Tag: SBL Handbook of Style

How to Use Zotero to Properly Cite Grammars in SBL Style

You might think that citing a grammar according to the SBL Handbook of Style would be pretty straightforward.1 And you’d be right, but there are several special cases to account for.

1. Cite section numbers wherever possible.

Instead of citing a grammar by page number, you should cite by section number wherever possible to give the most precise reference. You’ll designate a single section with “§” and a section range with “§§”.

2. Cite grammars by abbreviation where applicable.

For many common Hebrew and Greek grammars, the SBL Handbook specifies an abbreviation by which to cite a given grammar (§8.4). You may find others also when you check IATG3.

For instance, Gesenius-Kautzch-Cowley is cited simply by the abbreviation “GKC”. Blass-Debrunner-Funk is cited simply as “BDF”.2

The full bibliographic information for these sources then goes in an abbreviations list and should not appear in the bibliography.

3. Adjust your reference manager’s output accordingly.

If you use reference manager software, you’ll want to consider how best to get that software to produce the abbreviated references you need for cases like this. If you use Zotero, you have two main options.

a. Enter footnotes manually, or use the prefix and suffix fields.

If you need to cite only one or more grammars only by an abbreviation(s), you can simply add a footnote and type the appropriate text without going through Zotero’s “add citation” process.

If you are citing a grammar(s) and another source(s) in a Zotero footnote, you can simply add the appropriate grammar citation text to the prefix or suffix fields of your existing citation, depending on whether you want the grammar citation to come before or after the other source(s) you are citing.

So, for instance, when adding or editing a citation, you could type “BDF §458;” into the prefix field to add a citation to Blass-Debrunner-Funk §458. Zotero would then build this text into the footnote so that the footnote will look as it should.

The upside of this method is that it is quite straightforward. The downside is that any sources you cite in this way won’t appear in any bibliography Zotero generates for your document.

SBL Press doesn’t want sources cited by abbreviation in a bibliography anyhow, but in some cases, you might find that you want this (e.g., requirements from a professor, journal, or volume editor).

In that event, your best option will be to edit the bibliography that Zotero prepares to add any sources you’ve included in your footnotes simply by adding their abbreviations as text. Since you entered those citations simply as text, Zotero won’t “know” to add these sources to your bibliography unless you make those changes directly.

b. Install the current SBL style in your reference manager.

Other ways of getting this output automatically from Zotero may be on the horizon. But things are really quite easy if you have the current version of the SBL style installed.

Not long ago, you would have needed to install a custom variant of the main SBL style or edit the style yourself. That’s no longer necessary, however. The changes necessary to cite grammars and other sources by abbreviation are now part of the main SBL style.

You can get the style from the Zotero repository directly. Or if you drop your name and email in the form below, I’ll drop you an email about that style. I’ll also include the style for the Catholic Biblical Association, which uses many of the same abbreviations as SBL style.

Once you have the style installed, for any source you need to cite by an abbrevation, just add Annote: [abbreviation] in that Zotero resource’s “Extra” field. So, for instance, for Blass-Debrunner-Funk, you would add Annote: BDF.

The upside of this method is that you can cite grammars by abbreviation while using the Zotero add citation dialog.

The downside is that you might need to edit your bibliography, if you have one, to remove these sources and move them to an abbreviation list (per SBL style’s requirement).

But you will probably know pretty well which few sources are cited by abbreviations. So, you should be able to edit your bibliography as needed pretty quickly to relocate these sources.

Conclusion

In the end, citing grammars according to the SBL Handbook of Style is quite straightforward.

If you want to cite them while using a reference manager, the process may be a bit more detailed to set up since the manager may not have a mechanism for handling largely custom citation patterns like the abbreviations SBL Press specifies for common grammars.

But with some careful thought about how you want to approach citing these kinds of resources, you can certainly streamline them into your existing citation process.

  1. Header image provided by SBL Press. ↩

  2. Also important is SBL Press’s discussion of citing Herbert Smyth’s Greek Grammar. ↩

How to Cite Dictionaries with Zotero

The SBL Handbook of Style prescribes different citation conventions for Bible encyclopedias and dictionaries than it does for theological lexicons and dictionaries.1

Zotero can handle both citation types. To get the proper output, you just need to:

  1. Install an updated version of the SBL citation style and
  2. Input information into your Zotero database properly.

1. Install an Updated Version of Zotero’s SBL Citation Style

From Zotero’s style repository, you can install the “Society of Biblical Literature 2nd edition (full note)” style.

