Choosing OT commentaries

I love owning commentaries. I have continually found that it is so worthwhile to have great commentaries on hand when I am studying a passage or a theme. It's the area of my own personal library that has been growing the fastest over the last few years, especially as my own interests have turned from systematic theology to biblical theology (though of course not eschewing the former). But, commentaries are expensive! So as I've been trying to choose, I've been combing the web for wisdom. And I've been especially digging for ideas on some Old Testament resources, the area where my own library is the most lacking. I'm particularly looking for good commentaries on Genesis and Daniel (two important but highly contested books in OT, which seems to complicate buying commentaries), so that has been driving my search. I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on NT commentary series, authors, etc. But the OT is somewhat different territory. So, I thought I'd share a few resources I've been digging through. Some are rather obvious, others less so, but for what it's worth, here they are.

John Walton, professor at Wheaton and prolific and respected OT scholar and author, has made a list of "go-to" commentaries available on the web. Obviously a great resource.

Denver Journal (from Denver Seminary) has a great annotated bibliography for both OT and NT resources authored and updated by their faculty. I've found this to be a great list (especially the NT version) for a number of years and have been pointed to some great resources. 

Tremper Longman, who has authored an OT commentary survey, as well as a number of top flight OT commentaries of his own, has a list of recommended commentaries that is available on BestCommentaries.com.

Which brings me to BestCommentaries.com. This great web site is a creative and increasingly useful resource for evaluating different commentary series and volumes, getting some hints about what is forthcoming and from whom, and seeing various reviewers' and recommenders' estimations of various volumes. It includes input from sources such as Tremper Longman (mentioned above) from his OT commentary survey, as well as D. A. Carson's corresponding NT input, info from Denver (Seminary) Journal's recommended resources (another great source mentioned above), input from R. C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries, John Piper and Desiring God, John Glynn's commentary survey, as well as from numerous individuals. I'd say it has a distinctly conservative and reformed bent, and it seems (based on the age of many of the input lists) heavily weighted toward resources that are at least five or ten years old. But these weaknesses aside, it is a great source of reviews and rankings.

This list is certainly incomplete, and leaves off things like Amazon (where reviews are a mix of helpful and less-than-helpful). But it shows that there are some good and worthwhile resources out there. And I'd love to find more. I will try to update as more come my way.

Addition: I have come across a neat resource from Grove City Books (which is associated with Ridley Hall, Cambridge). They publish the Biblical Studies Bulletin, and they also have a book-by-book index of "Commentaries on Commentaries." I've only looked at a few so far, but they seem to be short synopses of important commentaries across the theological spectrum, dated between 1996 and 2006 (so they are slightly dated), and written by scholars (Genesis was written by Gordan Wenham, for example).

Nelson's Biblical Cyclopedic Index

Thanks to Thomas Nelson for the review copy.

I picked up this book to review because I was intrigued by the concept. Quite simply, it is a combination between a concordance, a topical index, and a Bible dictionary. It covers around 8,000 entries. Almost every entry has a brief descriptive phrase or short definition (for example, "Lute—musical instrument" or "Evil—that which is morally injurious"). Then the entry contains a list of descriptive phrases linked with a scripture reference or two to explore how a word is used, or to point to key uses of a word in the Bible. More extensive entries are broken down into groups to help orient the reader to various approaches the Bible takes concerning an idea or various ways the word is used (for example, the heading "difficulty" is broken down into four subgroups: "kinds of," "examples of," "negative attitudes toward," and "positive attitudes toward"). As an abbreviated concordance or subject index, this cyclopedic index does function quite well. I have obviously not looked at every entry in detail, and I have no doubt that one could squabble endlessly about the various passages chosen for various topics. But overall, it seems to be a great quick reference to get an overview of some of the key teachings about various people and subjects. Many of the entries could easily turn into outlines for a group study of a word, with the subgroupings giving some helpful direction about ideas to emphasize.

