Library Guides: History, United States and Canada: Religion

Encyclopedias and Guides

Encyclopedia of Science and Religion
Presents a cross-cultural approach that emphasizes religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture.

Cambridge histories This link opens in a new window
Cambridge Histories spans subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, with a concentration on political and cultural history, literature, philosophy, religious studies, music and the arts.

Encyclopedia of Religion This link opens in a new window
Presents a cross-cultural approach that emphasizes religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture.
Encyclopedia of religion in America This link opens in a new window
Examines how religious history and practices are woven into the political, social, cultural, and historical landscape of North America.

Encyclopedia of American religions (8th ed.) This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive coverage of more than 2,300 North American religious groups in the U.S. and Canada -- from Adventists to Zen Buddhists. Information is presented in two distinct sections, essays and directory listings describing the historical development of religious families and providing factual information about each group within those families. Includes, when available, rubrics for membership figures, educational facilities and periodicals.
Oxford handbooks online. Religion This link opens in a new window
Brings together the world's leading scholars to discuss research and the latest thinking in a range of major topics in religion; it also contains specially-commissioned essays.
Religion past and present This link opens in a new window
This is the online version of the updated English translation of the 4th edition of the encyclopedia of religion worldwide: the Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart.

Cambridge Companions Online--Philosophy, Religion and Culture
This resource offers scholarly overviews on many areas of religion and irreligion in America, including American Islam, American Judaism, American Methodism, Malcolm X, to name a few, as well as on general topics including religious studies, atheism, and feminist theology, among others.

Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. This link opens in a new window
Features more than 21,000 entries on Jewish life, culture, history, and religion, written by Israeli, American and European subject specialists.

Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy
Combines theoretical work on important topics and scholarly disciplines; social science perspectives on a variety of topics; and treatment of practical policy implications that flow from applying the Catholic religious, moral, and intellectual tradition to contemporary issues.

Real Clear Religion
News aggregator for religion.
Religion in the News
Daily news feeds from the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life.
Religion News Service
Founded in 1934, it is an independent, nonprofit source of global news on religion, spirituality, culture and ethics, reported by a staff of professional journalists.
World-Wide Religious News
A non-profit service to provide the international academic and legal community (as well as various government agencies) with up to date religious news from around the world. WWRN was initiated with the goal of promoting religious freedom and tolerance.

American Religion: Denominational Newspapers This link opens in a new window
More than 320 rare newspapers from over 30 states published between 1799 and 1900.

The Catholic News Archive
Part of the Catholic Research Resource Alliance, this growing collection focuses on digitizing Catholic newspapers during the Vatican II years (1958-1970). The site offers thousands of newspaper pages, from different cities, over multiple years. Includes newspapers editorials, pictures, and advertisements.

ATLA religion database with ATLASerials PLUS This link opens in a new window
It combines an index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion with a growing list of hundreds of full text titles. It includes the ATLA Catholic Periodical and Literature Index.

Catholics and cultures This link opens in a new window
The site fosters comparative study of contemporary Catholic life around the globe and to provide teaching resources about Catholic life.

Jewish-Christian Relations
Features articles, reviews, reports, official statements, and study resources on Jewish-Christian relations.
The Pluralism Project
The Pluralism Project is a two decade-long research project that studies the new religious diversity in the United States. We explore particularly the communities and religious traditions of Asia and the Middle East that have become woven into the religious fabric of the United States in the past twenty-five years.

2011 National Household Survey: Religion
The Canadian Government’s most recent poll to document religiosity in Canada.
Religion in Canada
A selection of key statistical resources from the Canadian government.

Digital Atlas of American Religion
The DAAR includes data from the US Census and the religion censuses from 1890 to 2010. There are some gaps in the data, based on changes in data collection over time and changes in denominations.

Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)
A repository of surveys, polls, and other data on the topic of religion.
Pew Research Center
Nonpartisan think tank conducting public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.

World Christian database This link opens in a new window
Offers statistical information on world religions, Christian denominations, and people groups.
World religion database This link opens in a new window
Provides detailed statistics on religious affiliation for every country of the world, since 1900.

The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches
The Yearbook, which provides summary and statistical information for denominations in the US and Canada, has existed in print form since 1916. This online version holds information going back only to 2012. It is compiled by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.