This style, like all others, depends on the quality of the records you have stored in your Zotero database.

But if you make get information into the database correctly, this style will do a wonderful job. Your citations and bibliographies will very closely match the requirements of the SBL Handbook of Style.

Why You Need an Updated Citation Style

There’s one particular area, though, where Zotero’s default SBL style doesn’t get things quite right.

That is, for a number of specific resources, the SBL Handbook of Style specifies completely custom citations.

These formats work well enough for us in biblical studies who know what they represent (e.g., BDAG, HALOT).

But there’s not a good way for Zotero’s default SBL style to handle these custom citation requirements programmatically. After all, Zotero is software—not a biblical scholar. 😉

For this reason, you’ll want to install an updated version of Zotero’s SBL citation style. If you do this especially before citing theological lexicons and dictionaries, you’ll find it easier to get the correct output.

How to Get an Updated Citation Style

You can read more about how to update Zotero’s base SBL style for yourself. Or just drop your name and email in the form below, and I’ll email you a copy of the updated style.

2. Input Information into Your Zotero Database Properly

Encyclopedias and Bible Dictionaries (§6.3.6)

What SBL Style Requires

When you cite Bible encyclopedias and dictionaries, SBL style wants an initial footnote to look like

1. Krister Stendahl, “Biblical Theology, Contemporary,” IDB 1:418.

Subsequent references should use only the author’s surname, a shortened article title, and drop the dictionary title abbreviation. Thus, you’ll have a citation like

3. Stendahl, “Biblical Theology,” 1:419.

Then in the bibliography, you should have an entry for each individual encyclopedia or dictionary article like

Stendahl, Krister. “Biblical Theology, Contemporary.” IDB 1:418–32.

How to Get What SBL Style Requires

To get this output from Zotero, use the “Dictionary Entry” resource type for each entry you want to cite. You can then fill out the resource metadata as usual.

The one exception is that, in the “Dictionary Title” field, you often won’t put the full dictionary title.

Instead, if one exists, you’ll want to use the standard abbreviation for that dictionary’s title.

Some of these abbreviations are available in the SBL Handbook of Style. For others, you may need to consult the third edition of Internationales Abkürzungsverzeichnis für Theologie und Grenzgebiete (IATG).

(For more about using IATG alongside the SBL Handbook of Style, see my e-book on SBL style.)

Lexicons and Theological Dictionaries (§6.3.7)

For lexicons and theological dictionaries, things are a bit trickier. And it’s here that you’ll be thankful you’ve installed an update to Zotero’s default SBL citation style.

First, however, note that the SBL Handbook of Style heads §6.3.7 as discussing citation of “An Article in a Lexicon or a Theological Dictionary.”

But apparently, the section is intended to address only signed articles in lexicons and theological dictionaries. For unsigned articles, you’ll follow a different citation method.2

Some works include only unsigned entries (e.g., BDAG, HALOT).3 Others include both signed and unsigned entries (e.g., EDNT). So, you’ll want to carefully use the citation method appropriate for the specific entry type that you’re citing.

What SBL Style Requires

With that distinction made, note that, for theological lexicons and dictionaries, the SBL Handbook of Style wants initial footnotes like

1. Hermann W. Beyer, “διακονέω, διακονία, κτλ,” TDNT 2:93.

Or if you’re citing only the article on one particular word in a larger group, you’ll have something like

1. Hermann W. Beyer, “διακονέω,” TDNT 2:81.

According to the Handbook, subsequent citations need to have the author’s surname and the lexicon or dictionary title but drop the article title. (This requirement is opposite of that for Bible encyclopedias and dictionaries.)

But SBL Press has now reversed this pattern so that signed lexicon or theological dictionary titles are cited in the same way as are encyclopedia and Bible dictionary articles.4

Thus, you’ll have a subsequent reference like

3. Beyer, “διακονέω,” 2:83.

Then, in the bibliography, you’ll give the individual article entry like

Beyer, Hermann W. “διακονέω, διακονία, κτλ.” TDNT 2:81–93.5

This method of reflecting lexicons and theological dictionaries in the bibliography again represents SBL Press adjusting the presentation of these types of sources to be more similar to encyclopedias and Bible dictionaries.6

Per the Handbook itself, you would only include only one entry in the bibliography for a whole theological lexicon or dictionary, no matter how many articles you cited from it.

