No OT commentary both evangelical and technical?

Veli Voipio
Veli Voipio MVP Posts: 2,082
edited November 2024 in English Forum

This list is in Laniak's book: Handbook for Hebrew Exegesis. There are some "Evangelical/Semi-technical" commentary series but no "Evangelical/Technical". Is it so that an evangelical view and highly professional scholarship are mutually exclusive? I think not. How about the EEC commentary set, very little information about it. If someone has bought it could share?


Multi-volume Old Testament Commentary Series’
Anchor Bible (Doubleday; Liberal/Technical)
*Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (IVP)
Berit Olam (Liturgical Press; Literary)
*Calvin’s Commentaries
*College Press NIV OT Commentary Series
Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Zondervan; Evangelical/Expositional)
Hermenea, Augsburg/Fortress (Liberal/Technical)
*International Critical Commentary (T. & T. Clark; Liberal/Technical)
*Interpretation Bible Commentary (Westminster John Knox; Liberal/Theological)
Jewish Publication Society Torah Commentary (Jewish/Technical)
Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament (Hendrickson; Broadly conservative)
*New American Commentary (Broadman & Holman; Evangelical/Semi-technical)
New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge; mixed perspectives)
New Century Bible (Eerdmans; moderately critical, mostly British)
New International Bible Commentary (Hendrickson; Conservative/Expositional)
New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Eerdmans; Evangelical/Semi-technical)
NIV Application Commentary (Zondervan; Evangelical/Expositional)
Old Testament Library (Westminster John Knox; Liberal/Technical)
Pillar (Eerdmans)
*Pulpit Commentary (Willcox and Follet)
Sacra Pagina (Liturgical Press; Catholic/Semi-technical)
Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (IVP; Evangelical/Expositional)
*United Bible Society OT Translator Handbook
*Word Biblical Commentary (Word; Evangelical)


Laniak, T. S. (2010). Handbook for Hebrew Exegesis (p. 99). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11

Comments

  • Matthew C Jones
    Matthew C Jones Member Posts: 10,295 ✭✭✭

    Is it so that an evangelical view and highly professional scholarship are mutually exclusive? I think not.

    I think not too. Just because a commentary is not technical does not mean there is no highly professional scholarship behind it. 

    Logos 7 Collectors Edition

  • Mark Barnes
    Mark Barnes Member Posts: 15,432 ✭✭✭

    Personally, I'm not sure NICOT is any less technical that Hermeneia, Anchor or ICC. 

    Keil and Delitzsch is a technical commentary. It is dated, but then so is ICC. WBC is fairly evangelical and fairly technical.

    Absent from the list are several series, the most relevant being:

    • Apollos Old Testamnent is both evangelical and technical IMO.
    • The Evangelical Exegetical Commentary would definitely fall into this category.
    • The Concordia Commentaries are definitely technical and fairly evangelical. Underrated, in my opinion

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  • Unix
    Unix Member Posts: 2,192 ✭✭✭

    John Goldingay (Isaiah, Daniel, Psalms)
    Daniel (Apollos Old Testament Commentary) by Ernest C. Lucas
    The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary by Thomas E. McComiskey
    1 & 2 Kings (Apollos Old Testament Commentary)
    Genesis: A Commentary by and
    EDIT: Mark Barnes already posted about Apollos while I was still typing my post. It's not in Logos - I've checked several times, nor was it in other major Bible Study softwares when I checked a couple of months ago.

    EDIT2: Scalise on Jer 26-34: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0849902266/ref=sr_1_26?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430596961&sr=1-26&keywords=Old+Testament+Theology+Canonical+Context+Childs reg. price in Logos $44.95: Volume 27: Jeremiah 26–52

    EDIT3: Louis Stulman on Jeremiah in Abingdon Old Testament Commentary (used to be available in Vyrso, but no-longer). About the author: http://catalog.findlay.edu/en/current/Undergraduate-Catalog/Administration-Trustees-Faculty-and-Staff/Faculty Cheapest copy is currently $23.99 + shipping from the U.S.: http://www.alibris.co.uk/Jeremiah-Louis-Stulman/book/20163416?qsort=p&matches=10 Commentary recommended at: http://www.cjconroy.net/bib/jer-comm.htm last updated April 13. 2015.

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  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 55,120

    Minor correction: Sacra Pagina is New Testament

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • mab
    mab Member Posts: 3,072 ✭✭✭

    There's a quirky bias about "technical" terminology. In contemporary scholarship, technical is more of a slant for methodology and interpretation that is not evangelical and rather dismissive of the biblical text. Not always, but a lot more than admitted. 

    What training I had emphasized the value of doing your own exegesis before opening up commentaries. I believe that matters more now than ever before even with the wealth of good commentaries available under my fingertips if I want them.

    The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter

  • Anthony Sims
    Anthony Sims Member Posts: 58 ✭✭

    Not all commentaries in a set are created equal.  Some sets have authors from different traditions...some have authors from the similar traditions, yet their views are still diverse.  I have found it helpful to look at the individual author/s rather than looking at the entire series.  Might help you, might not...?

  • David Paul
    David Paul Member Posts: 6,077 ✭✭✭

    The Concordia Commentaries are definitely technical and fairly evangelical. Underrated, in my opinion

    Overpriced leads to underrated...who knew?

    If Concordia had as many volumes as NICOT/NT, ICC, or AYB, it would be more expensive than any of them. I bought an old Libronix disk that had 15 of the volumes for $100, but if not for that, I doubt I would ever get it unless it becomes part of Lutheran Diamond or Portfolio.

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  • elnwood
    elnwood Member Posts: 487 ✭✭

    The Concordia Commentaries are definitely technical and fairly evangelical. Underrated, in my opinion

    Overpriced leads to underrated...who knew?

