The Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture

Book Reviews are arranged by the book review editor and coordinators. Authors and publishers interested in having books reviewed, and prospective reviewers, are invited to discuss book review ideas with them (see editorial contacts).

The JSRNC publishes four types of reviews:

1. Review Essays are short articles which will explore a discipline or theme pertinent to the nexus of religion/nature/culture in a way that is accessible to an interdisciplinary audience, introducing them to this aspect of the emerging field. They will spotlight recent books, but will also discuss even the earliest works and antecedents to current discussions. Review Essays will generally be between 1600 and 2000 words, but can be significantly longer where the reviewed material or its context lends itself to more in-depth discussion. In general, the more books discussed, the longer review essays may be.
2. Book Reviews will assess recent scholarly books, or major works by important religious practitioners who are the subject of scholarly inquiry. When commissioned, books for review will generally have been published during the previous two calendar years. Book Reviews will usually be between 800 and 1200 words.
3. Book Notes will briefly mention scholarly works pertinent but somewhat peripheral to the religion/culture/nature field, or popular works by practitioners and others that scholars should be aware of, but that do not merit detailed attention as scholarly works. Book Notes will generally be between 250 and 500 words.
4. Media Reviews will discuss documentaries or other audio and/or visual media pertinent to the JSRNC’s areas of inquiry. They will explore the same sort of questions as do Book Reviews (explained below)

All reviews should be submitted according to the Preparing the Manuscript guidelines in the Submissions page, which among other things, explains the publisher’s British punctuation conventions. Consult these guidelines for general matters pertaining to style, punctuation, citations, references, and footnotes.

 

Please note the following guidelines that are specific to book reviews and not addressed in the general manuscript guidelines:

 

The header of a Book Review should be formatted as in the following examples:

 

Jane Doe, Ecology of Religion (New York: Academic Publishers, 2nd edn, 2008), 212 pp., $19.95 (pbk), ISBN: 0-000-00000-0.

--OR--

Jane Doe and Sally Smith (eds.), Anthology of Religion and Nature (London: Consolidated Press, 2009), xviii + 550 pp., £50.00 (cloth), ISBN: 9-9999-9999-9.

 

The footer of a Book Review constitutes the byline, and should be placed beneath any references cited, text aligned to the right-hand margin. The footer includes the reviewer’s name, institutional affiliation(s), and email address for correspondence, and if the author wishes, his/her website address (but only if this is established to be a permanent url). For example:

Questions regarding any types of these reviews should be directed to the Book Review editor or coordinators.