Christianity and Church History

Using the Library's Catalogs

For general instructions on using the Library's catalogs, please consult How To Find Books. The following information is specific to the subject of Christianity and Chuch History.

When researching an item in the catalogs, check under the subject heading most specific to your interest:

• historical personality (Luther, Martin)

• church or denomination (Church of England)

• doctrine (predestination), a movement (Oxford Movement)

• ritual or practice (baptism).

In performing your research at The New York Public Library, you may need to consult two catalogs, The Dictionary Catalog, an 800-volume set of materials acquired by the library before 1972, and CATNYP, the online catalog of materials acquired after 1972. (Please note that as a result of an active retrospective conversion project, most of the items in The Dictionary Catalog will also be found in CATNYP). For assistance searching the Dictionary Catalog, consult the librarians at the Information Desk.

CATNYP uses Library of Congress subject headings. Searching by these subject headings will usually generate the most accurate and beneficial results. However, if you are not certain of the correct subject heading to use, you may have better luck with a keyword search. After performing a keyword search, check the item's record to see what subject headings were used.

Saints | Church History | The Bible | The New Testament | The Old Testament

 

Saints

Works by or about Christian saints are found under the name of the saint in question. Thus, if you wish to research Saint Bartholomew, check under Bartholomew, not Saint Bartholomew.

Church History

In the field of church history, there are different arrangements in the Library's two catalogs. The Dictionary Catalog uses the subject heading Church History to include not only general works in the area, but also materials dealing with church history in specific countries. Therefore, books on Polish church history will be found under Church History-Poland. However, CATNYP lists the church histories of individual countries directly under that country, Poland-Church History.

Similarly, the Dictionary Catalog lists works on the Quakers under Friends, Society of, while CATNYP places this same group under two separate subject headings, Society of Friends and Quakers. The churches of Eastern Christianity are placed under the subject heading Eastern Orthodox Church in the Dictionary Catalog, but CATNYP uses the subject heading Orthodox Eastern Church.

The Bible

The different editions of the complete Bible are listed in the Dictionary Catalog before the editions of the New and Old Testaments and other separately published parts of the Bible. Different editions of the complete Bible are arranged by language and, within that, by year. In the Dictionary Catalog these listings commence with the heading Bible. Polyglot (volume 71, page 344) and continue with listings by individual languages beginning with Bible. Afrikaans. 1957 (volume 71, page 347).

For English language Bibles look under Bible. English (volume 71, page 358); like all other entries, these are broken down by year beginning with the earliest imprint. The first editions of the King James Bible are listed in the Dictionary Catalog under Bible. English. 1611 (volume 71, page 373). The Roman Catholic Douai-Rheims version of the Bible is found under Bible. English. Douai Rheims (volume 71, page 455).

These same subject headings can be used to search CATNYP. You may also find items of interest by doing a keyword search instead of a subject search.

Two electronic databases offer access to the Bible in full-text. Please note that these databases are only available from within the Library.:

The Bible in English
Contains 20 different versions of the English Bible from the tenth to the twentieth century.

The King James Bible
This online version, which includes the Apocrypha, allows one to go to a specific chapter and verse, browse by book, and search for keywords.

The New Testament

The Library has many separate editions of the New Testament and the Old Testament. Like whole editions of the Bible, these two divisions are also arranged by language and then by year. In The Dictionary Catalog, entries for the New Testament begin with Bible. New Testament. Polyglot (volume 72, page 372) and continue with Bible. New Testament. Albanian (volume 72, page 373). Other languages following in alphabetical order. Bible. New Testament. English. begins in volume 72 on page 382.

Dual-language New Testaments are normally found after the primary language. Thus, Bible. New Testament. Spanish-English follows Bible. New Testament. Spanish (volume 72, page 491); Bible. New Testament. Greek-English. appears in volume 72, page 468 and Bible. New Testament. Greek-Latin is found in volume 72, page 469.

Specific books of the New Testament are also included in the Dictionary Catalog; thus Bible. New Testament. Acts is found in volume 73 on page 25, and other books of the New Testament follow this entry in alphabetical order. Note that the New Testament Apocrypha (in English) is found under Bible. New Testament. Apocrypha. English beginning on page 39 of volume 73.

The Old Testament

The arrangement of entries for Bible. Old Testament parallels that for Bible. New Testament. The entries for the former begin in volume 73, page 267, with Bible. Old Testament. Polyglot (arranged by year) followed by the alphabetical arrangement for different languages. Like the New Testament, the listings for the Old Testament are also subdivided according to the appropriate book beginning with Bible. Old Testament. Amos (volume 73, page 389).

There also exist distinct references for Bible. Old Testament. Pentateuch (volume 73, page 551), Bible. Old Testament. Apocrypha (volume 73, page 392), and Bible. Old Testament. Pseudepigrapha (volume 74, page 166).