Bible Dictionary

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary is a great non-technical reference for those of us who like visuals. Most of Holman's reference works appear to be designed by a visual learner. [:)] I like charts, pictures, timelines & graphs. Holman does these very well.

Anchor isn't too technical to be enjoyed but it isn't as visually appealing.

The IVP collection gives you the biggest info bang for the buck.

Kolen Cheung

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/103864#Comment_103864

Thanks all.

The Anchor is not technical? But will it be lengthy? (comparing single volume to 6 volumes)

Thanks.

Kolen Cheung

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/103858#Comment_103858

You might get help from this thread which is discussing some of these -- http://community.logos.com/forums/t/13411.aspx.

Thanks for the post. The information is useful. But, I think that is about encyclopedia, right? What's the difference between Bible Dictionary and encyclopedia?

Thanks.

Amy Leung

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/103890#Comment_103890

Kolen, for what you want (a good one volume commentary and a good dictionary), I think you should seriously consider the Essential IVP Reference Collection. The IVP Dictionaries (Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, Dictionary of New Testament Background) are awesome resources and contain many mini-essays on the relevant topics. The NBC is a good one volume commentary. The IVP Background commentaries are really good and it is worth the price of the whole collection just for these two alone. (They were recommended to me by a preacher friend who always consulted them for her sermon preparation.) [:)] "Hard sayings of the Bible" is another gem, very insightful though I do not agree with everything that Kaiser Walter has to say.

These bible dictionaries (the IVP ones, Anchor, Eerdman's etc) are more than "dictionaries" in their usual sense. They offer not definitions but as I said they are really collections of mini-essays on the relevant topics.

Kolen Cheung

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/103906#Comment_103906

Thanks! I think I will buy the IVP collection.

By the way, I have a question on the New Bible Dictionary in the base package in this post. Do you have a clue?

Thanks.

Amy Leung

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/103908#Comment_103908

I don't have a hardcopy so I don't know about it, but it looks like they're not that important? But indices are missing in many resources, and sometimes they're very helpful (the scriptural indices of my Gesenius' Grammar and Figures of Speech used in the bible being some of them). Though there're some workarounds (e.g. the "cited by" tool) I'd be most grateful if Logos could consider retaining the indices in future resources.

Kolen Cheung

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/103913#Comment_103913

I think "How to use this Dictionary", "List of Animals", "List of Contributors", etc. are kind of important too. I suppose "How to use this Dictionary" will talk about the philosophy behind this particular Bible Dictionary, etc. It would be great to know it before read any entry of the dictionary.

Carmen Gauvin-O'Donnell

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/103917#Comment_103917

I really enjoy using the Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. I find I get an answer for pretty much anything I'm looking up.

The worst one, in my humble opinion, is the old Smith's Bible Dictionary which was the first dictionary I ever bought when I started studying the Bible. I never found *any entries* I was searching for!! [:P]