by BibTheo

Abbreviations

Introduction

Biblical Studies and related disciplines have standardized their abbreviations in the Society of Biblical Literature’s Handbook of Style, 2nd edition (SBLHS2). The free Student Supplement to the SBLHS2 provides guidance for citing commonly used sources in student papers, but it does not include a list of commonly-used abbreviations. This is probably because the entirety of chapter eight in the Handbook is devoted to abbreviations, and fully 89 of the 143 pages are devoted to the standardized abbreviations for secondary source literature.

What follows is a list of the abbreviations that my students will most commonly encounter in research for their papers.

abbreviations within footnotes

For the proper way to cite the most commonly used sources in your footnotes and bibliographies, see BibTheo.com/Footnotes & Bibliography. On that page, the “N” examples are for footnotes, the “SN” examples are for abbreviated footnotes, and the “B” examples are for the bibliography.

Abbreviations for the Bible

For the proper way to abbreviate and cite the books of the Bible, see BibTheo.com/Biblical Citation.

Abbreviations for Academic Journals

Journals that students will most commonly encounter are linked in the “Journals” section of BibTheo.com/Bibliography and at BibTheo.com/Journals. For a more complete list of academic journals in Biblical Studies and related disciplines, see SBLHS2 chapter 8.

  • African Journal of Evangelical Theology                                                                  AJET
  • Asbury Theological Journal                                                                                       AsTJ
  • Asia Journal of Theology                                                                                           AJT
  • Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies                                                                         AJPS
  • Biblica                                                                                                                        Bib
  • Biblical Archaeology Review                                                                                    BAR
  • Biblical Theology Bulletin                                                                                         BTB
  • Bibliotheca Sacra                                                                                                       BSac
  • Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research                                           BASOR
  • Calvin Theological Journal                                                                                        CTJ
  • Catholic Biblical Quarterly                                                                                        CBQ
  • Church History                                                                                                           CH
  • European Journal of Theology                                                                                   EuroJTh
  • Harvard Theological Review                                                                                     HTR
  • Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel                                                                               HeBAI
  • Horizons in Biblical Theology                                                                                   HBT
  • Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology                                                      Int
  • Journal for the Study of the New Testament                                                             JSNT
  • Journal for the Study of the Old Testament                                                               JSOT
  • Journal of Biblical and Pneumatological Research                                                   JBPR
  • Journal of Biblical Literature                                                                                      JBL
  • Journal of Early Christian Studies                                                                              JECS
  • Journal of Pentecostal Theology                                                                                JPS
  • Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society                                                        JETS
  • Journal of the Jesus Movement in Its Jewish Setting                                                JJMJS
  • Journal of Religious Ethics                                                                                         JORE
  • Near Eastern Archaeology                                                                                          NEA
  • New Testament Studies                                                                                               NTS
  • Novum Testamentum                                                                                                  NovT
  • Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies                                   Pneuma
  • Scottish Journal of Theology                                                                                      SJT
  • Southern Baptist Journal of Theology                                                                        SBJT
  • Southwestern Journal of Theology                                                                             SWJT
  • Trinity Journal                                                                                                             TJ
  • Westminster Theological Journal                                                                               WTJ

Abbreviations for Commentaries

Commentaries that students will most commonly encounter are listed at the “Commentary” section of BibTheo.com/Bibliography and at BibTheo.com/Commentaries. For a more complete list of commentaries in Biblical Studies and related disciplines, see SBLHS2 chapter 8.

  • Abingdon New Testament Commentaries                                                 ANTC
  • Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries                                                   AOTC
  • Anchor Bible (or Anchor Yale Bible)                                                        AB (or AYBC)
  • Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture                                             ACCS
  • Apollos Old Testament Commentary                                                         ApOTC
  • Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament                                         ACNT
  • Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT                                                 BECNT
  • Bible Knowledge Commentary                                                                  BKC
  • Bible Speaks Today                                                                                    BST
  • Black’s New Testament Commentaries                                                      BNTC
  • Brazos Theological Commentary                                                               BTC
  • Eerdmans Critical Commentary                                                                 ECC
  • Expositor’s Bible Commentary (and revised version)                               EBC (or 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
  • New Interpreter’s Bible                                                                              NIB
  • New Jerome Bible Commentary                                                               NJBC
  • New Testament Library                                                                             NTL
  • NIV Application Commentary                                                                  NIVAC
  • Old Testament Library                                                                               OTL
  • Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament                                           PCNT
  • Pillar New Testament Commentary                                                           PNTC
  • Socio-Rhetorical Commentary                                                                   SRC
  • Tyndale New Testament Commentaries                                                     TNTC
  • Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries                                                       TOTC
  • Word Biblical Commentary                                                                        WBC
  • Zondervan Exegetical Commentary                                                           ZEC
  • Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary                           ZIBBC

Abbreviations for publishing Houses

The footnote and bibliography formatting rules for many types of resources require both the city and the company name of publishing houses. When this is the case, list the city of publication followed by a colon followed by the standardized name of the publishing house. For example, see “Grand Rapids : Zondervan” in the following bibliographic formatting for Michael F. Bird’s What Christians Ought to Believe:

Bird, Michael F. What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine through the Apostles’ Creed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016.

For a full explanation of the proper way to cite publishers, see the SBLHS2 section 6.1.4.

What follows is a list of publishing houses, followed in parentheses by the main city or cities where they are located. Cities in the list that are followed by their state abbreviation will require that state abbreviation in the footnotes and bibliography of your papers. When citing a publishing house, only use the first city that is listed in title page or copyright page of that actual book. Do not include terms such as “Press,” “Publisher,” or “Publishing House” in your citations unless that part of the publisher’s name is required to avoid ambiguity from similarly-named publishing houses. Note that publishers such as Eerdmans, InterVarsity, and de Gruyter follow particular standardized rules.

