Note: This section is for Bibles printing two or more versions in parallel columns. They are shelved in two groups—English-only parallels first, then parallels setting an English version beside the Hebrew or Greek—and by year of publication within each group. A parallel edition published as a multi-volume series is kept together at the year of its first volume.

Note: This section is for works consulted by lookup—background commentaries keyed to the biblical text (e.g., the IVP and Zondervan background commentaries, etc.), cultural handbooks, and daily-life references. For monographs arguing a case about the Old or New Testament from ancient evidence, see “Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds of the Old Testament” and “Greco-Roman Backgrounds of the New Testament” in “IV. Biblical Studies.” For the ancient sources themselves and the scholarship devoted to them, see “III. Primary Sources and Their Study.”

Note: This section is for concordances and word indexes to the English Bible—works consulted to find where a word occurs in the text. Concordances to the Hebrew, Septuagint, and Greek texts are classified with their language resources in “IV. Biblical Studies.” A work that indexes subjects chosen by an editor rather than words found in the text is classified in “Bible Topics, Categories, and List References” below; a work that defines or expounds words is classified in “Bible Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks” above.

Note: This section holds methodological reflection on the use of ancient sources in biblical interpretation: the comparative method, its gains, and its abuses (e.g., parallelomania, parallelophobia, chronological snobbery, backgrounding the foreground, selective and prejudicial use of backgrounds, history-of-religions approaches, and the debates surrounding them).

Note: This section is for anthologies that gather texts from more than one tradition. For anthologies confined to a single tradition, see the “Text Collections and Anthologies” heading within that tradition below; a collection spanning several eras of one tradition is confined to that tradition, and is classified at the earliest era it covers.

Note: This section is for the Septuagint studied as a Jewish translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (i.e., its origins, translators, revisions, and reception). For Septuagint editions used as working texts, together with their lexica, concordances, and parsing keys, see “Septuagint Old Testaments and Language Resources” in “IV. Biblical Studies.”

Note: See “Appendix A” for a list of Old Testament apocryphal / deuterocanonical books. Separately bound apocrypha belonging to a Bible translation family (e.g., the RSV, NRSV, JB apocrypha, etc.) are filed with their translation family under “I. Bibles.” These books are canonical Scripture in some traditions and extra-canonical literature in others; this classification reflects that dual standing rather than resolving it.

Note: See “Appendix B” for a list of Old Testament pseudepigrapha.

Note: See “Appendix C” for a list of Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts. For the Scrolls as witnesses to the text of the Hebrew Bible, see “Text Collections and Manuscript Histories” under “Bible Texts, Manuscripts, and Canon Formation” in “IV. Biblical Studies.”

Note: See “Appendix D” for a list of Philo’s works.

Note: For the Targums as witnesses to the text of the Hebrew Bible, see “Text Collections and Manuscript Histories” under “Bible Texts, Manuscripts, and Canon Formation” in “IV. Biblical Studies.”

Note: This section is for post-rabbinic Jewish literature treated as a literature in its own right—the writings themselves and the scholarship devoted to them. For the history, practice, and institutions of the Jewish people in these same periods, see “Judaism” in “VII. Historical Studies.”

Note: See “Appendix J” for a list of New Testament apocryphal books.

Note: Nag Hammadi texts belonging to the apocryphal gospel, acts, epistle, and apocalypse genres (i.e., the Gospels of Thomas, Judas, Mary, Philip, and the Egyptians, the Apocalypse of Adam, the two Apocalypses of James, and the Letter of Peter to Philip) are classified under “New Testament Apocryphal Writings” above and listed in “Appendix J.” This section is for the remainder of the Gnostic corpus (i.e., the Gospel of Truth, the Apocryphon of John, the Tripartite Tractate, Pistis Sophia, the Books of Jeu, and the like), for the Nag Hammadi codices treated as a collection, and for scholarship on Gnosticism.

Note: This section is for manuscripts and versions treated as witnesses to the biblical text. The same bodies of literature considered in their own right (i.e., the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Targums, the Septuagint as a Jewish translation) are classified in “III. Primary Sources and Their Study.”

Note: This section is for works that examine a word’s range and usage. For works that argue a doctrinal thesis by way of a word, see the doctrine concerned — for example, studies of the atonement vocabulary in “Soteriology” in “V. Theological Studies.”

Note: This section treats literary features synchronically (i.e., the forms, genres, and devices of the biblical text in its final shape) as an aid to reading. For genre analysis used diachronically (i.e., as an index to a text’s oral prehistory and social setting), see “Form Criticism” under “Critical Disciplines” below. So, for example, for the exegesis of individual parables, see “Parables Jesus Told” under “The Life of Christ” below; the theory of parable as a literary genre belongs here.

