Revised 1-19-2009 NOTE: This is
currently a working draft
A Guide to Biblical Reference Texts
By Fr. John Whiteford
Having a good reference library on hand is essential for a serious student of
Scripture, and particularly for a clergyman who is going to be preparing
sermons on a regular basis. What
follows is a list of the various categories of reference material, along with a
brief description of how texts in that category are used, and some
recommendations on texts that you may want to buy as you build your own
library.
1. Original Texts (Greek, Hebrew), and Interlinear texts.
For the Septuagint, you could simply by a Bible published by
the Church of Greece... and this would ensure that it was an edition
that reflects the text the Church has generally used. The critical edition,
which has textual notes, which I believe is the edition that the Orthodox Study
Bible uses is Rahlfs "Septuaginta."
For those whose Greek is either limited or essentially
non-existent, there is Sir Lancelot Brenton's
"The Septuagint with Apocrypha", which has the Greek and
an English Translation in parallel columns.
For the Hebrew Old Testament, the critical edition is the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensia
(abbreviated as BHS).
For the New Testament, the critical edition I would recommend is the Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text,
edited by Zane C. Hodges & Arthur L. Farstad;
or The New
Testament in the Original Greek, edited by Maurice A. Robinson &
William G. Pierpont.
As for Interlinear texts, for the whole Bible (Hebrew Old Testament, Greek Textus Receptus New Testament), The Interlinear Bible is a great choice. One
thing that is very handy is that it is keyed to the Strong's Concordance numbering
system, which is also used in many other reference texts, and this is
particularly good for those that know neither Greek nor Hebrew.
You can get the above just in the New Testament by getting The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament.
2. English Translations and Study Bibles.
As for translations, that is covered in more detail in the article on
Biblical Translations
Study Bibles attempt to give the user a little bit of many different types
of reference texts, and as such can be handy. They provide introductions to
books, commentary, concordances, maps, and other features. Study Bibles of
course reflect a particular theological perspective, and so that is the key
factor to be kept in mind. The Orthodox Study Bible is the obvious choice for
Orthodox Christians, it is not perfect, but it is the best option currently
available.
3. Concordances (English, and also Greek and Hebrew)
Whatever translation you are going to use, you should have a concordance that
matches it. The Strong's is the best choice for those who use
the King James Version, and it's numbering system, as
I said, is used in other reference texts. It provides a brief definition of the
Hebrew and Greek word of the original text used by the KJV. Each word in
English that occurs in the concordance is reference to a number than is linked
to the original word that English word translates. Very often the same English
word is used to translate more than one word in either Greek or Hebrew, and
this numbering system helps you to keep this all straight.
If you know Greek and/or Hebrew, a Greek or Hebrew Concordance helps you to
find the various places in which a particular word is used in Scripture. But if
you do not know Greek or Hebrew, good word studies will provide you essentially
the same information, though generally not in the same degree of detail.
Of course web sites and CD-Rom concordances in some ways are better, because
you can not only search for one word, but can search for several key words, and
exact phrases. And instead of being limited to one translation, you can search
several. However, it is still a good idea to have at least one hard copy
concordance on hand.
4. Greek and Hebrew Lexicons, and Word Studies
The Best New Testament Greek Lexicon is probably The Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon.
An Analytical Lexicon is also handy, because you
can look up a Greek word in what ever form it is found in a given passage, and
it will tell you what form it is, and also what the root word is, and give you
a brief definition.
You can also get a Greek Lexicon that covers all the words found in the
Septuagint.
The Best Hebrew Lexicon is Brown-Drivers-Briggs (which is keyed to
Strong's).
There is also an Analytical Hebrew Lexicon which works just
like it's Greek counterpart.
But these are all geared more to students of Greek and Hebrew. While I would
encourage you all to study both languages, if you don't, you still have some
options... and even if you do the following word studies are still extremely
useful:
There are two sets that are probably more than most of you will want to invest
in, or need, but they are The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament
(15 Volumes), and the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
(10 Volumes).
