Writing about matters that touch on religious commitment and practice inevitably raises a question about the proper stance of the author to the subject. Although some writers adopt the language and tone of an adherent in order to reach the community of faith, scholarly writing, as a rule, seeks to communicate in as neutral a … Continue reading Saint
General Style
Torah versus torah
Earlier posts discussed the question of when to write Gospel or gospel and when to write Epistle or epistle. This post deals with a related issue: when to write Torah or torah and when to write Law or law. Brief examples are provided in SBLHS 2 §§4.3.4.1 and 4.3.6. This post discusses these examples in … Continue reading Torah versus torah
Authorial Voice: I or We?
In formal academic prose, singular authors often refer to themselves in the plural. In this chapter, we shall argue … As we suggested above … We can conclude … CMS does not have a clear rule about authorial voice; however, the editors note in a brief Q&A: “We” used to be more common in scholarly … Continue reading Authorial Voice: I or We?
Beginning a Sentence with And or But
Like CMS §5.206, SBL Press acknowledges that it is acceptable to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as and or but. That being said, we recommend that authors use such constructions sparingly. While initial conjunctions can be effective, beginning too many sentences with simple conjunctions can lead to a disjointed composition and weaken the … Continue reading Beginning a Sentence with And or But
Comprise
Believing that proper word usage is a significant part of good style, we wander slightly from our usual fare to discuss a construction frequently encountered in academic writing, the statement that “X is comprised of Y.” The meaning of the phrase is generally evident: X is made up of Y. Unfortunately, this is not the … Continue reading Comprise
Research Methods
SBL Press recommends that scholarly research methods be lowercased unless they are part of an academic department, bibliographic reference, or program unit name. archaeology canonical criticism feminist criticism form criticism ideological criticism rhetorical criticism reception history social-scientific criticism sociorhetorical interpretation source criticism womanist interpretation but Asian and Asian American Hermeneutics (program unit) Department of Reception … Continue reading Research Methods
Feasts, Holidays, and Other Observances
The SBLHS 2 follows CMS §8.88 in capitalizing officially designated, recurring days in secular and religious calendars. These include festivals, holy days, liturgical seasons, and similar observances. Below are a few examples: Akitu Al-Hijra Ascension Day (as a liturgical day) Ash Wednesday Ashura Beltane Christmas (Day, Eve) Day of Atonement Diwali Easter Eid al-Fitr Eid … Continue reading Feasts, Holidays, and Other Observances
Parts of a Book
The previous post (here) discussed the difference between the words forward (a directional term) and foreword (a part of a book). Careful readers may have noticed that we lowercased the word foreword in our example sentence: As the author mentioned in the foreword to her volume.… The lowercasing of the term is consistent with the … Continue reading Parts of a Book
Forward versus Foreword
Two commonly confused words are forward and foreword. Forward is a directional term meaning “near, being at” or “moving, tending, or leading toward a position” (Merriam Webster Online). Foreword is a section of a book for “prefatory comments … especially when written by someone other than the author” (Merriam Webster Online). For example: As we … Continue reading Forward versus Foreword
x Times: Indicating Multiple Occurrences
At times an author may wish to indicate that a term or concept appears multiple times in a pericope. When such a notation occurs in the main text, spell out the word times or use an equivalent phrase (e.g., twice). When the notation occurs in parentheses or a note, use an arabic numeral + “x” … Continue reading x Times: Indicating Multiple Occurrences
SBL Handbook of Style 