Riot in Alexandria (Book Review)

Edward Watts' "Riot in Alexandria: tradition and group dynamics in late antique pagan and Christian communities" (published this year by the University of California Press) has just been reviewed in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review by Peter Van Nuffelen of Ghent University.

Read the book in SOAS Library. It is shelved at NE916.2104 / 741999 on Level B (between stacks 59 and 61)

Reminder on Religions database trials

The following Brill databases are available on trial until the 26th October. Please let us know what you think, by e-mailing bc3@soas.ac.uk with your comments. 
They are also accessible from http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/resources/a-z/database-trials.html
Brill Online - Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History
"A bibliographic history" covering the period 600-1500 and recording details of more than 200 works in various languages where encounters between the two faiths are described. 
http://bit.ly/BrillCMR

Brill Online - Index to the Study of Religions
A cross-searchable database of abstracts of articles "which contribute to the academic study of religions". It currently contains 20,000 records. The abstracts are in English, derived from articles in various languages from a variety of journals. This is an ongoing project, with 600 or so entries being added annually. 
http://bit.ly/BrillISR

Brill Online - Religion Past and Present
An online encyclopedia - the English translation of the 4th edition of the "definitive encyclopedia of religion worldwide" - Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (RGG). 
http://bit.ly/BrillRPP

Welcome to SOAS

Welcome to all new and returning students

The Study of Religions Library blog will give

• details of information skills training offered by Library staff
• Library updates
• details of new web resources and recommended websites
• and lots more !!

If you have not been on a Library tour yet, there are more tours running next week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. 

The tours start from open area at the top of the stairs on the 3rd Floor of the School Building (near "Library Tours Start Here" sign !!)

Library training sessions run throughout the year. There will be general introductory sessions on a variety of topics during the first few weeks of term. 

Pick up a handout at the Enquiry Desk for further details of our introductory sessions - Getting started, Electronic journals and bibliographic databases, and Beyond Google: using the Internet for research

For further information on the Library and Library resources, go to the main Library website or go to the Information Skills section on the BLE

As your Librarian, I will be here to help. You can contact me on ms28@soas.ac.uk  or drop in to Room C3 in the Library

Brill database trials

SOAS Library has a 30 day trial subscription (until 26th October) to the following Brill databases for the study of religions (and history of religions)

•  Religion Past and Present Online  RPP is the English language edition of the 4th edition of the German Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. [note not all volumes have been published yet] SOAS Library has the German version in print
• Index to the Study of Religions - a cross searchable database of abstracts of articles contributing to the academic study of religions. The database currently contains 20,000 entries, and will have new content added as suitable articles are indexed
• Christian-Muslim Relations Online -the database covers relations between the two faiths between 600-1500 throughout the extended Mediterranean basin area, and comprises (along with introductory essays) over 200 detailed entries on all works recorded where Christian-Muslim encounters are described

These can be accessed from http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/resources/a-z/database-trials.html

Please let me know what you think!

(ms28@soas.ac.uk)

Book review: The Power of Religion in Late Antiquity

Review of "The Power of Religion in Late Antiquity"  from the Bryn Mawr Classical Review.

The collection of papers is edited by Andrew Cain and Noel Lenski and was originally presented at the 7th Biennial Conference on Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity (Boulder, Colorado) in 2007.  

SOAS Library has a copy of the book at A270.2 / 733005

QSB books (Coptic & Coptic Church)

Books on the Coptic Church and the Coptic language (classmark QSB) have been returned from off-site storage and are temporarily located in Room C3 of the Library (Teaching and Research Support Office). If you need to consult them, please come to Room C3 during office hours (9-5) or make a request to Mary Seeley (ms28@soas.ac.uk)
Please note that L.QSB ("large size") books remain off-site

New from SOAS Research Online

Daniel Schwemmer's "Gauging the Influence of Babylonian magic ..."  (full details below) is newly available from SOAS Research Online

Schwemer, Daniel 'Gauging the Influence of Babylonian Magic: the Reception of Mesopotamian Traditions in Hittite Ritual Practice.' In: Cancik-Kirschbaum, Eva and Klinger, Jörg and Müller, Gerfrid, (eds.), Proceedings of: Internationales Symposium “Normierung und Emanzipation: Bausteine für eine Kulturgeschichte des 2. Jts. v. Chr. im Alten Orient”, Berlin 29.–30. Januar 2010. FU Berlin. (Submitted)