Answered By: Jeremy McGinniss
Last Updated: Nov 23, 2022     Views: 174

Here are a few recommendations in researching this topic:

  1. Use the Christian Classics Ethereal Library to find primary and secondary sources. For instance you can find a book entitled "Early Years of Christianity: The Apostolic Era" and use chapter IV, which deals with this topic. That book is found here. Or you can find a number of primary sources on the topic. For example, Lactantius' account can be viewed here. Try searching other early Christian sources on this same website using the search bar in the top right. These are considered scholarly sources.
  2. There are a number of books available for preview on Google books that might be used to get information. They can be seen in part here.
  3. If you are a residential student, you can check out great books from our printed materials. Some of these can be seen here. If you are an online student, these printed materials are available to you through our Interlibrary Loan system. For more information about that, click here.
  4. A few good journal articles can be found by searching "worship early church" in the Theological Journal Library. Below are the instructions for searching within this database:
    1. Navigate to the main library website at http://www.liberty.edu/library/.
    2. To the right, under Databases by Subject select Browse All Databases.
    3. On the A-Z Databases page, select the letter T.
    4. In the list that comes up select the link to Theological Journal Library.
    5. Once in the database under Journal Menu select Search Journals.
    6. On the next page, you will then be able to use the search bar to search for articles related to your topic. Type in "worship in the early church" and search. The articles in the results that come up are considered scholarly. You will be able to read them by simply clicking on the article title.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to us at (434) 582-2220 or at research@liberty.edu.