What I would recommend that you actually buy however are:
The Theological Word Book of the Old Testament
(which is One Volume, and keyed to Strong's (which given the difficulty a
non-Hebrew student would otherwise have looking up a Hebrew word is an
essential feature)), and the "Little Kittel" One
Volume Abridged version of the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.
What these book do is give the origin of a word, and
then discuss how it is used in the Bible. In the case of the Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT), it discusses the pagan Greek use of a
word, it's use in the Septuagint, it's use in the New
Testament, and often also discuss it's use in the early Church... so these are
extremely useful texts.
5. Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias.
The nice thing about Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedia, is that when you run
across something in the Bible that is unfamiliar, for example the Urim and Thumim, you can look up
"Urim and Thumim"
and read an article that will explain what these are, and reference where in
the Bible they are discussed. You can look up a person, like Hezekiah, and read
all that is known about him, and again, where in the Bible he is talked about.
There are many one volume Bible Dictionaries that are good. Multi-volume
Encyclopedias obviously have much more information.
The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, by Thomas Nelson
is an example of a good one volume dictionary.
The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible
is a good example of an affordable multi-volume set.
6. Biblical Atlases
There are many Biblical Atlases to choose from. You can see some of the options
by clicking here.
You find useful maps in many other reference texts, but when you want detailed
maps to help you understand some element of Biblical history, it is handy to
have a comprehensive Biblical Atlas.
7. Biblical Histories
Biblical Histories combine the information we have from the Bible with
archeological evidence, and evidence from other ancient texts, and provide a
big picture view of the flow of Biblical history. Being familiar with this big
picture will help you understand the how any given passage of Scripture fits
into the scheme of history.
The best modern Old Testament history is "A History of Israel" by John Bright.
The best modern New Testament history is probably "New Testament History" by F. F. Bruce.
The two classical histories that you should also be familiar with are:
The Works of Josephus (which provides Old Testament History as well as a contemporary
account of New Testament Church History.
Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History
Three other historical books I would recommend by Alfred Edersheim:
The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Edersheim was a very conservative Anglican scholar with a
Jewish background and he was both a Biblical scholar and a scholar of Judaism.
In this text he provides very interesting insights into the Jewish background
of the life of Christ, and contrast the teachings of
Christ with those found in the Talmud. This text is the Conservative response
to the "Quest for the Historical Jesus" that is most recently
manifested in the pseudo-scholarship of the "Jesus Seminar."
The Temple, Its Ministry and Services. This book is not nearly as useful as the previous text, but
it provides good information on the worship of the Old Testament.
8. Cultural Studies of Biblical Times
Because we do not live in the same culture as that in which the Scriptures
were written, we have to make an effort to understand that culture. There are
some good texts that focus specifically on the customs and culture of the
Biblical period, here are two examples: Sketches of Jewish Social Life, by Alfred
Edersheim. The New Manners and Customs of Bible
Times, by Ralph Gower.
9. Texts on Biblical Archeology
To some extent, you can get information on the findings of Biblical
Archeology from some of the other reference sources, such as Bible Dictionaries
and Encyclopedias, Commentaries, etc. However, if you want to dig deeper into
the subject specifically, here is a text worth reading:
Archeology and the Religion of Israel, by
William Albright
10. Introductions
An Introduction is a text that discusses the scholarly thought on issues
related to the text, authorship, audience, and history of the various books of
the Bible.
The best Old Testament Introductions are:
Introduction to the Old Testament as
Scripture, by Brevard Childs. This
text accepts to some extent the results of liberal Protestant scholarship, but
then approaches the issues through the lens of the authority of the Church's
Canon, and so in some respects comes close to an Orthodox approach at the end
of the process.
A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, by Gleason Archer. This text takes a much more
conservative approach to the issues of text, authorship, and history of the
Scriptures. As such, it is a good counter-balance to the text by Childs.
The best New Testament introduction is:
New Testament Introduction, by Donald Guthrie. This is a very conservative Protestant
text, that does a bit better of a job than Archer does
with the Old Testament.
Brevard Childs also has a New Testament introduction: The New Testament as Canon: An Introduction,
however it has been out of print and so has limited availability.