By contrast, the full bibliography entry for the whole work (e.g., TDNT) should now only go in an abbreviation list, if you need to have one.7

How to Get What SBL Style Requires

There are a few different options for how to ask Zotero to produce this output. Different methods might work better in different situations, depending on whether the source has only unsigned entries, only signed entries, or some of both.

Only Unsigned Entries

If your source has only unsigned entries, you’ll probably be best off by having just the one Zotero record for the whole source.

Only Signed Entries or Both Signed and Unsigned Entries

If your source has only signed entries, you’ll probably be best off by having

  • One Zotero record for each entry you cite and
  • One Zotero record for the whole work, if you need this for the abbreviation list or for unsigned entries.

Setting up the Zotero records for signed entries is pretty straightforward. But setting up a record to cite unsigned entries requires some special steps.

Setting Up Zotero Records for Unsigned Entries

For unsigned entries, you won’t always need to cite the work with an abbreviation. But that will often be the case.

When it is, you can use the “Extra” field for that Zotero record to enter Annote: followed by how you want to cite the lexicon or dictionary overall.

For example, for the Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, the corresponding abbreviation is EDNT. So in Zotero’s “Extra” field for that resource, can enter Annote: <i>EDNT</i>.

Zotero won’t do anything with what follows Annote: except use it exactly to cite your resource. So you have to include the <i> and </i> tags to tell Zotero you want the title abbreviation italicized, as SBL style requires.

When you initially cite an unsigned article, you can then choose the “sub verbo” locator type in the Zotero add citation dialog box so that you can enter the entry you’re citing from.

Using the Annote: variable to store the custom citation you need should then allow you to configure your footnotes one way while not affecting the formatting of the bibliography entry for that resource, should you need to include one there or in an abbreviation list.

Conclusion

As Zotero and SBL style continue evolving, the process for getting certain types of output will change as well.

But of all the bibliography managers available, Zotero continues to provide one of the easiest out-of-the-box experiences for managing and citing research in biblical studies.

  1. Society of Biblical Literature, The SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd ed. (Atlanta: SBL, 2014), §§6.3.6–6.3.7. Header image provided by Zotero via Twitter. ↩

  2. “Citing Reference Works 3: Dictionaries (Word),” weblog, SBL Handbook of Style, 4 April 2017. ↩

  3. See also “Citing Reference Works 2: Lexica,” SBL Handbook of Style, 30 March 2017. ↩

  4. “Citing Reference Works 3: Dictionaries (Word).” ↩

  5. “Citing Reference Works 3: Dictionaries (Word).” ↩

  6. “Citing Reference Works 3: Dictionaries (Word).” ↩

  7. “Citing Reference Works 3: Dictionaries (Word).” ↩

How Should You Actually Paginate an Essay?

The guidance about page number placement in the Student Supplement for the SBL Handbook of Style is mostly clear. But some of it takes some guesswork.

General Guidance

The Student Supplement gives the following advice for presenting page numbers:1

Overall: Assign each page a number. Arabic numbers are used for the main text of the paper. Roman numerals are used for material prior to the body of the text.

Title page: Do not print the roman numeral “i” on the title page.

Body: On the first page of the main text, place the page number at the bottom center. For subsequent pages, place the page number at the top right corner.

Back matter: On the first page of each appendix and the bibliography, place the page number at the bottom center. For subsequent pages, place the page number at the top right corner.

Then, if you’re writing a “term paper[] of fifteen pages or more,” you’ll also have a “contents page” (Student Supplement §2.7). And for this section, the Student Supplement advises (§2.3),

Contents: The front matter after the title page should be numbered beginning with “ii.” Page numbers should appear without any punctuation marks such as periods or parentheses.2

Placement of Front Matter Page Numbers

Strictly speaking, however, the Student Supplement doesn’t specify a location for Roman numeral page numbers.

Searching for an Answer

This information is also lacking from the SBL Handbook itself and doesn’t appear yet to have been clarified via the SBL Handbook of Style blog.

So for the position of page numbers in Roman numerals, we need to consult Turabian.For a summary of the order in which you should consult authorities for SBL style, see “How to Master SBL Style in 7 Simple Steps.” But when we do so, what we find there is not as direct an answer as we might hope.

