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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Religious Texts

On This Page: Religious Texts

Tips

Name of Generic Religious Texts in the Body of Your Paper

Do not italicize or use quotation marks in your paper when referring to a generic religious text. These terms appear without italics or quotation marks when referred to in your paper:

Bible, Old Testament, Genesis, Gospels, Talmud, Qur'an (Koran), Upanishads.

Only italicize titles of individual published editions of religious texts (e.g., The Talmud of the Land of Israel: A Preliminary Translation and Explanation, The Interlinear Bible, etc.) when specifically citing them in your paper.

In-Text Citations

The titles of books of scripture are often abbreviated for the in-text citation. For a full list of abbreviations, consult Appendix 1 of the MLA Handbook.

Formatting

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Bible/Qur'an/Talmud, etc. (All Scripture)

Title. Editor statement, First Name Last Name of Editor, Publisher, Year of publication.

Works Cited List Example

The New Jerusalem Bible. General editor, Henry Wansbrough, Doubleday, 1985. 

In-Text Citation Example

(New Jerusalem Bible 1 Chron. 21.8)

 Note: The titles of books of scripture are often abbreviated for the in-text citation. For a full list of abbreviations, consult Appendix 1 of the MLA Handbook.

   
Works Cited List Example

The Bible. Introd. and notes by Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett, Oxford UP, 1998. Oxford World's Classics. Authorized King James Vers.

 Note: If the edition is based on a named version of the text, the name of the version can be recorded at the end of the entry, as "Authorized King James Vers" is above.

In-Text Citation Example

(The Bible Rev. 21.3)

 Note: The titles of books of scripture are often abbreviated for the in-text citation.For a full list of abbreviations, consult Appendix 1 of the MLA Handbook.

   
Works Cited List Example

The Qur'an. Trans. by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, Oxford UP, 2005.

In-Text Citation Example

(The Qur'an Joseph 12:69)

 Note: The titles of books of scripture are often abbreviated for the in-text citation. For a full list of abbreviations, consult Appendix 1 of the MLA Handbook.