The SBLHS 2 provides brief instructions about how to format bibliographic references when they appear more than once in a book or article (see p. 70). This post supplements those instructions with additional details.

In traditional bibliographic format, complete publication data should be supplied in the first note referring to a given source:

4. Alexandra Gruca-Macaulay, Lydia as a Rhetorical Construct in Acts, ESEC 18 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016).

6. Stephen J. Patterson, “The Baptists of Corinth: Paul, the Partisans of Apollos, and the History of Baptism in Nascent Christianity,” in Stones, Bones, and the Sacred: Essays on Material Culture and Ancient Religion in Honor of Dennis E. Smith, ed. Alan H. Cadwallader, ECL 21 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016), 315–27.

Subsequent references to the source should use a shortened bibliographic form: the author’s last name, a short title, and the page number(s) (see CMS §§14.24–25).

8. Gruca-Macaulay, Lydia as a Rhetorical Construct, 5.

9. Patterson, “Baptists of Corinth,” 320.

Note that the shortened title should include key words occurring as close to the beginning of the title as possible and with the word order unchanged. A, An, or The at the beginning of a title can generally be omitted, as can the subtitle. Titles of four words or less should not be shortened (CMS §14.28; for additional examples, see also SBLHS 2, ch. 6).

If a single source occurs in two contiguous notes, one may replace the shortened form of author’s name and the title of the work in the second reference with the abbreviation ibid. (from ibidem, “in the same place”).

4. Alexandra Gruca-Macaulay, Lydia as a Rhetorical Construct in Acts, ESEC 18 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016).

5. Ibid., 5.

6. Patterson, “Baptists of Corinth,” 320.

7. Ibid., 321.

If the page number(s) are identical, omit the page number(s) in the second reference and use only the word ibid.

6. Patterson, “Baptists of Corinth,” 320.

7. Ibid.

Note that “ibid.” should never be used if the preceding note contains more than one reference. Use the short form instead.

9. Gruca-Macaulay, Lydia as a Rhetorical Construct, 5; Patterson, “Baptists of Corinth,” 320.

10. Patterson, “Baptists of Corinth,” 322.