Turabian’s Advice

If we line up the Student Supplement’s advice to Turabian, it’s pretty clear that the Student Supplement wants what it calls “term papers” to use a page numbering scheme like Turabian describes as being “traditional[ …] for theses and dissertations.”3

In this scheme, page numbers go “in the footer” on “all front matter pages.”4

But we still don’t have definitive guidance about whether the Roman numeral page numbers go in the bottom center or bottom right, both of which Turabian indicates as options.5 The full Chicago Manual of Style seems likewise silent on this point.

A Guess at an Answer

Pending further clarification about this point from SBL Press, we’re left with some guesswork based on two observations:

  1. Per Turabian’s “traditional[]” scheme, page numbers go “in the footer” on “all front matter pages.”6
  2. The Student Supplement nowhere advises that any page number should go in the bottom right. When the bottom margin has a page number, the number always appears bottom center.

Therefore, the most stylistically consistent placement for page numbers in Roman numerals in front matter is bottom center.

This includes subsequent pages in the same front matter section. Thus, for example, if your table of contents runs into more than one page, its Roman numeral page numbers will always appear bottom center.

Based on what the Student Supplement and Turabian say, this guess seems pretty probable.

But a guess it remains pending further guidance not weighed in here.

Conclusion

Based on these instructions, what you have are either two or three different page numbering statuses (none, Roman, Arabic).

For pages with numbers, you have two different locations (bottom center, top right).

And how you format the page number and where you put it depend on what kind of page it is where that number appears.

How have you normally placed page numbers in your essays?

Header image provided by Patrick Tomasso

  1. I’ve excerpted this material from the Student Supplement §2.3, but I have adapted somewhat for ease of reference and presentation here. ↩

  2. If your paper has an abbreviations section, it will follow the same pagination rules as the contents section. See the Student Supplement §§2.3, 2.7, for more information. ↩

  3. Manual for Writers, 9th ed., §A.1.4.2. ↩

  4. Manual for Writers, 9th ed., §A.1.4.2. ↩

  5. Manual for Writers, 9th ed., §A.1.4.2. ↩

  6. Manual for Writers, 9th ed., §A.1.4.2. ↩

How to Master SBL Style in 7 Simple Steps

Besides what it shares with general Chicago style, many details of SBL style pertain specifically to biblical studies. So learning SBL style can be challenging. But it doesn’t have to be.

Use this checklist to ensure you end up following the right advice about SBL style for your context.

The 7 Steps

  1. If you have to follow a “house style” in addition to the SBL Handbook of Style (e.g., from a professor, school, or publisher), follow any relevant advice your house style has. If not, skip to the next step.
  2. If you’re a student, follow the guidance of the Student Supplement to the SBL Handbook of Style, as far as it goes. If not, skip to the next step.
  3. Check the SBL Handbook of Style blog for any updates, corrections, or additional relevant advice.
  4. Consult the SBL Handbook of Style itself.
  5. If the SBL Handbook of Style asks for an abbreviation of a series or journal title:
    1. Look for the appropriate abbreviation in the SBL Handbook of Style.
    2. If you don’t find it there, look it up in Internationales Abkürzungsverzeichnis für Theologie und Grenzgebiete.
    3. If you find an abbreviation in Internationales Abkürzungsverzeichnis für Theologie und Grenzgebiete, double check it isn’t already assigned to a different source in the SBL Handbook of Style.
    4. If you don’t find an abbreviation in Internationales Abkürzungsverzeichnis für Theologie und Grenzgebiete, you can make one if you have a place to define your own abbreviations (e.g., an abbreviations list in the front matter to a dissertation or monograph). If you don’t have a place to define your own abbreviations, leave the title unabbreviated.
  6. Spell words properly.
    1. For names, use the SBL Handbook of Style’s specified authorities (§§3.4.1–3.4.4, 4.3.3.4).
    2. For words other than proper nouns, follow Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
  7. If you still aren’t sure how to do something, consult current Chicago style.
    1. If you’re a student, look first at Turabian’s Manual for Writers. If you don’t find what you need there, follow the advice in the full Chicago Manual of Style.
    2. If you’re not a student, follow the advice in the full Chicago Manual of Style.

Conclusion

Understanding what SBL style requires in a given situation takes some practice. But with these 7 steps, you’ll know exactly where to look so you won’t miss anything and can begin mastering SBL style.

What is your biggest struggle with learning and using SBL style?

To help you remember these steps and avoid spending time re-editing your work, get my free SBL style checklist.

