The SBL Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely necessary but not perfect
Review: The SBL Handbook of style is designed for those who are writing papers or dissertations in the field of ancient Near Eastern, Biblical and early Christian Studies. Most matters of style are comprehensively addressed, and where they are not, the editors refer the reader to the Chicago Manual of Style. The book is extremely useful for those who want to standardise their abbreviations and references. Nonetheless, several issues will have to be resolved in the next edition. First, although the book is nicely printed, the binding is extremely poor, and fell apart only after I had used the book a few times. Second, several essential abbreviations are missing from the list of Greek and Latin works. Third, not all abbreviations are located in the same part of the book, and so one has to keep going backwards and forwards to find the appropriate reference. Fourth, the editors sometimes display a dogmatic approach to style and appear at least to this reader to be a inflexible. For example they insist that writers ought to use Miriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary for their spelling. This dictionary however is only one alongside many other excellent dictionaries such as, the American Heritage, and the Random House. These criticisms should not detract from the importance and usefulness of this volume, which I recommend wholeheartedly.

Rating:
Summary: The New Standard
Review: This easy-to-use, inexpensive volume is a must-own for all who write in the fields of biblical and ancient near eastern studies. College and seminary students, graduate students, teachers, and researchers will find this book a fine substitute for Turabian and/or the CMOS for all but the most obscure situations. The discipline-specific nature of the work also allows greater depth of coverage without making it overlong. Get it today, or be behind the standard tomorrow.