Note: This section is for scholarship on apocalyptic as a literature and a mode of thought, traced across Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. The apocalypses themselves, and the editions and studies devoted to one corpus of them, are classified under “Jewish Sources (Second Temple through Rabbinic)” in “III. Primary Sources and Their Study.” A work on the apocalyptic of a single biblical book is classified at that book—so a study of Revelation belongs in “The Apocalypse” under “The New Testament” above, however much it treats the genre. The doctrine of the last things, constructed and systematized, is classified in “Eschatology” in “V. Theological Studies.”

Note: These writings are classified under “New Testament Apocryphal Writings” in “III. Primary Sources and Their Study,” together with the Apostolic Fathers and the other early Christian sources. See “Appendix J” for a list. This section is retained for New Testament scholarship engaging the apocryphal material—canon-formation debates, comparative studies, and treatments of the apocryphal gospels in relation to the four canonical gospels.

Note: This section is for primers on the discipline—works that tell a reader who does not yet know what biblical theology is and how to begin. Scholarship about the discipline and its disputes is classified in “Issues and Methods” below.

Note: This section is for works about the discipline itself—its history, its contested questions, its methods, and comparisons of the approaches by which it is practiced. A volume that traces one or more biblical themes is classified in “Biblical Theology by Theme or Topic” below, whatever its title.

Note: This section is for biblical theologies that treat both Testaments as one whole. A theology bounded by a single testament is classified in “Old Testament Theology” or “New Testament Theology” above. A work in which the narrative shape of Scripture is the thesis rather than the vehicle is classified in “Redemptive History Frameworks” below.

Note: This section holds the continuity / discontinuity debate between the Testaments, including works comparing the frameworks below. For the New Testament’s own handling of Old Testament material, see “The New Testament Use of the Old Testament” and “Jesus, Paul, and the Old Testament Law” in “The New Testament” above.

Note: This section is for works that read the Old Testament forward to Christ—typology, promise and fulfillment, and messianic expectation—whether across the whole or within one corpus. Doctrinal treatments of the person and work of Christ are classified in “Christology” in “V. Theological Studies.”

Note: This section is for works that trace one theme, or several, through the canon. A work about the discipline’s methods is classified in “Issues and Methods” above; a work arguing a system of redemptive history is classified in “Redemptive History Frameworks” above.

Note: This section is for works that catalogue, compare, or analyse worldviews as such, and for the Christian worldview set out as a whole. A work arguing for the truth of Christianity against a rival worldview is classified in “Apologetics” below; a work critiquing a cultural moment rather than a worldview is classified in “Cultural Critiques” under “Christian Faith and Culture” in “VIII. Applied Theology.”

Note: This section is for doctrinal and systematic treatments of God himself. A work treating theology proper as a whole is classified here rather than under any division below.

Note: This section is for the doctrine of angels, Satan, and the demonic. For the practice of spiritual conflict in ministry, see “Spiritual Warfare” under “Christian Ministry (Local Parish)” in “VIII. Applied Theology.”

Note: This section is for doctrinal and systematic treatments of humanity as created, fallen and redeemed. A work treating theological anthropology as a whole is classified here rather than under any division below.

Note: This section is for doctrinal and/or systematic treatments (prescriptive). See “The Life of Christ” section in “IV. Biblical Studies” for exegetical, biographical, and/or narrative treatments (descriptive). A work treating Christology as a whole is classified here rather than under either division below.

Note: This section is for doctrinal and systematic treatments of salvation. A work treating soteriology as a whole is classified here rather than under either division below.

Note: This section is for doctrinal and systematic treatments of the Holy Spirit. A work treating pneumatology as a whole is classified here rather than under either division below.

Note: This section is for doctrinal and systematic treatments of the church. A work treating ecclesiology as a whole is classified here rather than under any division below.

Note: This section is for doctrinal and systematic treatments of last things. A work treating eschatology as a whole, or ranging across the biblical, historical and philosophical approaches to it, is classified here rather than under either division below.

Note: For bioethical questions (e.g., cloning, genetic engineering, end-of-life issues, etc.), see the “Biomedical Ethics” section in “VI. Ethics and Public Faith.” For environmental questions, see the “Environmental Ethics” section in “VI. Ethics and Public Faith.” For AI-related questions, see the “Technology Ethics” section in “VI. Ethics and Public Faith.” For the doctrine of miracles and providence, see the “Providence” section under “Theology Proper” in “Dogmatic / Systematic Theology” above.

For Example: Honesty, Integrity, Respect, Fairness, Authenticity, Responsibility, Generosity, Loyalty, etc.

For Example: Accountability, Adherence to Laws and Policy, Competence, Confidentiality, Courteousness, Impartiality, Objectivity, Promptness, Sincerity, Trustworthiness, etc.

