Many people blaspheme while working on references. And who would blame them? Referencing is tricky stuff. Ironically, religious texts are among the most likely to reduce writers to heresy, since they rarely stick to standard referencing rules.
For the sake of your soul and your essay marks, then, here’s our guide to citing religious works with Harvard, APA and MLA referencing. We will use the Bible for our examples below, but the same conventions apply for other religious texts (e.g. the Quran, the Vedas or the Bhagavad Gita).
The rules with Harvard referencing will depend on the version of this system you’re using. But a common approach is to identify the religious text in your writing, then give a pinpoint citation in brackets:
According to the Bible, wine is for those ‘in anguish’ (Proverbs 31:6).
In the reference list, all you’d need to do is identify the version of the text cited:
The Bible: New International Version.
This should be listed alphabetically using the text name (e.g. ‘Bible’) in place of an author name. However, make sure to include any additional details where relevant (e.g. if a version of a holy text lists a translator, you would usually include this after the title, plus any additional publication details for the specific version used).
In APA referencing, you cite holy texts by giving the title of the version used and the date of publication (plus the date of original publication where relevant):
The Bible (King James Bible, 1769/2017) contains many unusual stories.
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If you are citing a particular passage, give a citation using the standard divisions for the text (e.g. book, chapter, and verse numbers for the Bible, not page numbers):
It is not clear why the children mock Elisha for being bald, but their punishment seems excessive (King James Bible, 1769/2017, 2 Kings 2:23–24).
Here, for example, the author is citing verses 23 and 24 in chapter two of the second Book of Kings. In the reference list, meanwhile, the format to use depends on how you accessed the text. For example, you would list a print version as a book; but for an online version, you would list it as a website).
MLA requires writers to specify the version of a religious text in the first citation, along with the specific passage being cited:
Jesus is referred to as a ‘winebibber’ (King James Bible, Matthew 11.19).
For additional citations of the same text, you can then simply give the passage being referenced in brackets (e.g. the book, chapter, and verse number). However, you may also want to shorten books of the Bible in citations using the MLA-approved abbreviations.
In the ‘Works Cited’ list, you should then list the source using the appropriate format (e.g. print for book, website for online) with full publication details. Minimally, references should include the title of the specific version, publication details, and the year of publication. However, make sure to provide any other details relevant to the version cited (e.g. some religious texts have a named translator).
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