Footnote Style for PRSt
[What follows are examples to cover the most common forms used and errors made by our
authors. It is not meant to be exhaustive. If you are uncertain about proper footnote or do not find
an appropriate form below, be sure first to consult The SBL Handbook of Style (Peabody, Mass.:
Hendricksen,1999; call # PN 147.S26 1999), supplemented by The Chicago Manual of Style:
Fourteenth Edition, Revised and Expanded (1993).]
General Information

For PRSt submissions—the main text should be double-spaced. Margins should be at least 1
inche all around. Never fully justify your document; always leave text ragged right. Block
quotations should use the same font and point size as the main text and should be indented .5
inches from the left and right margins and single spaced.

The editors strongly prefer that contributions working in the biblical languages use a Unicode
Greek and/or Hebrew font (such as the SBL Greek and SBL Hebrew fonts available from the
Society of Biblical Literature (http://www.sbl-site.org/educational/biblicalfonts.aspx).
Further, Hebrew text should generally be unpointed, except which it is absolutely critical to
one’s argument that the vocalization be indicated. Other Masoretic marks should also be
avoided.

“As a general rule the sequence of publishing information (that given inside parentheses in a
note) is as follows: editor; translator; number of volumes; edition; series; city; publisher;
date. Colons precede page numbers in journal articles, and colons separate volume and page
numbers” (SBL Handbook, §7.1.1; p. 40).

“Whenever possible, the author’s or editor’s first name (not just an initial) should be
provided. A space should always be left between initials” (SBL Handbook, §7.1.2; p. 40).

“Avoid using f. and ff. for ‘following’ pages; give actual page ranges” (SBL Handbook,
§7.1.5; p. 46).

Use en dashes (–), not hyphens (-) to indicate page number ranges in footnotes, as well as
biblical verse ranges and date ranges (see SBL Handbook §3.1.1.5; p. 6).

Do not use “ibid.” but use a shortened form of the citation (author’s last name, title, page[s].).

Some possessive rules:
a. Add –’s to singular nouns that end in –s. (E.g., Henry James’s novels reward the
patient reader.)
b. But the possessive of the names Jesus and Moses is traditionally formed by adding an
apostrophe alone. (E.g., Jesus’ disciples were sleepy; Moses’ calling was unique.)
c. Add only an apostrophe to plural nouns ending in –s. (E.g., The Jameses’ talents are
extraordinary; the Yankees’ victories are fixed.)
d. Names of more than one syllable with an unaccented ending pronounced eez are
exceptions based on euphony. (E.g., Aristophanes’ plays are funny.)
1

