In the previous section, I noted that an oath broadly consists of two elements: (1) a statement of sincerity, or, as I shall refer to it throughout my study, an authenticating element; and (2) the actual content of the oath. An oath may elaborate on these elements or add others, but at a minimum, an oath must contain these two elements. Without the first, we are left with only an assertion or a promise. Without the second, we have the stuff of which profane “swearing”