knox Press, 1981.
Upper Level: 220.6 So83H
Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, Fortress Press, 1979.
Upper Level: 221.6 C437I
The Old Testament: An Introduction, Harper and Row, 1965.
Upper Level: 221 Ei88O
Introduction to the New Testament, founded by Paul Feine and Johannes Behm. Completely re-edited by Werner Georg Kümmel, Abingdon Press, 1966.
Upper Level: 225.6 F327I
Theology of the New Testament, Scribner, 1951-1955.
Upper Level: 230 B879T [2 vols]
Theology of the Old Testament, Westminster Press, 1961.
Upper Level: 221.6 Ei24T [2 vols]
The Theology of the New Testament According to its Major Witnesses: Jesus-Paul-John, Abingdon Press, 1973.
Upper Level: 225.66 K96T
Old Testament Theology, Harper and Row, 1962-1965.
Upper Level: 221.6 R116O [2 vols]
The Harper Atlas of the Bible, Harper & Row, 1987.
Main Level, Reference: ATLAS 912.122 H234H
Atlas of the Bible [CREDO Reference], Andromeda, 1985.
Treating its subject geographically rather than historically, this unique work features the main biblical sites
illustrated with colour maps. The book opens with a description of the Bible, explains how it came to be composed and how it has been transmitted to us through medieval manuscript copies and modern translations. The second section of the text provides an outline of the historical background of the Bible, from the time of Abraham to the close of the New Testament period. The third and principal section discusses the main geographical regions of the Bible and the sites within them. The history and main features of each region and site are described, and references are made throughout to incidents from the Old and New Testaments.
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Use the online catalog to locate books in Thomason Library. You can search by author, title, word, or subject.
- Search for a person, as AUTHOR or SUBJECT, with last name, first name:
- SUBJECT searching requires use of Library of Congress subject headings. The terms below are examples of subject headings related to the synoptic gospels:
Subject searching is an effective and precise method of searching the catalog, however, KEYWORD searching has benefits, also.
- If you are unsure of the exact title or the correct subject heading to use, try a KEYWORD search using two or three of the most significant words from the title or subject you are trying to find. Place phrases in "quotation marks."
- Connect words with AND, OR, NOT to focus your search.
- Try truncation at the end of a word stem to retrieve singular, plural, and other variations of the word. Use an asterisk (*) to truncate from 1 to 5 characters. Use a double asterisk (**) to include word endings with an unlimited number of characters.
· Use AND between words to narrow your search:
commentar* AND Matthew
· Use OR between synonyms to expand your search and
group those terms with parentheses:
(Jesus OR Christ) AND trinity
· Add * to the root of a word to truncate or expand
world* = world, worlds, worldly
Beware truncating short words sin* = sins, sing, single
Try KEYWORD searching with ThomCat, other library catalogs & library databases
If you need books in addition to those found at Thomason Library, try your search here for books in other academic libraries in SC. Through PASCAL Delivers, you can order books online for delivery within 3-4 working days. This service for current PC students, faculty, and staff is a project of PASCAL- Partnership Among SC Academic Libraries. Borrowers will be notified by e-mail when requested items arrive at Thomason Library.
Click here for searching and ordering tips.
A catalog of books and materials at libraries worldwide. Try searching here to find ALL books available on a topic. Materials available at Thomason Library are highlighted and others can be borrowed through ILL or searched in the PASCAL Catalog.
ILL is available to PC students, faculty and staff in order to share resources between libraries. Click link for instructions.
The following journal databases are available to PC students, faculty, and staff from on- and off-campus locations. When passworded from off campus locations, supply your PC e-mail account username [i.e. tinman] and password. Search databases using terms dealing with your topic.
1949 - present
A comprehensive reference database designed to support religious and theological scholarship in graduate education and faculty research. Contains citations from international titles and multi-author works related to the field of religion and full-text for over fifty of the six hundred journals indexed. Also includes a full range of index citations to essays in multi-author works and book reviews from ATLA print indexes.
Arts & Sciences Collections I, II, & III contain an archive of over 350 full-text journals which are searchable through JSTOR or accessible through Journal Finder, which provides full-text articles in Thomason Library's electronic databases. The collections include journals in art, architecture, economics, film, folklore, history, performing arts, political science, religion, sociology, humanities, mathematics, and statistics. JSTOR is a journal archive with complete runs of journals up to three years ago. Current issues are not available in JSTOR, but may be in other databases.
Academic OneFile [Thomson Gale]
Multidisciplinary full-text articles from scholarly sources.
Academic Search Premier [EBSCO]
EBSCOhost's journal and magazine articles from all academic disciplines
Project MUSE: Basic Undergraduate Collection Current and recent volumes of 111 core journals in the humanities and social sciences.
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Biblical Theology Bulletin
Horizons: The Journal of the College Theology Society
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Journal for the Study of Rhetorical Criticism of the New Testament
Journal of Biblical Literature
Journal of Religion
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Journal of Theological Studies
New Testament Studies
Journal Finder places information regarding access to PC's electronic and print journals, magazines, and newspapers in one convenient location. Library databases are connected by Journal Finder and lead you to full text if available.
Browse Journal Finder by title or subject. When browsing or searching, you can read articles from any journal that is available in the Full-text resources online group of results. Choose a database in this group based on the dates available and the time frame in which you are interested.
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New Testament Gateway [Dr. Mark Goodacre, Dept. of Religion, Duke]
A comprehensive directory of academic internet resources related to the New Testament. It is divided into (at present) nine sub-directories and dozens of pages, each relating to a specific topic. Every link is annotated. The annotations help users to pinpoint the information for which they are looking. The New Testament Gateway focuses on resources that will be of interest to both scholars and students of the New Testament.
Synoptic Gospels Primer [Mahlon H. Smith]
An electronic gateway to the history of literary analysis of the gospels originally created for undergraduate New Testament courses at Rutgers University.
Society of Biblical Literature
The SBL publishes books with a scholarly focus as well as works intended to convey the finest biblical scholarship. SBL Publications also provides free online access to the Review of Biblical Literature, the premier source of biblical studies book reviews in the world.
The Unbound Bible [Biola University]
Users can search the Old Testament and New Testament by verse or word. Advanced search provides options for searching different translations of the Bible.
Virtual Religion Index [Mahlon H. Smith]
VRI analyzes & highlights important content of religion-related websites to speed research. Hyperlinks are provided not only to homepages but to major directories & documents within. Two categories of particular note, Biblical Studies and Christian Tradition, provide several subcategories with extensive links. Includes the Synoptic Gospels Primer.
Stop by the
Teresa Inman 833-8313
Dan Lee 833-8437
Hours: 8.30 am - 10 pm for research questions & assistance. Personal appointments also available.