The ORU Library has thousands of resources that support our theological degrees. While we cannot provide all of our resources in electronic form, this guide provides a selection of some of our best theological reference sources that can help you with your research.

Theological research usually begins with getting definitions of words, theological concepts, or information on individuals you want to study. This is done through reference works such as academic dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks. From there, you can pursue more focused studies in books and journal articles about your topic. This guide will help you with suggestions of scholarly reference materials available to online learners.

If you need more help, you can email us at librarian@oru.edu or use the chat button to chat with a librarian.

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This guide is a great source for the Seminar in Theological Research students.

Use the catalog to find books, ebook titles, and series titles. For broader results or to discover more titles, try a keyword search, or use Advanced search for subject searches and more refined results.

Print books may be located in the Reference Collection (for in-library use only) or in the Main JD McKean Library Collection (available for checkout). To filter your results to reference books, add b8:reference to your search. Example: evangelism AND b8:reference

Looking for ebooks? After you perform a search, go to the Format section in the left sidebar and check the box next to eBooks. Ebook entries will include direct links to the full text.

A theological dictionary is designed to give you definitions of theological concepts found in the Bible and/or theological works. For example, "sovereignty" is a concept in theology, even though the word is not used often in the Bible. Same is true for "Trinity." These give you some basic understandings of how the word or concept is used in theological circles.

To find more books and ebooks, search theological dictionary, or similar term or phrase in the library catalog.

Word studies look at the definitions and uses of words in the Biblical text. Most in-depth word studies require knowledge of Greek and Hebrew in order to use a lexicon. However, a Bible dictionary also discusses how words are used and the background meanings of words.

To find more books and ebooks, search Bible dictionary, or similar term or phrase in the library catalog.

Handbooks provide scholarly level information on a variety of topics, very much like a theological dictionary. This could include theological topics, related perspectives on issues, or individuals in history. The Oxford Handbook Series provides a large variety of handbooks on many different disciplines in theology. For example, topics range from scripture and hermeneutics to faith and reason, creation, Jesus Christ, Israel and salvation, eschatology, worship, and politics.

To find more books and ebooks, search theological dictionary, or similar term or phrase in the library catalog. handbook and theology.