  1. Abingdon (Nashville; New York) – i.e., Nashville: Abingdon
  2. Apollos (Leicester) – i.e., Leicester: Apollos
  3. Augsburg (Minneapolis) – i.e., Minneapolis: Augsburg
  4. Augsburg Fortress (Minneapolis) – i.e., Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress
  5. Baker Academic (Grand Rapids) – i.e., Grand Rapids: Baker Academic
  6. Baker Books (Grand Rapids) – i.e., Grand Rapids: Baker Books
  7. Baylor University Press (Waco, TX) – i.e., Waco, TX: Baylor University Press
  8. Bloomsbury (London; New Delhi; New York; Sydney) – i.e., London: Bloomsbury
  9. Brazos (Grand Rapids) – i.e., Grand Rapids: Brazos
  10. Brill (Leiden; Boston) – i.e., Leiden: Brill
  11. Cambridge University Press (Cambridge: New York) – i.e., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  12. Cascade (Eugene, OR) – i.e., Eugene, OR: Cascade
  13. Crossway (Wheaton, IL) – i.e., Wheaton, IL: Crossway
  14. de Gruyter (Berlin) – i.e., Berlin: de Gruyter
  15. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (Stuttgart) – i.e., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
  16. Doubleday (Garden City, NY; New York) – i.e.: New York: Doubleday
  17. Eerdmans (Grand Rapids) – i.e., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans
  18. E.J. Brill (see Brill, above)
  19. Fortress (Philadelphia) – i.e., Philadelphia: Fortress
  20. Harper & Row (New York; San Francisco) – i.e., New York: Harper & Row
  21. HarperCollins (New York: San Francisco) – i.e., New York: HarperCollins
  22. HarperOne (San Francisco) – i.e., San Francisco: HarperOne
  23. Harvard University Press (Cambridge) – i.e., Cambridge: Harvard University Press
  24. Hendrickson (Peabody, MA) – i.e., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson
  25. InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, IL) – i.e., Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity
  26. Inter-Varsity Press (Leicester; London) – i.e., London: Inter-Varsity
  27. John Knox (Atlanta; Richmond, VA) – i.e., Atlanta: John Knox
  28. Kregel (Grand Rapids) – i.e., Grand Rapids: Kregel
  29. Mercer University Press (Macon, GA) – e.g., Macon, GA: Mercer University Press
  30. Mohr Siebeck (Tübingen) – i.e., Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck
  31. Nelson (Nashville; London) – i.e., Nashville: Nelson
  32. Orbis Books (Maryknoll, NY) – i.e., Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books
  33. Oxford University Press (Oxford; London; New York) – i.e., Oxford: Oxford University Pres
  34. Paternoster (Exeter; Milton Keynes) – i.e., Exeter: Paternoster
  35. Paulist (New York: Mahwah, NJ) – i.e., New York: Paulist
  36. Peeters (Leuven) – i.e., Leuven: Peeters
  37. Penguin Books (Harmondsworth; London) – i.e., London: Penguin Books
  38. Pickwick (Pittsburgh; Eugene, OR) – i.e., Pittsburgh: Pickwick
  39. Prentice Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Upper Saddle River, NJ) – i.e., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
  40. Princeton University Press (Princeton) – i.e., Princeton: Princeton University Press
  41. Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD) – i.e., Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
  42. SBL Press (Atlanta) – i.e., Atlanta: SBL Press
  43. Scholars Press (Missoula, MT; Chico, CA; Atlanta) – i.e., Atlanta: Scholars Press
  44. SCM (London) – i.e., London: SCM
  45. Scribner’s Sons (New York) – i.e., New York: Scribner’s Sons
  46. Sheffield Academic (Sheffield) – i.e., Sheffield: Sheffield Academic
  47. Sheffield Phoenix (Sheffield) – i.e., Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix
  48. SIL International (Dallas) – i.e., Dallas: SIL International
  49. Smyth & Helwys (Macon, GA) – i.e., Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys
  50. Society of Biblical Literature (Atlanta) – i.e., Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature
  51. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (see SPCK)
  52. SPCK (London) – i.e., London: SPCK
  53. T&T Clark (Edinburgh; London; New York) – i.e., New York: T&T Clark
  54. Thomas Nelson (see Nelson, above)
  55. Tyndale House (Carol Stream, IL) – i.e., Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House
  56. Tyndale Press (London) – i.e., London: Tyndale Press
  57. United Bible Societies (London; New York; Stuttgart) – i.e., New York: United Bible Societies
  58. Walter de Gruyter (see de Gruyter)
  59. Westminster (Philadelphia) – i.e., Philadelphia: Westminster
  60. Westminster John Knox (Louisville) – i.e., Louisville: Westminster John Knox
  61. Wiley & Sons (New York) – i.e., New York: Wiley & Sons
  62. Wiley-Blackwell (Malden, MA; Chichester) – i.e., Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell
  63. William B. Eerdmans (see Eerdmans, above)
  64. Wm. B. Eerdmans (see Eerdmans, above)
  65. Wipf & Stock (Eugene, OR) – i.e., Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock
  66. Word (Waco, TX; Dallas; Nashville) – i.e., Dallas: Word
  67. Yale University Press (New Haven) – i.e., New Haven: Yale University Press
  68. Zondervan (Grand Rapids) – i.e., Grand Rapids: Zondervan

4 thoughts on “Abbreviations”

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