5 Steps to Store Series Information in Zotero

Bibliography managers like Zotero can vastly simplify how you keep track of sources for your research.1 They can also take a lot of the grunt work out of composing citations.

But of course, what a citation manager puts out is only as good as what you put into it. And sometimes it can take a bit of coaxing or trial and error to figure out how to put information in so that you get it back out in the format you want.

A Problem: Needing to Use Multiple Styles

This situation gets compounded when you have to toggle between requirements for different style manuals. In some limited cases, you might be able to lightly edit what you have stored in your reference manager on a case-by-case basis so that you can get the output you need for different styles.

But continually editing and reediting your reference database gets old quickly. And it isn’t a viable option as soon as you have to start using different style manuals for different projects you’re working on at the same time and that draw from some of the same sources.

For instance, among my current projects, I’m having to use both the SBL Handbook of Style (SBLHS) and the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) itself. Of course, properly using SBLHS frequently requires that you refer to CMS. But one of the publishers I’m currently writing for requires that I use CMS as a primary style authority without reference to SBLHS.

Most of the time, a citation manager like Zotero can make the switch between these different styles in different documents pretty seamlessly. But sometimes you need to nuance a bit how you store information about a particular reference so that you can get the proper—and different—output that multiple styles require (e.g., SBLHS, CMS).

An Example: Handling Series Names and Abbreviations

A case in point is how SBLHS and CMS treat works published in series. As we’ve discussed before, for SBLHS, the series title may well get abbreviated. Thus, you’d have a citation like

1. Armin Lange and Matthias Weigold, Biblical Quotations and Allusions in Second Temple Jewish Literature, JAJSup 5 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011).

But for CMS, you’d need to give the series name in full. Thus, you’d have

1. Armin Lange and Matthias Weigold, Biblical Quotations and Allusions in Second Temple Jewish Literature, Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements 5 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011).

How should you set up your reference manager so that it will give you either “JAJSup” or “Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements” when you need it based on the citation style you’re using?

A Solution for Zotero

The answer and options will be different depending on the particular reference manager you use. The answer for Zotero isn’t immediately obvious. But it is pretty straightforward once you get used to it.

To illustrate, let’s continue with our SBLHS and CMS example with the resource I just mentioned.

1. Ensure You’re Running a Recent Version

First, be sure you’re running Zotero v.5.0.61 or higher. To check your Zotero version, open Zotero, and go to Help > About Zotero. The version number will be listed in grey font immediately under the “Zotero” heading.

If you’re not running at least Zotero v.5.0.61, update Zotero, or do a fresh install of the latest version.

2. Install the SBLHS Style

By default, Zotero comes with citation style support for CMS. But if you haven’t yet installed the style for SBLHS, you’ll need to get that from the Zotero style repository.

Or drop your name and email in the form below, and I’ll send you a slightly modified version of the style that does a better job handling citations for sources where SBLHS specifies a particular abbreviated citation (e.g., BDF).2

3. Enter the Full Series Name

Next, for any titled volumes in series, you’ll need to put the full series name in the “Series” field. In our example, this would be “Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements.”

4. Enter the Series Abbreviation

Then, find the “Extra” field near the bottom of the “Info” pane in Zotero for a given source. In this field, add collection-title-short: followed by the appropriate abbreviation for that series.

For instance, for the resource we’re using as an example, we’d enter collection-title-short: JAJSup. (Note that you will want a space between the colon and the abbreviation.)3

5. Save the Abbreviation Code in an Easy-to-reference Place

As an optional step, save collection-title-short: in a text snippet manager like Phrase Express.

I’m never sure I remember exactly what the proper abbreviation code is. But with a text snippet manager like Phrase Express, all I have to do is use a few key strokes to search for “Series,” and I can drop the proper code into Zotero.

Conclusion

That’s it. From there on out, simply use Zotero as usual to cite your sources.

If the document uses the SBLHS style and you’ve included a collection-title-short: [abbreviation] entry, Zotero will know to use that abbreviation for the series name.

If the document uses the CMS style, Zotero will use the full series name, whether or not you’ve included a collection-title-short: [abbreviation] entry for that resource.