11. Reference Texts on Textual Criticism
There are many books in print on this subject, but most of them advocate a
version of the Westcott-Hort Theory. A good text to get, if you are interested
in studying this issue in more depth is:
Unholy Hands on the Bible, By John Burgon. This text is actually a collection of the
writings of John Burgon on the subject of New Testament textual Criticism, and
he is by far the best scholar on this subject.
12. Biblical Theology
Biblical Theology texts focus on the major themes found in the various parts of
Scripture, and as such can be useful when you are discussing a particular issue
to see how the whole of Scripture addresses that issue. However, since these
texts involve theological analysis, you have to keep in mind that you are
getting the take of non-Orthodox scholars on these issues.
For the Old Testament there are two highly regarded, though highly
rationalistic texts:
Old Testament Theology, by Gerhad
von Rad.
Theology of the Old Testament, Volume I and Volume II by Walther Eichrodt.
A more conservative alternative would be:
An Old Testament Theology: A Canonical and Thematic Approach,
by Bruce K. Waltke and Charles Yu.
For the New Testament, the best text is A Theology of the New Testament, by George Eldon
Ladd. This is both a highly regarded text, as well as a fairly conservative
Evangelical text.
13. Books on Exegesis.
As for Orthodox Texts on this subject, all that I have been able to find
are included in the reading lists for this course. Here are some Protestant
texts that will help you better understand how they approach the subject:
For a good conservative Evangelical introduction, I would recommend:
How to Read the Bible For All
It's Worth, by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.
For a more advanced treatment, I would recommend:
Old Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and
Pastors, by Douglas Stuart.
And
New Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and
Pastors, by Gordon Fee.
14. Contemporary Literature
What we are talking about here are texts outside of Scripture that were writing
during or close to the times of the Biblical texts. Examples of these would
include the Pseudepigraphal books of the Old
Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls (apart from the Biblical texts found among
them), the writing sof Josephus, the New Testament Apochrypha, the writings of the Apostolic Fathers (such as
the Didache, the Epistles of St. Ignatius, or St. Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians, etc.), as well as
pagan writings of the period.
15. Commentaries (Patristic, More recent Orthodox, and
Non-Orthodox)
There are of course Church fathers who wrote entire books of commentary or
homilies which explain various books of the Bible. More of this is becoming
available all the time; however, any Patristic text can be used to find
commentary on Scripture... particularly if it has a Scripture index (and so
that is something to look for when you have more than one option for a
particular Patristic text). I very often find useful commentary in the writings
of St. John Cassian this way. In short, you need to
build a Patristic library. To start off, you can beat the economy of buying the Ante-Nicene Fathers, and Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers, which you can currently purchase for $199.00. You can also read these
texts online, but I would still recommend buying the set.
There are two new sets of commentaries that are being published that
attempt to organize patristic commentary on various passage, in order to make
it easier to find what the father say on a given text. I have found them both
to be well done, but you need to keep in mind that they do not present all of
what the Fathers have to say on a given text, and the editors are mostly
non-Orthodox. Also, they include some writers that we consider heretics in
these texts, such as Origen, Novatian, Severus, and
Theodore of Mopsuestia... so be on the look out for
that. You want to use these as guides to the fuller Patristic texts in which
they are found, rather than as a substitute:
The Ancient Christian Commentary Series
As for more recent Orthodox Biblical commentaries, you have to be
selective. There are good examples, such as the commentary of Archbishop Averky
on the Apocalypse; but there are also some one has to be careful
because some modern Orthodox texts on Scripture essentially consist of warmed
over Protestant scholarship (usually of the more liberal variety), and are not
as good as the better Protestant texts that are available. In short, you need
to seek those Orthodox writers that embrace the Fathers and the Tradition of
the Church, not those who are simply parroting the Protestants.
As for Protestant Commentaries, there are many good options, and many bad
ones. The best commentary series that is available, in my opinion, is the Word Biblical Commentary. There are shorter, and thus less expensive options, such as the Expositor's Bible Commentary... though
many other examples of good conservative Protestant scholarship could be cited.
Most of the above texts can usually be most cheaply purchased from Christian Book
Distributers.