Note: This section covers ethical obligations within personal and communal relationships. Topics with a structural, legal, or policy dimension (e.g., poverty, immigration, discrimination, etc.) are classified under “Political Ethics (Policies)” below; the relational and pastoral dimensions of the same topics belong here.

Note: This section is for works on how a congregation communicates—its publications, media, and public presence. Works that critique media culture are classified in “Christian Faith and Culture”; works on the ethics of speech are classified in “VI. Ethics and Public Faith.”

A work is classified by the use it serves in this library, not by the category a publisher or general library might assign to it. So, for example, a general history of the ancient Near East acquired to illuminate the Old Testament is filed as background in “Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds of the Old Testament” in “IV. Biblical Studies” rather than as world history in “General World History and Biography” in “VII. Historical Studies.”

Where a comparative argument ends determines where it is filed. For example, a study that gathers ancient Near Eastern material and concludes in the Old Testament is background (“Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds of the Old Testament” in “IV. Biblical Studies”). One that carries the same material through to the New Testament is biblical theology (“Biblical Theology” in “IV. Biblical Studies”). Compare Walton’s “Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament” with Niehaus’s “Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology.”

The body of evidence a work draws upon does not determine its classification; its subject does. So, for example, Cross’s “From Epic to Canon” uses Ugaritic evidence to explain Israel and is filed with Israel (“History, Literature, and Religion of Israel” in “IV. Biblical Studies”), not with comparative backgrounds. Braun’s “Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine” argues from archaeology and is filed the same way.

A survey of ancient literature arranged by genre belongs to “III. Primary Sources and Their Study” when it treats that literature for its own sake and to “IV. Biblical Studies” when the biblical text stands beside it for comparison. The presence of the biblical column, not the presence of the ancient texts, decides the case.

A work advancing a disputed thesis is classified under the discipline competent to adjudicate it, so that it stands beside its critics. Thiede’s “Eyewitness to Jesus” is filed at “Greek Manuscripts (Papyri, Uncials, Minuscules)” in “IV. Biblical Studies” because its claim is paleographic. Jones’s “Misquoting Truth” stands next to Ehrman’s “Misquoting Jesus” at “Textual Criticism (Lower Criticism)” in “IV. Biblical Studies.”

Within a section, “Introduction and Overview” holds the work one would hand to a newcomer, and “History and Development” holds the work one would cite. Arnold’s “How We Got the Bible” belongs to the former; Comfort’s “The Origin of the Bible” and Wegner’s “The Journey from Texts to Translations” belong to the second.

To classify a reference work, locate the discipline it serves in categories “IV”–“VIII,” then use the corresponding heading in “II. General Reference.” So, for example, biblical theology is treated in “Biblical Theology” in “IV. Biblical Studies,” so the IVP New Dictionary of Biblical Theology is filed at “Bible Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks” in “II. General Reference,” not with the theological dictionaries at “Theological Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks.”

The test governing “II. General Reference” is how a work is used, not what its title may suggest. So, for example, Casson’s “Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt” is a continuous narrative and is read straight through, so it is filed under “Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds of the Old Testament” in “IV. Biblical Studies.” However, Bertman’s “Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia” is a lookup tool that is consulted rather than read straight through, so it is filed under “Bible Backgrounds, Culture, and Daily Life References” in “II. General Reference.”

A work is filed at the heading that contains everything it covers, and the question in every case is where a reader would look for it. Where a volume treats some but not all of the books in a group, it is filed under the first book it covers. Only where it treats the entire group is it filed at the group’s general slot. The same measure applies one level up: where a volume spans more than one group, it is filed under the first group it covers, and within that group under the first book it covers; only a work spanning an entire testament rises above the groups. So, for example, Gane’s “Leviticus, Numbers” covers two of the Pentateuch’s five books and is filed under “Leviticus”; the “Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture,” vol. 3, covering Exodus through Deuteronomy, is filed under “Exodus,” since it leaves Genesis untreated; a one-volume commentary on all twelve Minor Prophets is filed at “Minor Prophets, Introduction and Overview,” since it covers the group entire; and Wiersbe’s “Be Heroic,” covering Ezra, Haggai, and Zechariah, is filed under “Ezra,” the first book of the first group it treats. A volume on 1 and 2 Samuel is filed under “1 Samuel” by the same measure, since it treats two of the twelve historical books.

If a work does not place itself within ten seconds, the placement likely does not matter. Choose a heading, record it, and proceed. Once the holdings are cataloged and searchable, retrieval no longer depends upon shelving alone.

