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SBL Style Guide


Secondary Sources Abbreviations

For an extensive list of abbreviations for secondary sources, see §8.4 (pages 171-260) of SBLHS. Common examples are provided below.

Journals

Secondary sources like journals, series, and major reference works usually have a standard abbreviated form. In footnotes and bibliographies you should refer to a journal by its abbreviated form (e.g., Journal of Biblical Literature is abbreviated as JBL).

Commentary Series

Biblical commentaries are usually published as a series of books with an individual author for each. The title of the commentary series (e.g., New International Commentary on the Old Testament) is abbreviated (e.g., NICOT) in footnotes and in the bibliography.

Reference Works

Reference works like dictionaries or encyclopedias have abbreviated forms (e.g., The Anchor Bible Dictionary is abbreviated as ABD).

 

Journals, Commentary Series, and Reference Works

Abbreviations for journals are listed together with series and reference works alphabetically by full title in §8.4.1 (pages 171-216) and alphabetically by abbreviation in §8.4.2 (pages 216-260) of SBLHS. The journals listed below are only a small portion of those listed in the handbook. All journal titles and abbreviations should be italicized.

Note: titles with an asterisk (*) are not found in SBLHS, but are commonly abbreviated as follows.

Journal Title

Abbrev.

Biblica

Bib

Biblical Archaeologist

BA

Biblical Archaeological Review

BAR

Bibliotheca Sacra

BSac

Bulletin for Biblical Research

BBR

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research

BASOR

Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CBQ

Christian Century

ChrCent

Christianity and Literature

ChrLit

Church History

CH

Currents in Biblical Research

CurBR

Evangelical Quarterly

EvQ

Harvard Theological Review

HTR

*International Journal of Systematic Theology

IJST

Interpretation

Int

Jewish Studies Quarterly

JSQ

Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JSNT

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

JSOT

Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions

JANER

Journal of Biblical Literature

JBL

Journal of the American Academy of Religion

JAAR

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JETS

*Journal of Theological Interpretation

JTI

Journal of Theological Studies

JTS

Master's Seminary Journals

MSJ

New Testament Abstracts

NTA

New Testament Studies

NTS

Novum Testamentum

NovT

Old Testament Abstracts

OTA

Review of Biblical Literature

RBL

Revue biblique

RB

Scottish Journal of Theology

SJT

Southwestern Journal of Theology

SwJT

*Southern Baptist Journal of Theology

SBJT

Themelios

Them

Theology Today

ThTo

Trinity Journal

TJ

Tyndale Bulletin

TynBul

Vetus Testamentum

VT

*Wesleyan Theological Journal

WesTJ

Westminster Theological Journal

WTJ

Abbreviations for commentary series are listed together with journals and reference works alphabetically by full title in §8.4.1 (pages 171-216) and alphabetically by abbreviation in §8.4.2 (pages 216-260) of SBLHS

Note: commentary series with an asterisk (*) are not listed in SBLHS. Abbreviations for these are taken from www.bestcommentaries.com.

Full Title

Abbrev.

Abingdon New Testament Commentaries

ANTC

Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries

AOTC

Anchor Bible (or *Anchor Yale Bible)

AB (or AYB)

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

ACCS

Appolos Old Testament Commentary

ApOTC

Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament

ACNT

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT

BECNT

*Bible Speaks Today

BST

Black's New Testament Commentaries

BNTC

*Brazos Theological Commentary

BTC

Eerdmans Critical Commentary

ECC

*Expositor's Bible Commentary, Revised

REBC

Hermeneia

Hermeneia

International Critical Commentary

ICC

Interpretation

IBC

*IVP New Testament Commentary

IVPNTC

New American Commentary

NAC

*New Cambridge Bible Commentary

NCBC

New Century Bible

NCB

New International Biblical Commentary on the NT

NIBCNT

New International Biblical Commentary on the OT

NIBCOT

New International Commentary on the NT

NICNT

New International Commentary on the OT

NICOT

New International Greek Testament Commentary

NIGTC

The New Interpreter's Bible

NIB

The New Jerome Bible Commentary

NJBC

New Testament Library

NTL

*NIV Application Commentary

NIVAC

Old Testament Library

OTL

*Pillar New Testament Commentary

PNTC

Sacra Pagina

SP

Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary

SHBC

Tyndale New Testament Commentaries

TNTC

Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries

TOTC

The Women's Bible Commentary

WBC

Word Biblical Commentary

WBC

*Zondervan Exegetical Commentary

ZEC

*Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary

ZIBBC

Abbreviations for major reference works are listed together with series and journals alphabetically by full title in §8.4.1 (pages 171-216) and alphabetically by abbreviation in §8.4.2 (pages 216-260) of SBLHS

Note: titles with an asterisk (*) are not found in SBLHS, but are commonly abbreviated as follows.