“Books of the Bible cited without chapter or chapter and verse should be spelled out in the
main text. Books of the Bible cited with chapter or chapter and verse should be abbreviated,
unless they come at the beginning of the sentence All occurrences of biblical books in
parentheses and footnotes should be abbreviated” (SBL Handbook §8.2; pp. 71–72). (E.g.,
“First Corinthians 5:6 is a crucial text” not “1 Corinthians 5:6 is a crucial text.”)
One Author (book, magazine, and journal)1
Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1989), 3–29.
D. G. Hart, “Is High-Church Presbyterianism an Oxymoron?” Touchstone 13, no. 10
(December 2000): 20–29.
Claudia Setzer, “Excellent Women: Female Witnesses to the Resurrection,” JBL 116 (1997):
259–72, esp. p. 266 n. 17.
Editor, Translator, or Compiler as “Author”
Anthony B. Tortelli, ed., Sociology Approaching the Twenty-first Century (Los Angeles:
Peter and Sons, 1991), 443.
Robert A. Kraft and George W. E. Nickelsburg, eds., Early Judaism and Its Modern
Interpreters (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), xii.
Kraft and Nickelsburg, Early Judaism, xii.2
Wilhelm Egger, How to Read the New Testament: An Introduction to Linguistic and
Historical-Critical Methodology (trans. P. Heinegg; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1996), 28.
Editor, Translator, or Compiler with an Author
John Stuart Mill, Autobiography and Literary Essays (ed. John M. Robinson and Jack
Stillinger; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980), 15.
Article in an Edited Volume
Harold W. Attridge, “Jewish Historiography,” in Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters
(ed. R. A. Kraft and G. W. E. Nickelsburg: Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 311–43.
Attridge, “Jewish Historiography,” 314–17.
1
For magazines and journals, only include the issue number with the volume number in a citation if the
pagination is not consecutive from one issue to another (i.e., if the page numbering for each issue begins anew).
2
Note the example of “short title” citation in a footnote.
2
Authors of Foreword and Introductions Not Written by the Author
Mark Harris, introduction to With the Procession, by Henry Fuller (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1965), iv-xii.
Harris, “Introduction,” iv-ix.
Edition: Subsequent Editions
James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (3d ed.;
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969), xxi.
Joseph Blekinsopp, A History of Prophecy in Israel (rev. and enl. ed.; Louisville, Ky.:
Westminster John Knox, 1996), 81.
Halsey Stevens, The Life and Music of Bela Bartok (rev. ed.; New York: Oxford
University Press, 1964), 128–29.
Modern Editions of the Classics (Loeb Classical Library [Greek and Latin])3
Josephus, Ant. 2.233–235.
Josephus, Ant. 2.233–235 (Thackeray, LCL).4
Reprint Editions (in public domain and recent)
Albert Schweitzer, J. S. Bach (trans. Ernest Newman; 1911; repr., New York: Dover
Publications, 1966), 134–56.
John Van Seters, In Search of History: Historiography in the Ancient World and the Origins
of Biblical History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983; repr., Winona Lake, Ind.:
Eisenbrauns, 1997), 35.
Multivolume Works: Citing the Work as a Whole (with author or editor)
Muriel St. Clare Byrne, ed., The Lisle Letters (6 vols.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1981).
Bryne, ed., Lisle Letters, 4:125.
3
4
Further see SBL Handbook, §7.3.2; p. 57.
If the translation is being quoted, it is appropriate to cite the translator.
3
Multivolume Works: Citing a Particular Work
William Farmwinkle, Humor of the American Midwest (vol. 2 of Survey of American
Humor; Boston: Plenum Press, 1983), 132.
Farmwinkle, Humor, 2:132.
A Chapter within a Titled Volume in a Multivolume Edited Work
Richard Bauckham, “The Acts of Paul As a Sequel to Acts,” in The Book of Acts in Its
Ancient Literary Setting (ed. Bruce W. Winter and Andrew D. Clarke; vol. 1 of The Book of Acts in
Its First Century Setting, ed. Bruce W. Winter; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 105–52.
Bauckham, “Sequel to Acts,” in Acts (ed. Winter and Clarke), 1:107.
Thomas E. Peck, “General Principles Touching the Worship of God,” in Miscellanies of Rev.
Thomas E. Peck (ed. T. C. Johnson; Richmond, Va.: The Presbyterian Committee of Publication,
1895), 1:78–89.
Series
John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion (ed. John T. McNeill; trans. Ford Lewis
Battles; 2 vols.; LCC; Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960).
Richard B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ: An Investigation of the Narrative Substructure
of Galatians 3:1–4:11 (SBLDS 56; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1983), 209.
Christopher D. Stanley, “The Social Environment of ‘Free’ Biblical Quotations in the New
Testament,” in Early Christian Interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel: Investigations and
Proposals (ed. C. A. Evans and J. A. Sanders; JSNTSup 148; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press,
1997), 18–27.
An Unpublished Dissertation or Thesis
Lee E. Klosinski, “Meals in Mark” (Ph.D. diss., The Claremont Graduate School, 1988), 22–
44.
Klosinski, “Meals,” 23.
4
An Internet Publication with a Print Counterpart5
Charles Truehart, “Welcome to the Next Church,” Atlantic Monthly 278 (August 1996): 37–
58. Cited 5 May 1997. Online: http://www.theatlantic.com/atlantic/issues/96aug/nxtchrch.htm.
Truehart, “Next Church,” 37.
An Internet Publication without a Print Counterpart
Matthew Thomas Farrell, “History of the Discovery of Thomas and Comments on the Text,”
n.p. [cited 5 May 1997]. Online: http://www.miseri.edu/davies/thomas/farrell.htm.
5
Further see Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor, The Columbia Guide to Online Style (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1998).
5