A heading is added when its absence misroutes a class of works, not when a single volume sits awkwardly. So, for example, “Historicity / Reliability of the New Testament” is needed because the relevant titles by Bruce, Blomberg, and Bauckham would otherwise drift into apologetics.

A heading is removed when it competes for works that already have a home elsewhere. So, for example, “Textual Apparatuses” is unnecessary because the critical editions sit well with their language resources, and the method belongs with textual criticism. An unused heading is harmless, but a rival one tends to produce misfiles.

An author is gathered into “Author Collections” in “X. Special Collections” by relationship rather than by reputation. The test is whether the author has been personally known to the owner or centrally formative in his life, not whether the author is significant in the field. So, for example, Vanhoozer’s works are filed by subject across various categories and sections rather than gathered as a corpus despite his standing in theology, while a former student’s three slim volumes belong together at “Former Students” in “X. Special Collections.” Authors filed by subject remain retrievable as a body through the catalog’s author index, so scattering them costs nothing; a tag is added only where an author is a candidate for a future collection, or where the volumes are edited or contributed rather than authored.

Within a heading, books are shelved in groups by kind, or by subject where a heading gathers several, and alphabetized within each group. The groups are a shelf convention and do not change the call number. For example, the usual groups for commentaries, left to right, are translation aids for the text; catenae, that is, gatherings of quotations arranged by verse; expositions of the text; studies about the text; readings from other traditions where they are numerous enough to cluster; and popular-level study guides that might be used personally or in groups. The order is consult before read, following Rule 8: a catena is consulted at a passage as a translation aid is, not read through as a commentary is, so it stands with the apparatus at the front rather than among the readings whose tradition it shares. A series gathered under one recognizable name keeps its position across every heading it occupies, whatever the count, since it is sought by name. Where a heading is small or its contents uniform, the books are simply alphabetized. Where the subject supplies its own sequence, that sequence governs the group: the patriarchs are grouped in canonical order rather than alphabetically, and the temple by phase rather than by kind. A work covering several members of a group is shelved with the group at the front; a work spanning two groups is shelved with the earlier.

Duplicate copies are one record with two copies, not two placements, though a second copy should be checked in case it is in fact a different edition. Works whose central claim is not credited by the field are flagged as such in the record. Works sharing a title are distinguished by author and date. Section letters are positional and will shift if a heading is inserted above them, so the notation should be stored in the catalog as fixed text rather than derived.

The call number states where a work classifies, not where it physically sits. A work is filed at the heading its subject requires even when the copy is shelved elsewhere, and the catalog carries the location. So, for example, volumes held off-site keep the call numbers of the sections they belong to; an oversized study kit is classified with its subject while the box is stored apart and only the print components stand on the shelf; and a bibliography issued on disc is classified as media without disturbing the subject heading it serves. Location is a property of the copy; classification is a property of the work.

A work that treats the whole subject of a heading is filed at that heading, even where the heading has children, and not at whichever child happens to come first. Rule 9 takes the lowest heading that holds a work, and where no child holds it the parent does. So a comprehensive Christology is classified in “Christology” and not in “The Person of Christ”; a handbook surveying eschatology entire is classified in “Eschatology” and not in “Personal Eschatology.” This licenses the parent only for a work whose subject is the heading’s whole subject. A work treating one part of that subject belongs at the child for that part, and where the outline provides no such child the remedy is to add one under Rule 11, not to park the work above it. A heading’s own works shelve ahead of its children’s.

A body of ancient literature is given two distinct headings for its texts: “Texts and Editions” for the corpus as a whole, and “Individual Works and Studies” for one work at a time. A collected edition, a complete translation, or an anthology of the whole corpus is classified at the first; an edition of or a monograph on a single work is classified at the second, or at the heading for that work where the outline names one. The word “individual” in a heading is an instruction, not a description: it excludes the corpus whole, and a heading so named must be accompanied by a heading that admits it. Where the corpus is the work of a single author, “Works” serves both offices under Rule 17, the complete works standing at the heading and the separate works beneath it.

A work whose usefulness depends entirely upon one other volume—an index to a named lexicon, a guide to the apparatus of a named edition, a commentary upon a named critical text—is classified at the heading of the volume it serves, even where its own form would send it elsewhere. The reader who needs such a work is already standing at its principal, and shelved apart it is separated from the only book that makes it usable. The test is dependence and not reference: a work that can be used by someone who does not own the principal is classified on its own merits, however often it cites that principal, and a work issued under another author’s name and bought and cited on its own account is likewise classified on its merits. This rule admits that it files a work at a heading its form does not fit—an index among the dictionaries, a commentary among the texts—and accepts that cost knowingly for the sake of the reader’s hand. It promises the right heading and not the adjacent place upon the shelf; where alphabetical order separates a satellite from its principal, the order stands.