(sung to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas)
On the 7th day before Christmas, Bible Geek Gone Wild gave to me a Cornerstone Biblical Commentary……
Welcome to day 7 of Bible Geek Gone Wild’s 12 Days Before Christmas. Many thanks to Laura Bartlett at Tyndale House Publishers for providing the prize for today’s contest. The winner of today’s contest will receive Volume 1 in the Tyndale Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series.
Providing students, pastors and lay people with up-to-date, accessible evangelical scholarship on the Old and New Testaments. Designed to equip pastors and Christian lay leaders with exegetical and theological knowledge to better understand and apply God’s word by presenting the message of each passage as well as an overview of other issues surrounding text. Includes the entire NLT text of Genesis and Exodus.
John N. Oswalt, Ph.D., Brandeis University, is Research Professor of Old Testament at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He was the Old Testament editor of the Wesley Bible and also served as consulting editor for the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. He has written six books, including a two-volume commentary on Isaiah in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament series and commentary on Isaiah in the New International Version Application Commentary series. He has been a member of the translation teams for the New International Version and the New Living Translation.
Contest For Day 7
We’re going to scale it back a bit today. The object of today’s contest will be to leave a comment on this post listing your 2 favorite Biblical reference works or series and why you use them most often. I will randomly select a winner from the responses. Good luck!
Terms and Conditions
- This contest will be limited to residents of the 48 state continental United States.
- Contestants may submit one entry per contest per day.
- The winner or winners will be announced following the close of each contest.
- Prizes will be shipped within several days of the close of each contest.
Related Articles
19 users responded in this post
Keeping it to commentaries, since there are many works in several areas to which I turn frequently, I would say the NIV Application Commentaries and Calvin’s Commentaries on the Whole Bible. Of all commentaries on my bookshelves, these alone proved unfailing helpful to me in erstwhile duties as a Christian preacher. Of course, I’ve haven’t had the pleasure to look over the NLT Cornerstone Commentaries, so there may be a third “unfailingly helpful” resource out there of which I’m not yet aware!
I’d have to say that as of late I’ve found myself constantly referring to Craig Keener’s The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament before engaging in any deeper study. It’s a great reference with tons of terse info. As far as series go, you can’t beat those IVP Black Dictionaries. I have five of the eight volumes and I use them all the time; they’re quite thorough and written by some of the world’s best scholars.
I am somewhat limited by my hodge-podge collection of commentaries and reference works. I would say that I probably reference Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology quite a bit. It’s helpful because on various theological discussion topics (spiritual gifts, Calvinism, baptism, etc.) Wayne presents a Biblical discussion that’s fair and balanced. I often find myself agreeing with most of what he says.
Another handy reference for me are my Expositor’s Bible Commentaries that I have on several books of the New and Old Testaments. I do not have the entire series, but I have several of the hardback volumes that have 4 or 5 books covered, and I have some of the softcover volumes that cover 2 or 3 books. In this vein I also like the Tyndale Commentary paperbacks as well.
Of course I use Greek reference tools (and now Hebrew), and other books, but the above two are probably used most often currently.
Nick,
I love the new Avatar. Is there a story behind the duck?
Esteban,
This is a first. Thanks for stopping by!
Bob,
Even for a hodge-podge, your library is quite impressive. Although not as impressive as Nick’s library. Most small seminaries and theological schools would start breaking commandments and covet Nick’s library.
The most important Biblical studies tool to me by far is Accordance Bible software, put out by Oak Tree. I’ve been using Accordance since I started grad school in 2003 and spend hours each day doing word searches in the original language, using the interactive maps and timelines, and consulting cross-references and commentaries. If I was on a desert island with electricity and my Accordance powered Mac, I would be amply supplied to exegete for days. Since I’m working on a thesis on the use of the OT in the NT right now, I can give an honorable mention shout out to the Commentary on the Use of the OT in the NT edited by Beale and Carson. It is indispensable!
I second Esteban’s interest in the Tyndale Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series!
I do have one NIV Application Commentary (2 Cor.) and it is excellent.
Oh, my pleasure! I mean, you commented on my blog, and you know what they say — you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.
I would have to say Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. I always wanted this set, borrowed them occasionally from friends, but found a complete set for 25.00 in great condition and so this has become my favorite to use. I also like my Bible Doctrine(condensed or abridged Systematic Theology)By Wayne Grudem, I recently purchased this at a bargain price and refer to it weekly in our family devotions. As a very close second is my Thayers Greek English Lexicon. I just love it’s how comfortable it is to use with my other tools.
Ok, I’m just going to come right out an blow you guy’s away with my top pick….BIBLE GATEWAY! It has every version I will ever look at…lots of Commentary, doesn’t take up a lot of space, and will never give me a wrist sprain on snatching it from the self… and of course, my favorite reference…The Holy Bible on the Holy Bible…*: )
Shaun: You know how when Jesus was baptized the Father spoke from heaven as a dove descended upon him? Well, the can of soda (it’s a Pepsi even though you can’t see the label) is my baptismal water, the Father is speaking from the heavens although this can’t be captured in a picture, and the duck is the Holy Spirit.
As far as my library goes, it’s not all that impressive, especially when you find out what Esteban’s library looks like!
Bauer and Danker’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature
and
Koehler, Baumgartner and Stamm’s The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament
I prefer the NIV Application Commentary and the Baker Exegetical Commentary Series. A close third is the Expositor’s Bible Commentary. I find there’s enough breadth between these three to provide a good foundation to work on.
(Best part is that all three are available in electronic format. Logos and Pradis.)
I use John Gill’s commentary a lot, even though I don’t always agree. When it comes to insights into the Hebrew, he’s one of the best of the old writers.
I also find myself using Cairns’ Dictionary of Theological Terms. I like that it’s concise, and approaches things from a Reformed perspective.
My two favorite reference works are the Anchor Bible Dictionary and the IVP Dictionaries (Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, Paul and His Letters, etc.). There are obviously other options, but I have found that the articles in these two works are consistently well written and informative.
Uh, Nick…we also can’t see the lightning that is about to strike…Really sounds like you need the book…*; )
Wow. I thought there were only four applicants. Shaun likes to stockpile the entries and release all the comments much later, I see!
Surprise! I finally got around to approving the additional comments this morning.
The winner will be announced shortly. As far as reference works go, I’ve been working with A New Reader’s Lexicon of the Greek New Testament from Kregel & using LOGOS Bible Software a lot recently.
Leave A Reply