Looking for the most authors, which have the most complete commentaries that I should have a need for in my library. Please help me to decide which has the best information!
God Bless,
Rickey Lamphere
Rickey,
You could help us help you with some additional information:
Looking for the most authors, which have the most complete commentaries
Rickey
This is a general query placed in a forum for an old version of Logos. You will have a much wider audience in the General forum.
1. I have 799 individual commentary volumes. I have bought Logos 5 Diamond, and Logos 4 series. As for useful, so far I like them all, Love to read.
2. No language training.
3. Personal bible study right now. I am signed up for college courses to work towards a Bible Study degree.
4. Hmm not sure what you mean by view point. I am a baptist.
5. No budget restraints. I will make payments if I have to.
Respectfully,
Thanks for the extra info.
Here are the commentaries I'd own with no budget constraints, more or less in teh order I'd want to own them.
Fortunately with Diamond you have some of these.
By theological viewpoint I meant Anglican, Reformed, SDA, Lutheran, etc. Each of these traditions has commentaries esp. valued in that tradition.
I should add that many lay persons will value The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Revised Edition. I don't own it so can't comment directly on it.
I think my library is similar to yours and I found two things lacking: technical thorough commentaries and the Old Testament in general. I have invested in Word Biblical and Hermeneia. But they may not be as valuable without language skills.
NICOT/NICNT is very high on my wishlist (unfortunately I have budget restraints). When talking new testament, the current deal on Baker New Testament is very good. But buying L6 Gold would give you Pillars and NIGTC, which are both very precious for NT study.
Old Testament.... There is not much specifically on the Old Testament that I find very interesting. Just go for a good serie (as mentioned above).
Do not overlook that L6 Gold comes with Pillar and NIGTC, both very good. You should be able to pick that up very reasonably, although your coverage of the Old Testament will be lacking. You already have the NAC, which should not be overlooked.
But the gold standard, of course, is NICOT/NICNT. Expensive, but the best evangelical coverage on the New Testament out there. Combining that with NAC, you are in good hands.
I tend to gravitate to these three more than most others: New American Commentary, UBS Handbook Series Old and New Testament Collection, Baker Exegetical Commentary.
However, Pillar, Tyndale, and Expositor's are also pretty solid.
I use also https://www.logos.com/product/5790/keil-and-delitzsch-commentary-on-the-old-testament among others. I am not competent to evaluate it, I just give my opinion:
I try to find information that reveals the original intended meaning and how to apply it. I prefer to follow those who think that the whole OT was written with messianic intention. I attempt to catch the original Hebrew meaning and the ancient oriental setting in the text. This K&D is old, but I feel no current series achieve that goal better.
Mr. Smith,
Thank You for the suggestions. I do hope to make my library well rounded. I did go and look at the commentary collections. I have 18 sets of 10 plus different collections.
As for theological viewpoint I will have to read up on what you mentioned. I am still learning about them.
Thank You Again,
Mr. Menkveld,
Could you please tell me what the acronyms NICOT and NICNT are in reference too!
Thank You,
A couple of things, here. First, asking for the best commentaries might be a bit like asking what the best car is, or perhaps the best musical group... People sometimes draw pretty hard lines, and get a bit loud about their choices (usually in a good way).
The second thing is, the people who frequent these forums, and who have answered your questions so far are largely Pastors and Scholars. These can be GREAT people to ask about commentaries, but the answers they give you might lean toward the highly detailed, scholarly minded, original language heavy tools (and they have been). While these resources might still be useful for people who don't have an advanced degree in theological things, including Greek and Hebrew, they might seem to focus a lot on nuance, and perhaps less on practical application, than some might want.
There are two significant things to consider when buying commentaries. One is the author, and the other is the format of the commentary series. With most commentary series, each volume is written by a different scholar. So, in the same commentary series, you might get one book that is outstanding, and another that is only good (but hopefully not bad). Most of the commentary series that have been recommended to you so far are written by many of the best Evangelical scholars around. However, the format of each series is very different.
So for instance, The New International Greek Testament Commentary is among the most scholarly, Greek intensive commentaries available (which is why Mark commented to you that without knowing Greek, it will be a bit tougher to use). The The New International Commentary (NICNT, NICOT) is not as dependent on the reader knowing original languages, but is still very scholarly in its format. On the other end of the well respected Evangelical commentaries would be the NIV Application Commentary. It is written to focus a bit more on application, and it intentionally aims at a more general reader. However, most scholars I know have many volumes of this series in their libraries, because it is an excellent series, with some GREAT authors.
When given the choice between particular author, or particular commentary series, most pastors and scholars will recommend going with the best author. Let's say you will be studying or teaching a particular book of the Bible, and you want to buy one or two of the best commentaries on that book. Most of the time, you will find that the writer of the commentary is more significant then what series that book comes from.
All that said, digital media tends to be a bit different. People tend to by whole commentary series for their Logos system, not just particular volumes. Because all the series that have been recommended to you have very good authors, you would probably do best to choose the series that fit your intentions and the depth of study you are looking for.
Last general comment. at least a couple of these commentary series recommended to you are not complete. For instance, the Pillar Commentary series is a New Testament series. However, it is not finished yet. So, if you want to buy a series that has something for every book of the Bible (or New Testament/Old Testament) some of these won't get there. The New American Commentary (NAC) still has a volume or two left to be written, as well.
Having said all that, if I were going to be forced to go with just one commentary series, I would go with the NAC. Over the years, I have consistently found books from that series to be the most useful to me. This was a bit of a surprise, as it is written to be sort of the middle of the "Scholarly" scale. It was not written primarily for the high level scholar, though their intention was to be scholarly enough to give significant depth. They arrange it so that the deeper, more language-dependent material is included in the vast footnotes. Over all, I find myself referencing that series more than others. My next "go to" series might be the New International Commentary series. Having said that, most of the commentary series that have been recommended are really good. You would not go wrong with most of them.
Without some detailed knowledge of Greek, I wouldn't recommend the New International Greek Testament Commentary series. Along those same lines, the Word Biblical Commentary is perhaps not as dependent on original languages, but it is very scholarly in its format as well. And given your current situation, I'd definitely consider the NIV Application Commentary series.
Hope all that helps.
Al
I almost forgot: http://bestcommentaries.com/
Al,
Thanks for the advice. I am thinking of buying all the recommendations as I am starting college this summer. My major is ministry. So I will have to learn a lot of things including I imagine Greek. The other suggestions they were already on my to buy list.
Thanks Again,
Thanks Josh, Awesome site!!
