Criteria for Bible Commentary classification

Fred Chapman · October 2010

I have seen in the past that several users divide commentaries into categories (e.g. Academic, Intermediate, Exegetical, etc.) Does anyone have a list or know of a web site resource regarding what criteria is used to determine when a commentary or commentary series fits into one category or another. If no list was used, I would be interested in hearing feedback from users who have developed their own system of classification.

Thanks in advance for any and all who may provide input.

Friedrich · October 2010

Fred Chapman said:
Thanks in advance

. . . well, my input may not be much, so you can withhold thanks. I think Morris Procter had a list of some kind. I have not been to his new L4 workshops, but I would think he'd likely provide info for setting up those collections.

I personally find some of the classifications a little unhelpful (overlap between academic and exegetical, etc). But I don't have a better solution. Maybe:

Hard to glean much for all the Greek and Hebrew
Great illustrations!
The NIV Children's Bible gives me more insight
Stupid Theology
The Sweet Spot commentary

that's sort of how I look at them. [:)]

Mark Barnes · October 2010

I split mine up, and have posted them on the Wiki. My categories are:

Academic - Sufficiently credible to be used for PhD work (usually also sufficiently detailed for close-exegesis/background in preaching).
Intermediate - Not sufficiently detailed for PhD work, but still play close attention to the text. May include a minimal amount of exposition.
Expository - Usually re-written sermons, or commentaries geared primarily at application.
Historical - Anything before about 1950.

Some excellent commentaries end up in two categories (e.g. Calvin), but most just the one.

Diving them up really helps in preaching. Early on in preparing a message, I'll be focussing on the text and therefore the Academic commentaries. When I'm structuring my sermon and drawing out principles, I'll be spending most time with the intermediate commentaries. When I'm drawing to a close and just looking for a few illustrations or real practical ideas for application, I'll be reading the expository commentaries.

Fred Chapman · October 2010

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/177495#Comment_177495

Dan DeVilder said:

Hard to glean much for all the Greek and Hebrew
Great illustrations!
The NIV Children's Bible gives me more insight
Stupid Theology
The Sweet Spot commentary

Those tags would take a while to type out[;)]

Fred Chapman · October 2010

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/177497#Comment_177497

Mark Barnes said:
Academic - Sufficiently credible to be used for PhD work

Mark,

Thanks for your input. I think it may have been your sermon prep video series that originally introduced me to this type of classification system. I just never really took the time to do anything in my library with the idea.

I am interested in your criteria for academic resources. When you say "sufficiently credible" is that a subjective statement, or is the some objective criteria that you have picked up along the way?

Mark Barnes · October 2010

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/177504#Comment_177504

Fred Chapman said:
When you say "sufficiently credible" is that a subjective statement, or is the some objective criteria that you have picked up along the way?

It's a subjective assessment of objective criteria [;)]

The criteria is: Has this author demonstrated in this work that he has given sufficient attention to the detail of the text, and to historical/social/theological background, that post-graduate readers are obliged to treat his arguments with respect.

With my PhD work, I've read enough PhD's and other similar level books to know what commentaries others are using or citing as authoritative. In Logos, for convenience, I categorize by series (though I recognise that not all books within a series may meet the criteria). So that's:

Anchor Yale
BECNT
Continental
Eerdmans Critical
Hemeneia
ICC (recent ones)
JPS
NICOT/NICNT
NIGTC
Pillar
Socio-Rhetorical
WBC

I've manually added the following out of series commentaries:

Commentary on the NT use of the OT
Schnackenburg on Ephesians
Motyer on Isaiah

One other quick tip. You can create a collection of Unclassified commentaries that includes all your commentaries (type:commentary) then excludes the commentary collections you've added. It makes it really easy to see which ones you've missed.

Simon’s Brother · October 2010

Three direct sources I am using at the moment as I work through this issue and how I can make it work best for my work flow are(in no particular order):

a) Glynn's Commentaries and Reference Survey on Google Books. Chapter 2 in which he cover's commentary series (pp42-46) is fully readable on google books. There are later chapters which go into the more depth on Old & New Testament Commentaries by book, but only a few pages from these are previewable on google books.

b) MP Seminars has a downloadable list of commentary collections suggestions downloadable from the this page.

c) The wiki page which Mark has suggested (and put together I believe Philip Sptizer originally put together and Logos Community enhanced) is also is a good source for thinking about classifying your commentaries.

Some additional sources to look at:

Your Logos Library can be of assistance in search for reviews in journals and resources like New Testament Commentary Survey.
Take a look at Seminary/College web sties and see if they have lists of recommended commentaries and see if they use any classification scheme in these lists.