    If Concordia had as many volumes as NICOT/NT, ICC, or AYB, it would be more expensive than any of them. I bought an old Libronix disk that had 15 of the volumes for $100, but if not for that, I doubt I would ever get it unless it becomes part of Lutheran Diamond or Portfolio.

    They're expensive, but I'm not sure if I'd say that they're overpriced. If you've ever seen them in print, they're enormous! 464 pages on Ruth, 380 pages on Philemon, and a whopping 1344 pages on the Song of Songs!

    There have been times where no other commentary covered the verses I was studying in depth except for the Concordia one.

  • Veli Voipio
    Veli Voipio MVP Posts: 2,082

    Thousand thanks for all, this is really valuable info for me!

    I feel I have not heard about the Apollos commentary set, but looks good. It is from IVP and quite new, so would expect that it could be easy to port to Logos, and could sell well.

    Regarding to the Concordia OT commentary, I had underestimated it. I am Lutheran, so but for exegesis I've tried to avoid denominational commentaries

    Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11

  • Veli Voipio
    Veli Voipio MVP Posts: 2,082

    Unix said:Genesis: A Commentary by Waltke, Bruce K. and Fredricks, Cathi J.

    Tack så mycket, Unix, I´ll probably buy this right away, currently I am focusing to Genesis, studying and and speculating

    Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,194 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Unix said:

    Tack så mycket, Unix, I´ll probably buy this right away, currently I am focusing to Genesis, studying and and speculating

    Veli, I will second Unix's recommendation of that commentary. It is one of only two commentaries I've ever read all the way through, and I really liked it.  It's not very technical, but it gives a lot of wonderful insights. And Waltke is very much an evangelical. I had the pleasure of studying under him at Regent College and was his T.A. for one semester. Cathi Fredericks was another T.A. of his and she wrote the introduction to this book, based on Waltke's own class notes, and it is very clear and helpful.

  • Lee
    Lee Member Posts: 2,714 ✭✭✭

    Is it so that an evangelical view and highly professional scholarship are mutually exclusive? I think not.

    That does tend to be the case for the Hebrew Bible. The reasons for that are many.

    How about the EEC commentary set, very little information about it.

    EEC is still new. Hard to form a conclusion.

  • elnwood
    elnwood Member Posts: 487 ✭✭

    Unix said:

    Tack så mycket, Unix, I´ll probably buy this right away, currently I am focusing to Genesis, studying and and speculating

    Veli, I will second Unix's recommendation of that commentary. It is one of only two commentaries I've ever read all the way through, and I really liked it.  It's not very technical, but it gives a lot of wonderful insights. And Waltke is very much an evangelical. I had the pleasure of studying under him at Regent College and was his T.A. for one semester. Cathi Fredericks was another T.A. of his and she wrote the introduction to this book, based on Waltke's own class notes, and it is very clear and helpful.

    Now I'm curious, Rosie. For the woman who has almost every commentary in Logos, what's the other commentary you've read all the way through?

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,194 ✭✭✭✭✭

    elnwood said:

    Unix said:

    Tack så mycket, Unix, I´ll probably buy this right away, currently I am focusing to Genesis, studying and and speculating

    Veli, I will second Unix's recommendation of that commentary. It is one of only two commentaries I've ever read all the way through, and I really liked it.  It's not very technical, but it gives a lot of wonderful insights. And Waltke is very much an evangelical. I had the pleasure of studying under him at Regent College and was his T.A. for one semester. Cathi Fredericks was another T.A. of his and she wrote the introduction to this book, based on Waltke's own class notes, and it is very clear and helpful.

    Now I'm curious, Rosie. For the woman who has almost every commentary in Logos, what's the other commentary you've read all the way through?

    Eugene Peterson's First and Second Samuel (Westminster Bible Companion). I also read all the way through, with a fine-toothed comb (proof-reading, looking up every single footnote and Scripture cross-reference to make sure it was accurate), the chapter of Bruce Waltke's Proverbs commentary (NICOT) on Prov 8. I'm mentioned in the acknowledgments.

    And, for the record, I have 3162 resources of Type "Bible Commentary" [:)]

  • Veli Voipio
    Veli Voipio MVP Posts: 2,082

    I've put NICOT Genesis and ICC Genesis into my wish list, in the autumn I can buy them and then I can check and compare, maybe I can make some sort of synthesis out of them evangelical/technical [H] 

    Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11

  • elnwood
    elnwood Member Posts: 487 ✭✭

    I've put NICOT Genesis and ICC Genesis into my wish list, in the autumn I can buy them and then I can check and compare, maybe I can make some sort of synthesis out of them evangelical/technical Cool 

    It's not as good as it is in Logos, but ICC Genesis is also available for free in the Internet Archive.

    https://archive.org/details/acriticalandexeg00skinuoft

  • elnwood
    elnwood Member Posts: 487 ✭✭

    elnwood said:

    Now I'm curious, Rosie. For the woman who has almost every commentary in Logos, what's the other commentary you've read all the way through?

    Eugene Peterson's First and Second Samuel (Westminster Bible Companion). I also read all the way through, with a fine-toothed comb (proof-reading, looking up every single footnote and Scripture cross-reference to make sure it was accurate), the chapter of Bruce Waltke's Proverbs commentary (NICOT) on Prov 8. I'm mentioned in the acknowledgments.

    And, for the record, I have 3162 resources of Type "Bible Commentary" Smile

    Oh, I don't want to know how many commentaries you have in Logos. I want to know how many you don't have! [:D]

    Congratulations on the acknowledgement in Waltke's book. That's pretty awesome.