  1. Header image provided by Zotero via Twitter. ↩

  2. For more information about this modified style, see “Citing Grammars with the SBL Handbook and Zotero.” ↩

  3. For recommending this solution, I’m grateful to the kind and ever-helpful folks at the Zotero forums. ↩

Authorities for SBL Style: Classes, Miscellanea

In this series, we’ve discussed several kinds of authorities for SBL style. These include house styles (from a publisher or a school), the SBLHS and its blog, IATG3, and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

There are more authorities we could discuss. But in this final post in the series, we’ll cover just two more. These authorities are commonly used for specific cases in a wide range of writing projects. And they are the SBLHS Student Supplement and the Chicago Manual of Style.

4.3 For Class Essays: The SBLHS Student Supplement

For class essays, students can consult the Student Supplement for The SBL Handbook of Style, Second Edition (SS.SBLHS). SBL makes this supplement freely available online.

The SS.SBLHS contains a great deal of helpful, practical guidance. It specifically addresses how SBL style applies to a project like a seminar paper or other class essay. These include such things as recommendations for title pages, tables of contents, and heading styles.

SS.SBLHS is, though, only 19 pages. So it’s scope is much more limited than SBLHS, and therefore, SS.SBLHS can’t really replace consulting the fuller handbook.

In relation to SS.SBLHS also, two cautions are in order:

  1. The supplement is a good tool. But it tends to be slightly more prone to errors or inconsistencies than the SBLHS itself. So you need to use the supplement cautiously and always defer to other higher authorities like the full handbook.
  2. SBLHS doesn’t explicitly (or, I think, even implicitly) rank the student supplement in its list of applicable authorities. As such, it may well be that the supplement should rank lower as an authority than does the Chicago Manual. This may also be preferable given some of the supplement’s errata over the years. So you may want to see if your school’s house style gives you any guidance for locating SS.SBLHS among your list of authorities for SBL style. But I’ve included it here (above the Chicago Manual) on the principles that (a) SS.SBLHS is style guidance directly from SBL Press and (b) any errata will presumably get corrected sooner or later on the more-authoritative SBLHS blog.

4.4 For Everything Else: The Chicago Manual

4.4.1 Using the Chicago Manual in General

Okay, so let’s say you’ve gone through the SS.SBLHS and the other higher authorities we’ve discussed in prior posts. But you’ve still not found the answer to your style question. If that’s the case, then according to SBL Press, follow the advice in the current edition of the Chicago Manual.

In consulting the Chicago Manual, much the same advice applies as we’ve already given in connection with the SBLHS.

4.4.2 The Relationship between the SBLHS and the Chicago Manual

On the preparation of the second edition of the SBLHS, SBL Press comments that

while the first edition tended toward minimal duplication, relying on users referring to The Chicago Manual of Style, feedback from users noted that it would be more efficient to have style guidance in one place. Consequently, the second edition contains more complete information and requires less consultation of The Chicago Manual of Style.

SBLHS, xii.

In my use of the second edition, I’ve certainly found that I need to refer to the Chicago Manual for fewer questions than was the case with the first edition of the SBLHS. That being said, if you are writing a project of any appreciable length—even in a class paper or journal article, but certainly in a thesis or dissertation—there will likely be innumerable minor details for which the Chicago Manual will be your best guide.

That is, with the second edition of SBLHS, you do need to consult the Chicago Manual about fewer things. But there are so many minor details that SBLHS simply doesn’t include that I find myself regularly using the Chicago Manual as well.

Any one of the things I have to look up in the Chicago Manual I might only come across once in a given project. Yet, if you add up all the things that you have to look up once per project in the Chicago Manual, you may well find that you too will want to have your own copy within arm’s reach.

Conclusion

In sum, the SBLHS provides some inestimably helpful guidance geared specifically for challenges and questions that confront biblical scholars.

At the same time, SBLHS is self-confessedly not on an island by itself. Instead, SBLHS draws from and leans on other authorities to help it focus on what it does best—guide biblical scholars about questions that (almost) uniquely pertain to biblical scholars.

But because scholarly writing in biblical studies has such a wide range of possible forms, not even as full a guide as the SBLHS can hope to be truly comprehensive without also becoming quite unwieldy. Just think of what it would look like to add the SBLHS to IATG3 and the Chicago Manual in something resembling a single publication (!).

With this in mind, all of us who write in biblical studies need to be intimately familiar with the SBLHS and the other basic guideposts on which the SBLHS leans. This whole group of guides is there to help us produce the cleanest writing we can so that our readers can concentrate as fully and transparently as possible on what we are trying to argue.

Are any of the additional authorities we’ve discussed beyond the SBLHS new to you? If so, which one(s)? Which authority(ies) do you need to use more fully?