Welcome to the Seminary Research guide! The purpose of this guide is not to have an exhaustive list of works in a field, but rather to introduce and connect you with some quality resources in biblical and theological studies. A few things to note:
Blessings on your research, studying, and writing!
Here are some of the types of reference tools you will find in this guide:
Atlases - maps and descriptions of Biblical places.
Commentaries - a verse-by-verse and passage-by-passage explanation of Scripture. Some will cover the entire Bible, but most will focus on a specific book of the Bible.
Dictionaries - an alphabetical enumeration and description of terms and ideas. Some of these have a list of books and articles at the end of each entry for further research. Please note that the entries for most of the dictionaries in this guide are longer than a standard English dictionary entry and are more like an encyclopedia article.
Lexicons - a dictionary of a particular group of writings or author. Many dictionaries of Hebrew and Greek words are called lexicons because they specifically focus on the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Systematic Theologies - a logical and orderly summary of what the Bible teaches on a particular topic.
Atla is the primary database to search for articles on the Bible, theology, missions, church history, and ministry. One of the benefits of using this database is that you can do searches by Scripture citation. This will allow you to bring up articles on a particular passage of Scripture. To access this search:
1) Go to the Atla database, which is linked on the library's homepage:
2) From the database's homepage, click on "Subjects" and then switch the search to "Atla Scripture Search" :
3) It will bring up the books of the Bible. Click on the blue plus sign to expand to specific chapters:
4) Select the verses you would like included in your search:
5) Select "Add to Search" :
6) This will add those Scripture ranges to the main search bar. Click on "Search" to bring up results.