Francis · October 2010

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/177513#Comment_177513

Academic refers more to the sphere of influence. A work that has had great influence or is believed to have great potential is perceived as an authority with which the responsible scholar must reckon and possibly interact. This reveals a concern of the academia which may extend beyond the needs of a local minister or of the individual believer, that is, the academic etiquette is to interact with a wide spectrum of voices inasmuch as they are considered influential. For instance, in gospel studies, works from the Gospel Seminar are seen as needing to be included in the "conversation" in academic circle.

However, exegetical refers more to the degree of technicality of the commentary and particularly with its interaction at the level of the original language, structural studies, usually with attention to specific words, down to the verses or small groups of verses. Anything that is too bird's eye view of the text does not qualify as exegetical. But if it is advanced in theological considerations, it may be seen as academic.

Mark Barnes · October 2010

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/177530#Comment_177530

Andrew McKenzie said:
Glynn's Commentaries and Reference Survey on Google Books. Chapter 2 in which he cover's commentary series (pp42-46) is fully readable on google books. There are later chapters which go into the more depth on Old & New Testament Commentaries by book, but only a few pages from these are previewable on google books.

I bought Glynn's book on the strength of the preview, and have found it comprehensive and helpful. Also useful for evangelical preachers is Derek Thomas' The Essential Commentaries for a Preacher's Library, though it's a little harder to get hold of

Andrew McKenzie said:
The wiki page which Mark has suggested (and put together I believe) is also is a good source for thinking about classifying your commentaries.

I wish I could claim the credit [:)] Philip Spitzer initially added a few examples to the Wiki page on collections, and it grew from there until Todd moved them onto a separate page.

Simon’s Brother · October 2010

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/177535#Comment_177535

Mark Barnes said:

Andrew McKenzie said:
The wiki page which Mark has suggested (and put together I believe) is also is a good source for thinking about classifying your commentaries.

I wish I could claim the credit Philip Spitzer initially added a few examples to the Wiki page on collections, and it grew from there until Todd moved them onto a separate page.

Corrected.

Allen Browne · October 2010

FWIW, I use the following collections for commentaries. (The categories reflect Mo's suggestions.)

The first collection is my hand-picked favorites.
It comes up before others in My Passage Guide.
The numbering system just arranges them in order I want in Collections.

Commentary - 0. Top: (type:commentary OR mytag:commentary) AND Series:("Baker Exegetical","Word Biblical Commentary","Pillar New Testament","United Bible Societies","New International Greek Testament","The Bible Speaks Today","IVP Bible Background Commentary","Tyndale Commentaries","New American Commentary")
Commentary - 1. Language: (type:commentary OR mytag:commentary) AND (series:("United Bible Societies","New International Greek Testament") OR title:("Textual","Word Studies"))
Commentary - 2. Scholar/Critical: (type:commentary OR mytag:commentary) AND Series:("Baker Exegetical","Word Biblical Commentary","Pillar New Testament","Hermenica","New International Commentary")
Commentary - 3. Pastor/Exegetical: (type:commentary OR mytag:commentary) AND Series:("Baker New Testament Commentary","Believer's Church Bible Commentary","Bible Lessons International","The Bible Speaks Today","Holman New Testament Commentary","IVP Bible Background Commentary","New American Commentary","Tyndale Commentaries","Wiersbe's Expository","Works of H.A. Ironside","Pulpit Commentary") OR title:"Old Testament Survey Series"
Commentary - 4. Application/Devotional: (type:commentary OR mytag:commentary) AND (series:("Be Series","Opening Up Commentary") OR author:("Arthur Pink", "Max Lucado","Phillip McFadyen"))
Commentary - 6. single volume: type:commentary AND title:commentary ANDNOT title:(Luke,Corinthians,Textual,Index) ANDNOT series:(commentar, works)
Commentary - 7. old: (type:commentary OR mytag:commentary) AND (title:(Nicene,"Catena Aurea") OR series:("Pulpit Commentary","Horae Homileticae","Classic Commentaries"))
COMMENTARY: (type:commentary OR mytag:commentary)

There's probably better ways, that that works for what I currently need.

Rosie Perera · October 2010

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/177568#Comment_177568

Allen Browne said:
Commentary - 2. Scholar/Critical: (type:commentary OR mytag:commentary) AND Series:("Baker Exegetical","Word Biblical Commentary","Pillar New Testament","Hermenica","New International Commentary")

I'm guessing there's a major commentary in your Library that is missing from this collection. [:)]

"Hermenica" should be spelled "Hermeneia."