Chicago A: 18th edition

Footnotes are not required for sacred text references. Cite in-text using parentheses as per the examples below. See Abbreviations for shortened names of Books in the Bible used in in text citations.

In-text

In the running text of your paper or assignment, names of books of the Bible are generally spelt out without abbreviations.

• For example:  According to Genesis 1:27, God created man in his own image. 

However, abbreviations are appropriate in parenthetical citations or in notes, or where many such references appear in the text. See CMOS 10.50.

• For example:
  • Jesus says, “Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him" (John 14:17, NRSV).
  • Like a devoted vinekeeper who tenderly cares for his vines, God nurtures Israel, yet his people often grow wild and bear bitter fruit instead of the intended sweet harvest (Isa 1:8; 5:1– 7, 10; Jer 2:21)
  • The concept of divine justice is explored in various texts, such as Isa 58:6-7, Mic 6:8, and Amos 5:24.

Bibliography

• If you are using an Annotated Bible or a Study Bible with added commentary, include the version of the Bible you are using in your bibliography. These are often cited as chapters in edited books or edited books. 
• Standard Bibles that do not include additional commentary are not listed in the bibliography.

Examples:

Frechette, Christopher. “The Pentateuch." In The Catholic Study Bible. 3rd ed. Edited by Donald Senior, John J. Collins and Mary Ann Getty. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Coogan, Michael D., ed. The New Oxford Annotated Bible : New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. An Ecumenical Study Bible. Fully rev. 5th ed. Oxford University Press, 2018. 

Notes

• Version information is not required after the first in-text citation unless you use multiple versions in your assignment (e.g. NRSV, NAB, NJB). A list of abbreviations appear in CMOS 10.54.
• References to Jewish or Christian scripture usually appear in-text citations or notes rather than in bibliographies (CMOS 14.139). A colon appears between chapter and verse. 
• Use the shortened name of biblical books in your in-text citations where they appear in brackets. See abbreviations for biblical books below.
• For additional advice on consulting biblical material see The SBL Handbook of Style.

First footnote

Published as a print book or book chapter

¹ Second Vatican Council, "Dei Verbum: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (hereafter DV)," in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, ed. A. Flannery (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1975), 754.

Subsequent footnotes

⁴ DV, 755.

Bibliography

Published as a print book or book chapter

Author. Title of Book. Publisher, Year of publication.

Author. "Title of Chapter: Subtitle." In Title of Book: Subtitle. Edited by Editor First Name, Surname. Publisher, Date of Publication.

Second Vatican Council. "Dei Verbum: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation." In Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. Edited by A. Flannery. Scholarly Resources, 1975.

Found online

Author. "Title of Document." Publisher, Year. http://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Second Vatican Council. "Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: Dei verbum." Promulgated November 18, 1965. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html.

Notes

• Author: When citing papal documents or those issued by councils or synods, list the author as follows: If the author is a Pope, use their papal name (for example, John Paul II, Francis). If the author is a historical council or synod, use the full official name. For subsequent footnotes referencing the same council document, use an abbreviation. Include a '(hereafter)' note in the first footnote to indicate the abbreviation.
• Title: Use title case, except prepositions consisting of four or fewer letters (as, of, the, in). Latin words within titles can be formatted in italics. Note, commonly used latin words and abbreviations (e.g., et al.) are not normally italicised. 
• URL: Do not create shortened version of URLs via third party services such as TinyURL, Bitly or shortDOI.

Abbreviations for Vatican II documents

Books of the Bible