SBL Style

The SBL Handbook of Style (SBLHS) is a style manual (like APA or MLA) for biblical studies and related disciplines. This is the standard format for academic research in biblical and theological studies. Be sure to check your syllabus or ask your professor for their preferred citation style

The SBL style, like Turabian, is a substantial supplement to The Chicago Manual of Style (now in its 17th edition). Chicago style has a "footnote" style as well as an "in-text" style like APA or MLA.

SBL style follows Chicago's footnote style. Using a footnote style has many advantages when writing academic papers; notably, it won't clutter up the main text of your paper with many parenthetical citations thus making for smoother reading. Footnotes also allow for explanatory comments or tangents which would otherwise be unacceptable within the main text of the paper.

The SBL Handbook of Style (SBLHS), now in its 2nd edition, provides specialized terminology and examples for biblical studies and ancillary disciplines that go beyond the rules found in The Chicago Manual of Style. In particular, SBLHS provides standard titles and abbreviations for modern and ancient sources, as well as citation examples of specialized literature like commentaries, lexicons, journals, and other complex reference works.

This guide is meant to help you conform your paper to SBLHS by summarizing important concepts and offering examples of common format and citation questions.