Title

Abbrev.

Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

ABD

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Edited by Walter A. Elwell. 4 vols. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988.

BEB

*Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Edited by Tremper Longman III. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2013.

BIBD

*Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible. Edited by Kevin J. Vanhoozer. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005.

DTIB

*Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Edited by Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998.

DBIm

Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation. Edited by John Hayes. 2 vols. Nashville: Abingdon, 1999.

DBI

Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. Edited by David J. A. Clines. 9 voles. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 1993-2016.

DCH

Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Edited by Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst.

DDD

Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Edited by Joel B. Green, Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin. 2nd ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2013.

DJG

Dictionary of New Testament Background. Edited by Craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

DNTB

Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. Edited by Gerald F. Hawthorne and Ralph P. Martin. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

DPL

Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments. Edited by R. P. Martin and P. H. Davids. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

DLNT

*Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books. Edited by Bill T. Arnold and H. G. M. Williamson. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005.

DOTHB

*Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.

DOTP

*Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets. Edited by Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012.

DOTPr

*Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings. Edited by Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008.

DOTWPW

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by David Noel Freedman. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

EDB

Encyclopedia Judaica. Edited by Fred Skolnik and Michael Berenbaum. 2nd ed. 22 vols. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007.

EncJud

*Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity. Edited by Angelo di Berardino et al. 3 vols. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014.

EAC

*Encyclopedia of Christianity. Edited by Erwin Fahlbusch, et al. 5 vols. Grand Rapids and Leiden: Eerdmans and Brill, 1999-2008.

EC

Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. Edited by Everett Ferguson. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New York: Garland, 1997

EEC

Encyclopedia of Religion. Edited by Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. 15 vols. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005.

ER

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Edited by Hans-Josef Klauck et al. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2009.

EBR

Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam. 2 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

EDSS

*Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Edited by Walter A. Elwell. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996.

EDBT

*Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Edited by Walter A. Elwell. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001.

EDT

Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by Horst Balz and Gerhad Schneider. ET. 3 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990-1993.

EDNT

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

BDAG

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New York: United Bible Societies, 1989.

L&N

Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint. Johan Lust, Erik Eynikel, and Katrin Hauspie. Rev. ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2003.

LEH

Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint. Takamitsu Muraoka. Leuven: Peeters, 2009.

GELS

The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, and Johann J. Stamm. 4 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1994-1999.

HALOT

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 4 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979-1988.

ISBE

New Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. G. W. Wood, I. Howard Marshall, J. D. Douglas, and N. Hillyer. 3rd ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

NBD3

*New Catholic Encyclopedia: Second Edition. Edited by Berard L. Marthaler et al. 15 vols. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2003.

NCE2

*New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander, et al. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.

NDBT

New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology. Edited by E. M. Blaiklock and R. K. Harrison. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983.

NIDBA

*New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Edited by Moisés Silva. 2nd ed. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014.

NIDNTTE

New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. Edited by Willem A. VanGemeren. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997.

NIDOTTE

New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by Katharine Doob Sakenfeld. 5 vols. Nashville: Abington, 2006-2009.

NIDB

The NIV Theological Dictionary of New Testament Words. Edited by Verlyn D. Verbrugge. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.

TDNTW

Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

OCD

Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by Frank L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone. 3rd ed. rev. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

ODCC

*Oxford Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation. Edited by Steven L. McKenzie. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

OEBI

Religion Past and Present: Encyclopedia of Theology and Religion. Edited by Hans Dieter Betz et al. 14 vols. Leiden: Brill, 2007-2013.

RPP

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-1976.

TDNT

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by G. johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren. Translated by John T. Willis et al. 10 vols. 1974-2006.

TDOT

Theological Lexicon of the New Testament. Ceslas Spicq. Translated and edited by James D. Ernest. 3 vols. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994.

TLNT

Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament. Edited by Ernst Jenni, with Claus Westermann. Translated by Mark E. Biddle. 3 vols. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997

TLOT

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Edited by R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke. Chicago: Moody Press, 1980.

TWOT

The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament. James H. Moulton and George Milligan. London, 1930. Repr. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997.

MM

*The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible. Edited by Merrill C. Tenney and Moisés Silva. 5 vols. Grand Rapids, 2009.

ZEB