Looking for input on commentaries

Hi guys,

I'm looking into getting your input on a basic level commentary for Bible study and sermon prep. I had an order placed on the Tyndale series in pre-pub, but I would like to know how Zondevan's Expositor's commentary compares.

I could also upgrade my package to Silver which would get me the New American commentary for a good price.

For those who are familiar with those commentaries, what would you advise?

Jean

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Comments

Mark Smith

The Tyndale series is superior to Expositor's in my opinion. The NAC has some good volumes and since it covers a large portion of the Bible already, would be a good set to have. Upgrading to Silver is probably the best way to get the NAC. If you have to give up the Tyndale for the Silver upgrade I don't know which way I'd lean. Do you have plain Scholar's at this point? If so on the commentary side NAC is the reason for the upgrade. You'll get the Church Fathers collection as well, but I don't use that often.

Jean Maurais

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/58185#Comment_58185

That's correct. I have the plain Scholar's right now. If I upgraded, I would not purchased the Tyndale series, at least not for a while.

I have the Church Fathers as a PBB in Logos 3, so I'm not sure how much value this adds to the upgrade. I know I'd be getting more resources by upgrading, but at this point I'm just looking for input on the commentaries.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/58193#Comment_58193

In your case it would be a toss-up for me between having NAC or Tyndale. I'd definitely favor either one of those over Expositor's.

Todd Phillips

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/58193#Comment_58193

That's correct. I have the plain
Scholar's right now. If I upgraded, I would not purchased the Tyndale
series, at least not for a while.

I have the Church Fathers as a PBB in Logos 3, so I'm not sure how
much value this adds to the upgrade. I know I'd be getting more
resources by upgrading, but at this point I'm just looking for input on
the commentaries.

I'd go with Silver and the NAC because they have more depth (unless you really needed modern commentaries for the complete OT), and add Tyndale later.

In addition to NAC and ECF, Silver also gives you Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the OT, Pulpit Commentary, Holman New Testament Commentary, a couple of important systematic theologies, plus other things that may or may not be of interest.

Donovan R. Palmer

Jean,

You can also go to http://www.bestcommentaries.com to look at what others are saying about these sets. The NAC appears in the "best" list a number of times.

I also recommend buying or borrowing a copy of John Glynn's Commentary & Reference Survey (you can get it on Amazon or other online book sellers). If this book only helps you avoid making one bad purchase (bad in terms of it doesn't meet your needs), then it pays for itself. There are also commentary survey books by Carson and Longman, but if you only purchase one, buy John Glynn's book because it is a bit more broad and comprehensive (but more general as a consequence).

As far as going to Logos Silver, as others have said on here, you not only get the NAC, but you get some other things which are really useful.

The Essential IVP Reference Collection, which is on the Christmas special today only - http://www.12daysoflogos.com/the-essential-ivp-reference-collection-version-3/ is also worth every penny and worth serious consideration as an add-on for any Logos library. The Dictionaries are awesome and the background commentaries are pretty good as well.

HTH

Jean Maurais

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/58233#Comment_58233

Thanks for the suggestions Donovan. I did get the IVP bundle - it is quite a deal!

I find it difficult to get a good idea of a series as a whole on bestcommentaries.com. For example, Tyndale has 10 volumes in the "Best 2" section whereas NAC only has 3. Does this mean Tyndale is better? It certainly doesn't appear to be as in-depth. They do have John Glynn's list of recommended commentaries on there though.

Jean

Donovan R. Palmer

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/58296#Comment_58296

I find it difficult to get a good idea of a series as a whole on bestcommentaries.com. For example, Tyndale has 10 volumes in the "Best 2" section whereas NAC only has 3. Does this mean Tyndale is better? It certainly doesn't appear to be as in-depth. They do have John Glynn's list of recommended commentaries on there though.

The "best list" on bestcommentaries.com is probably an indicator that most commentary series have a handful of outstanding volumes, with the rest hopefully being good or average. What you see on this list is presumably the best of the best by the voting process on this website. I think that pretty much any series on this list is a worthy consideration for purchase in terms of overall quality, even if only three or four of it's volumes are on the list. That's not to say that there isn't a weak volume or two in any of these series, but that's the nature of buying a whole series together AND most of the time when you buy on a format like Logos, you don't have the option to buy only a few volumes.

John Glynn's list is on there, but one of the things he goes over in his book is the types of commentaries: technical, semi-technical, expository, devotional, etc. and on top of that some commentaries are conservative, moderate and liberal. So unfortunately, there are a number of angles to look at this from. Bestcommentaries willl go a long way towards showing you the differences. If you can get John's book, and even Carsons and Longmans, they will give you a lot more detail.

In regard to Tyndale or NAC being better than the other, I think it is a bit of a tie, with the tie breaker being personal preference. I probably slightly prefer the NAC when it comes to the two, but on any given day, I could be persuaded the other direction. If you can go to a Christian bookstore and look at paper volumes from each to compare, that might help you decide.

HTH