It is common for authors to refer readers to additional resources in footnotes. Following CMS §14.37, we encourage authors doing so to distinguish between the terms see or see also and the abbreviation cf. (Latin confer). To refer authors to similar resources, use see or see also.

2. For a more recent study of trauma in the Bible, see Elizabeth Boase and Christopher G. Frechette, Bible through the Lens of Trauma, SemeiaSt 86 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016).

Cf. should be used only to mean “compare,” generally with the implication of a different view. The abbreviation is often used when providing resources that contradict the main argument.

7. This is the position taken here. However, cf. Israel Finkelstein and Amihai Mazar, The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel, ed. Brian B. Schmidt, ABS 17 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007).

Even here, however, cf. could easily be replaced with see.

7. This is the position taken here. For an alternative position, see Israel Finkelstein and Amihai Mazar, The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel, ed. Brian B. Schmidt, ABS 17 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007).

SBL Press therefore recommends that cf. be used sparingly in order to reduce potential reader confusion.