rejection letter

I received this rejection letter from the JSNT (Journal for the Study of the New Testament), which is "one of the leading academic journals in New Testament Studies. It is published five times a year and aims to present cutting-edge work for a readership of scholars, teachers in the field of New Testament, postgraduate students and advanced undergraduates."

The reviewer pretty much skewered me. The harshest line was "There are a lot of quotations, but little independent reasoning." Ouch! Tell me what you really think. It was acutally a very helpful thing for me to have, and gives me a better idea of what scholarly journals are looking for.

Admittedly, the paper was not up to professional standards. I submitted it to JSNT on a lark, with no expectation that they would actually accept it. In fact, I think I submitted the paper to every journal I could think of. I'm not sure this was a good idea, but oh well. I'm not very disappointed by this rejection, so don't feel bad for me (if you were inclined to).

I still plan to clean the paper up and submit it to the EGLBS journal this summer.

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Dear Dr Bromley, [I like that! The first time someone referred to me as "Dr" in a serious way! Little does he know...]

Re: The Healing of the Hemorrhaging Woman: Miracle or Magic?

Thank you very much for submitting your above article for consideration by JSNT. I am sorry to say that the reader’s judgment, with which I concur, is that the article is not sufficiently strong for us to publish in the journal. I append the reader’s comments below. You may like to know that we reject over three-quarters of all articles submitted for publication, and only the very best pieces, suitable for this particular journal, can be accepted.

I am sorry to convey a negative judgment and wish you well in your continued work.

Yours sincerely,

David Horrell


David Horrell, Editor, Journal for the Study of the New Testament

[I haven't included the brutal review on my blog here... if you're interested in it, let me know, and I'll email it. You can read it whenever you're feeling bad about yourself... it's sure to cheer you up (at my expense)!]