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RELS 221: Women in Early Christianity (Johnson Hodge)

Fall 2024

Choosing a Bible Commentary

What's the Difference? 

Every commentary series is different! Here are some of the things that separate them: 

  • Version -- Which Bible version/translation is used? Be aware that different translations of the Bible, even similar ones, may use different English words to convey the original sense of the text, which may in turn affect the language used in the commentary. 
     
  • Approach-- Does the commentary focus on the linguistics? Theology? Historical context? A combination of the above? etc. 
     
  • Language-- Some commentaries are easier to use if you have some knowledge of biblical and/or classical languages. 

  • Depth, Detail, Coverage -- Commentaries which devote an entire volume to a given book or portion of a book will provide different kinds of information than commentaries which cover the entire Bible in a handful of volumes. Additionally, consider what you'd like to know, and what kind of commentary would be most appropriate for that. To zero in on a couple of specific verses, a detailed line-by-line commentary will be most helpful. But to get a sense of the chapter or book as a whole, a broader commentary could also provide useful perspective. 

Remember -- you can miss a lot by narrowly focusing on only one commentary. The more commentaries you compare, the more complete picture you will get of the book and passage you are working with, the different interpretations, and the issues and themes involved. 

Guidelines for Choosing Commentaries: 

As you select commentaries to use in your assignment, please adhere to the following criteria outlined by your professor:

  • Do not use old commentaries -- the more recent the better.  Stick to those published in the last 50 years.
  • Do not use the "Ancient Commentary" series.  This series shares what ancient authors thought about the Bible.  For this assignment you need to find out what modern scholars think.
  • Do not use online commentaries, unless they are E-Books you have found through the Library's web pages (CrossSearch or the "classic" catalog).
  • Use commentaries that cover only one book of the Bible, not commentaries on the whole Bible or the New Testament.

There are recommendations for specific commentaries on this page --  but you may also choose other commentaries available in the library as long as they meet the above guidelines.

Recommended Commentaries: