September 1, 2010
Commentaries and Dictionaries
Posted by Will
We’ve been talking about Bibles and Biblical resources the past couple of weeks, and this week we will wrap up with a look at some dictionaries and commentaries you can turn to when you need to know more.
Because of the gap in cultures between when the Bible was written and today, there are often times when we will need to turn to additional resource to help us understand a particular passage of Scripture. We should always read, meditate upon, and pray about Scripture first, and use dictionaries and commentaries as support tools.
A Bible dictionary is primarily a tool to look up names and places that are unfamiliar to us, and to give us introductions and overviews of specific books and topics found within Scripture. There are single and multi-volume dictionaries available; two of the most popular and helpful single volumes are the New International Bible Dictionary and Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible.
Commentaries serve the purpose of offering an author’s exegesis (what the text meant at the time it was written) and hermeneutics (how we can apply the text now) on entire books of the Bible. Often the author’s own translation accompanies the commentary. Most commentaries are for use at the academic level and usually only discuss one book of the Bible at a time, but there are a few that are meant for all readers. N.T. Wright’s For Everyone Series is an accessible and affordable option for New Testament commentaries. This series is also expanding to the Old Testament with author_ John Goldingay_ providing the commentary. Currently Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus are available, and Numbers and Deuteronomy are on the way at the end of the month.
For overviews and introductions to Bible study, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth and How to Read the Bible Book by Book are easy to read and provide essential information. For more in-depth looks at the hermeneutics of the Old and New Testaments, consider Old Testament Ethics for the People of God and The Moral Vision of the New Testament.
