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Free Web Resources: History and Patristics

This is a listing of resources that are freely available on the internet.

Missionary Resources

  • Missiology.org 
    A website that contains information for missionary Bible teachers and pastors. 

Notable Theologians

  • Bibliographica Thomistica 
    Searchable database of Thomas Aquinas' corups and Thomistic literature. 
  • Calvinism Resource Database 
    Regularly updated and searchable database for information on John Calvin and Calvinism. 
  • Corpus Thomisticum 
    The Corpus Thomisticum is a collection of the works of Thomas Aquinas.
  • Famous Trials, Martin Luther 
    This is the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law Famous Trials entry for Martin Luther's hearings before the Diet at Worms on charges of heresy in 1521.
  • Huldrych Zwingli Briefe 
    A collection of the letters of Huldrych Zwingli. Be advised that this site is in German and provides no translation support.
  • Huldrych Zwingli Werke 
    A collection of the works of Huldrych Zwingli. Be advised that this site is in German and has no translation support. 

Religious Studies Bibliographies

Open Source Content Collections

  • Biblical Studies UK 
    This site includes links to over 10,000 rare and out-of-print theological books and articles. It also includes links to helpful study aids. 
  • SoundTheology Religion Audio Archive 
    This website is an archive of audio recorded talks by theologians from many different faith groups about a wide range of topics. From the General Commission on Archives & History, United Methodist Church.
  • Treasures in Full 
    A free digital library of many historically significant works of literature provided by the British Library. This resource contains the works of Shakespeare, the Gutenberg Bible, and the Magna Carta. 

Patristics

  • Patrologia Graeca 
    A portal to the collected works of the Greek Fathers in the Greek Language, edited by Jacques Migne. This is an excellent source but not to use. The links on the right-hand side of the page will help you to fully search and utilize the site. 
  • Patrologia Latina 
    A portal to the collected works of the Latin Fathers in the Latin Language, edited by Jacques Migne. This is an excellent source but not the easiest to use. The links on the right-hand side of the page will help you to get the most out of the site. 
  • Christian Classic Ethereal Library 
    Extensive searchable library of classic Christian texts. All texts can be downloaded, for free, as plain text or PDF files of out of copyright print editions.

Latin

  • Logeion 
    The 17 Volume Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources (1975-2003), one of the great national or regional dictionaries of Medieval Latin, available on line free of charge through the University of Chicago.

Coptic

  • A Coptic Dictionary 
    This website is a dictionary of the Coptic Language, the liturgical language of Coptic Christianity. The dictionary was published in 1939 and offers indexes in English, Greek, and Arabic. Users will need to download the Greek and Coptic font package to view all the characters used by the dictionary. 

Catholic Resources

  • Documenta Catholica Omnia 
    This is a compendium of Papal Encyclicals, Conciliary Documents, and other important documents from throughout the history of the Catholic Church. 
  • Holy See 
    The official website of the Vatican. This site has portals to every papal encyclical, as well as current Vatican news and Catholic social teachings (the rough equivalent to the ELCA's social statements.)

Open-Access Journals

  • Biblical Studies on the Web 
    This website provides free access to articles in Biblica the Journal of The Pontifical Biblical Institute and Filologia Neotestamentaria from the University of Cordoba. 
  • Theological Journals Search 
    A Google Custom Search geared towards theological journals. A helpful starting-point for those just beginning research. Some content is open access but most is not. Try searching the Library's Catalog or Journals A to Z if the article is behind a paywall.
  • Theological Studies.org 
    A website for the study of Christian Theology which provides over 10,000 journal and academic articles, which are free to the researcher.