A second key feature of the cyclopedic index is that it serves as a miniature Bible dictionary, with around 300 brief word studies. These are short (one small to medium paragraph) definitions of important words that help to orient the reader as to their meaning. They usually include comments about the word in the original language and point to some of the range of meanings it has and how it is used in the Bible. In all, these short entries seem to be helpful, at least as a starting point. But herein lies one of the greatest difficulties. The authors are obviously making an attempt to bring original-language scholarship to a wider audience, but they rarely if ever specify if a word they're talking about is in Greek or Hebrew. A knowledgeable reader will find it obvious, because they go on to refer to how the word is used in either the OT or NT, making it clear which language they are talking about. But they never make this explicit. Nor to they differentiate in the entries between Greek and Hebrew words. I can imagine much difficulty and complexity that would come from trying to be thoroughgoing in differentiating between the two languages, and think that in the index proper, it's probably okay to mix the two languages by focusing on the English words. But in the word studies, when they are quite transparently looking at either the Greek or Hebrew word behind the English translation, they should have specified which language they were studying, to help readers understand which testament their insights apply to most directly. This is especially the case in the handful of cases where a word is defined twice, first with a view to its Hebrew origin and then with regard to its Greek, so people would know roughly how the definitions should fit with the entries that follow (key words such as "rest" or "judgment" get this more expansive treatment). It should be stated that the authors give the Strongs number for each entry they define in this broader way, so, again, more study will quickly make plain the language the word is based on, but this seems like it would have been a helpful, if not essential, addition, especially as it would help warn readers about some of the perils of word studies across the two testaments.

So, in all, I'd have to say this is a handy quick reference, an entry-level tool with some nice features for those beginning in Bible study, or a guide for quickly making sense of a more complex topic by putting references into helpful groups. So it clearly has value. But it also has some shortcomings, as do almost any reference works, and maybe this one more than some because of the number of functions it seeks to perform. It's an intriguing concept to put out a reference with this blend of information packed together, but I think particularly some additional information and guidance regarding OT and NT uses of words would further enhance its value.

MLK's letter from Paul to America

Michael Gorman quotes Martin Luther King's fictitious letter from Paul to American Christians (the Stanford site has both the full text and the audio of King delivering this sermon). It is a compelling and insightful read, with penetrating words that still ring true. This little gem jumped right out at me:

I still believe that standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end of life. The end of life is not to be happy. The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. The end of life is to do the will of God, come what may….

If that doesn't fly in the face of much popular American Christianity, I don't know what does. King's letter will almost certainly make you uncomfortable, but that is a good thing.

The future of publishing and the e-book

Since I have worked in academic publishing, and since I continue to do so as a freelancer, I have a lot of interest in the future of the book. As an avowed bibliophile, I have personally shuddered in horror at the thought of replacing a beautiful bound volume with a plastic tablet with e-ink (they're very cool by the way, and I may even consider getting one in the coming years). Or even worse, replacing a beautifully filled shelf (or even room) in the same way. But while e-books are certainly here to stay, and are indeed putting pressure on an already tight-margin enterprise, I hold out a lot of hope that the book's demise is not anywhere in the near future. And, a great quote I read on the IVP Addenda & Errata blog this afternoon put the current e-reader trend in great perspective. Dan Reid of IVP writes, "As IVP’s Andy Le Peau likes to say, “The e-book is the new mass-market paperback.” That, at least, is a snapshot of e-publishing in the fall of 2010." And I think it's both true and somewhat encouraging. The books I'd consider putting on an e-reader are quick-read fiction, like Dan Brown or John Grisham, books most readers buy in mass-market editions (which aren't very lucrative for publishers anyway except in large quantities). So the landscape of publishing is certainly changing, but some of the new developments may not be quite as dire as the may at first seem. Long live the book!

