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Religion Sites |
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Some people define themselves by their religion. Some people die for their religion. Many more kill for it. When developing a character (or studying real people), it's a good idea to have a grasp of how a person (or culture) is affected by their cosmology. |
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General, "Survey" Websites |
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The Religious Tolerance page covers dozens of different religions, with many links if you want to know more. |
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Religious Movements Homepage from the University of Virginia. |
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A site that explores the "big five" faiths. |
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Finally, the home page for the Philosophy and Religion internet course taught at Lake City Community College. It includes some excellent links to the major non-Christian faiths. |
| Internet Sacred Text Archive: "This is a quiet place in cyberspace devoted to religious tolerance and scholarship" |
| Beliefnet |
| Sacred Places: how the sacred is made manifest through art and architecture. |
| Wikipedia: maybe not authoritative, but it has some fine overviews and useful links. |
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Specific to Major Religions |
| Christianity |
| Bible Gateway: Online scripture research tool. |
| Early Christian Writings. |
| Bible Pronunciation Guide. |
| Roman Catholic |
| Basics of Mass, Columbia Encyclopedia entry, and a more involved version from the Medieval Sourcebook. |
| Vatican website. |
| Norms for the Celebration of Ritual Masses |
| Patron Saints Index, and another Patron Saints List. |
| Holy Grail Web Resources (This is as good a place as any to put it). |
| Article by Laurence Gardner espousing the controversial notion of the Grail Bloodline. And another, from the same guy about the same book. |
| Anglican |
| Anglican Communion Official Website. |
| Anglican Online: "the online centre of the Anglican/Episcopal world." |
| The Daily Office in English. And another CoE Daily Office page. |
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The Discovery of Anglo-Saxon Church Architecture. |
Anglo-Saxon Churches in Britain by David Nash Ford |
The Saxon history of St. Andrews. |
| A page on Monasticism in Britain. |
Medieval Church |
| Gothic Dreams: a good introduction to the architectural style of the famous medieval churches. |
| York Minster, another site with a virtual tour, and a general York site. |
| Art from the Byzantine church of San Vitale in Ravenna |
| Monasticism |
| An introduction to the Order of St. Benedict |
| Directory of Cistercian and Trappist monasteries. |
| Monastic and Religious Orders Online. Includes links concerning historical periods. |
| Medieval Monasticism page by Dr. Vess features a number of links. |
| Webpage for Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina (included because I visited it once). I like the link "Surfing the Monastic Way." |
| Monastery of the Holy Spirit: A Trappist house in Conyers, GA. |
| A very nice Brief History of Western Monasticism. |
| A page on Monasticism in Britain. |
| Monks to the Rescue: How Latin Literature Survived. |
| The Cadfael mysteries and subsequent PBS movies are useful for flavor, and can teach the beginner something about medieval monastic life. |
| A Cadfael page with links pertaining to both the show, herbalism, and monastacism. And another Shrewbury Abbey site. And a page in the Lichfield Diocese. As long as we're on this line, here's Steve C's Cadfael Chronicles. |
| Mithras: Roman Mystery Cult |
| Mystery Cults are useful for games as well. The problem is, mystery religions didn't leave behind much in the way of texts, so it takes some archeology and clever thinking to piece together what they were about. Here is a site about one of the more famous examples: Mithras |
| David Ulansey attempts to take some of the mystery out of the Mithraic Mystery Cult. |
| Here is a page on the Eleusisian Mysteries. |
| General Mythology |
| Gods, Heroes, and Myths: Guide to mythologies of various lands |
| Myths and Legends |
| Myth*ing Links: An Annotated & Illustrated Collection
of Worldwide Links to Mythologies, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Sacred Arts & Sacred Traditions |
| Encyclopedia Mythica: covering mythology, folklore and legend. |
| American Indian Belief Systems |
| Various articles on ancient religions |
| Etruscan Religion |
| "Alternative" Belief Systems |
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A couple of looks at Native American spirituality: From the religious
tolerance site and the religious
movements site. |
Philosophy |
| ABCentral's Philosophy links |
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Aesthetics Online is the official web site of the American Society for Aesthetics. |
visits since April 26, 2002