Our last post provided guidelines for citing a chapter in a single-author volume when a volume has both an author and an editor.

Matassa, Lidia D. “Delos.” Pages 37–77 in Invention of the First-Century Synagogue. By Lidia D. Matassa. Edited by Jason M. Silverman and J. Murray Watson. ANEM 22. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2018.

An astute blog reader noticed that this creates an inconsistency with our bibliography format in SBLHS 6.2.14. There we provide guidelines on how to cite an introduction in a single-authored work written by someone other than the named author.

Boers, Hendrikus. Introduction to How to Read the New Testament: An Introduction to Linguistic and Historical-Critical Methodology, by Wilhelm Egger. Translated by Peter Heinegg. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996.

The important punctuation to note is the comma and the lowercase by before the author’s name. This is consistent with how CMS 14.110 formats the transition between elements in such cases, but it is inconsistent with our general practice of using periods to separate elements in a bibliography.

For consistency, we recommend updating our guidelines in SBLHS 6.2.14 to match our general practice. In the bibliography, close the volume title with a period and capitalize the by before the author.

Boers, Hendrikus. Introduction to How to Read the New Testament: An Introduction to Linguistic and Historical-Critical Methodology. By Wilhelm Egger. Translated by Peter Heinegg. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996.

In a footnote, however, use a comma and a lowercase by.

15. Hendrikus Boers, introduction to How to Read the New Testament: An Introduction to Linguistic and Historical-Critical Methodology, by Wilhelm Egger, trans. Peter Heinegg (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996).

* Note that the word introduction is also lowercase in a footnote.