IVP Black Dictionaries of the NT Compendium

While browsing my local academic library, I came across a volume I didn't know existed, a relatively immense one-volume compendium of the critically acclaimed dictionary series from IVP. It's about one thousand pages, and has selected entries from the four NT dictionaries. The entries aren't shortened, they've just been selective in which ones they include (which is a huge plus, leaving the entries in tact). And here's where I almost fell off my chair. When I got home, I found it on Amazon. And it's available new for $13.32! Each one of these dictionaries retails for $37.50, and you can't find them used for much less than that. So, yes, you may get less; I already have the Paul volume and I'd love all the others. But this may be a great solution in the mean time, a way to get some really great scholarship in a readily accessible and easily affordable format!

Just arrived: Thielman's Ephesians

Frank Thielman's new commentary on Ephesians in the BECNT series just arrived on my desk, and I'm very excited about it. I've greatly appreciated his scholarship and his take on Paul. I was first introduced to him through his excellent commentary on Philippians in the NIVAC series, and subsequently have read his two books on the Law, Paul and the Law and The Law and the New Testament. I've only begun to skim this commentary, but I was immediately struck by the closing lines of the Author's Preface:

My prayer is that the commentary would quickly get out of the way after bringing the reader to the text, and that the text would, in its turn, help the reader understand the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ.

That beautifully wrought sentiment is certainly my own prayer for all of my studies of the Bible and of theology (even if it is too often unrealized), and it is encouraging to see it so well articulated at the outset of a commentary. I look forward to jumping in.

Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel

Thanks to Thomas Nelson for the review copy.

I loved this book! And I hope you read it. That's the only way I can start this review. Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision, has written a powerful apologetic for that important Christian ministry, but more than that, he has challenged evangelicalism to espouse a fully orbed gospel of the kingdom.

The book is part testimony and autobiography, with Stearns recounting his own journey from new Christian to successful corporate executive to president of World Vision. And it is a great story, easy to relate to, and well told. I found it easy to relate to Stearns' journey, his excitement for the gospel but also his reluctance to step out of his comfort zone into new territories. His story is written with obvious honesty and candor, and I thin it lays important groundwork for and integrates well with the book's overall message about broadening the way we understand the gospel and our role to spread the gospel to the world.

The core vision of the book is about getting beyond a traditional view of the gospel as an "otherworldly" message of hope for the hereafter to a Jesus-centered kingdom vision about changed lives, spiritually and physically. We are called not only to preach but to also embody the gospel. "This gospel that we have been given—the whole gospel—is God's vision for a new way of living. It inaugurates the reality of God dwelling within us, His followers, no longer in a temple in Jerusalem. . . . God's kingdom was going to begin on earth through the changed lives of His followers, and its hall markes would be forgiveness, love, compassion, justice, and mercy" (276).

Stearns is well aware of the dangers of preaching a "works" righteousness, and he addresses that concern a couple of times in his writing. He is also aware that some may want to read his message as a call away from traditional evangelistic preaching to a social gospel, a charge he anticipates and subverts a number of times as well. In all, I think Stearns has done the church a great service in writing this call to follow Jesus in his kingdom ministry. For if God truly loves the world, aren't we going to do everything in our power to overcome disparity, disease, poverty, and oppression as we do everything we can to overcome spiritual blindness, poverty, and oppression. And, in fact, the two can't and shouldn't be separated. For each side of the gospel fits with the other: a preaching without works of love is only words, and a life of compassionate action is one of the best apologias for the gospel we preach. Highly recommended.

Free MP3s on Amazon

I've got to say one of my favorite Black Friday deals in past years from Amazon has been $3 in free MP3 downloads, and they're at it again. They've sent out their code by email, but in case you're not on their email list, here it is: GET3MP3S. Click on one of my two suggestions to the left, a couple of deals I picked up (you won't have to buy one of them, but they'll take you to the MP3 portion of Amazon's site). On the right hand side of the page, there is a green box with two big buttons, "Buy this MP3 . . ." and "Give this album . . ." Click on the text link below those that reads "Redeem a gift card or promotion. Then cut and past the code above into the box. It should credit your account $3, which you can then use to download anything from Amazon's site. That means three totally free .99 MP3s, or three dollars off any album. You'll only have to pay if you spend more than $3, but the first $3 is totally free and without obligation. So pick up a few of your favorite songs.