1.  The editors of The Westminster Theological Journal are most interested in reviewing books of very recent (within the last two years) publication.  Very rarely is a second edition reviewed, and only if there are substantial changes and it is a very significant book.

2.  Books should have something to do with the Journal’s primary fields of interest: principally Biblical studies, Theology, Church History, Practical Theology (theory), Biblical environments (Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman civilization), Christian philosophy, and Apologetics.

3.  Works of more than two or three authors are not ordinarily reviewed, though sometimes “short notices” of important reference tools are published.  Hence, symposia, Festschriften, and the like are usually not reviewed.  The editors prefer to do substantial critical reviews, and multi-author volumes do not usually have a focused single point of view with which a reviewer can interact.

4.  The review should contain roughly an equal amount of description and critical interaction.  Hence, it is expected that the reviewer have at least a small measure of expertise in the field of the book being reviewed.

5.  It should go without saying that reviews for the Journal should be scholarly in character.  This also means that reviews should not contain ad hominem or personal attacks.

6.  Reviews need to be compatible with, or at least sensitive to, the Journal’s conservative Reformed Protestant tradition.  A fair amount of leeway is allowed, but an overall viewpoint that seems designed to contradict the Journal’s tradition does not help its readers.

7.  The standard book review heading format should be used, comprising the book’s author(s) or editor(s), title, place of publication, imprint, date, number of pages, price, and binding, as in the following examples:

        Rowan Williams,  Lost Icons: Reflections on Cultural Bereavement.  Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000. Pp. x + 190.  $24.95, cloth.

        John J. Collins, ed., The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism. Volume 1: The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity. New York: Continuum, 2000. Pp. xvii + 498.  $39.95, paper.

8.  The body of the review should generally be between 1000 and1500 words, though as little as 800 to as many as 2500 is sometimes acceptable.  At the conclusion, the author’s name should be given as it is to be published, followed by the author’s institution, both right justified.  (If the author is not associated with an educational institution, or if it is not well known, city and state should be included.)

9.  Other matters of style should generally conform to SBL Handbook of Style or CMS/Turabian; however, in reviews, footnotes should not be used. If references are unavoidable, in-line parenthetical citations may be used.

10.  Reviews exhibiting poor syntax or numerous spelling errors will not be considered.

11.  The Westminster Theological Journal does not ordinarily review books written by Westminster Theological Seminary faculty members.

 

(rev. date 3/08)