you may want to start here and find which commentaries fit your particular needs best.
http://www.logos.com/commentaries/multivolume
Welcome to the Logos community.
The selection of a commentary depends on a number of factors. Maybe you can help us by telling us:
What are your needs and what is your budget?
What do you want to use Logos for? Personal study, preparation of lessons or sermons, writing???
What is your training level? Do you have any original languages training?
I just figured it out... I had a less then sign that was apparently interpreted as an attempt at a tag. Whoops! Editing original post to resolve it.
Group bible study prep, writing of in depth studies, and in depth personal study. I have 1 year of attic greek and working on exercising and growing my koine greek, no hebrew, a little german, no coptic I'd like to keep the budget under $400 over all, but I could cover 80% in the near term for that, and fill in the gaps over time.
NICOT/NICNT is the best! [:)] But seriously, what about the new Tyndale series in the pre-pub? http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/5310
You may want to look into the Tyndale Commentary Series, currently on Prepub http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/5310
I've used a few OT and NT volumes and like them. They're relatively short, but the ones I have used are thorough and helpful.
You may want to look into the Tyndale Commentary Series, currently on Prepub http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/5310 I've used a few OT and NT volumes and like them. They're relatively short, but the ones I have used are thorough and helpful.
The testimony of two is true... [H]
Commentary choices are very personal. You have some excellent possibilities to choose from in Logos.
I would recommend that you spend some time in some friend's library or a bookstore sitting down and reading passages to see which is the best fit for what style and depth you want.
Although it is handy to have a full set available, most sets vary some in quality from volume to volume. You will stil find that there are some individual volumes that excel.
Logos offers the best values on full sets (even if individual volumes are available).
Pre-pubs are the best buy. Put your order in early because the price will normally rise before release.
Assuming you don't need a commentary that deals directly in Greek and Hebrew, the Tyndale set would be my first choice for your use. Unfortunately it is not as in depth as you might want. The NICOT/NICNT is double what you have to spend and is not complete, but is definitely more in depth. The New American Commentary is not complete but worth looking at on Amazon (if you can look inside). You don't need the ICC, Hermeneia, The NIGNTC series, the Word Biblical Commentary, Preacher's, Pulpit, and a number of others. You will enjoy Tyndale and get much good from it. Use the extra funds to pick up a good Bible dictionary (ISBE Revised or Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary) and the IVP Reference Collection. You can do some good study with these and produce some fine small group studies.
BTW: for Greek you need a good lexicon and there is none better that what is known as BDAG (the third edition of a classic). See if you can purchase that if you don't have it and are serious about using Libronix's Greek tools.
Mike,
Another good choice for N.T. commentaries is the Bible Speaks Today collection. You'll get a good number of commentaries written by John R.W. Stott. He is just excellent. He provides depth and is readable and relevant.
Bill
I think the NAC commentary series offers some great coverage.Especially when some additional volumes are added (completing genesis,chronicles, exodus...). However, I would upgrade to the logos scholarssilver package if you were thinking of this when a 20% off discountcomes your way...
I love both the BECNT and the PNTC sets. Each has some great commentaries and a couple of more average (yet okay) ones.
Unfortunately $400 isn't going to get you a near complete collection. I think this is probably an unrealistic expectation. If you can see yourself using a smaller set that would suit the direction your church would be studying in the next years, then I'd recommend something like BECNT.
On the other hand if you want something more complete, try "The Expositor's Bible Commentary". Unfortunately this isn't on Logos and the version on prepub is an older version. This should be on Logos!! Keep praying for that Zondervan connection to happen everyone!!
Another alternative I'd recommend is getting the IVP Collection. It includes great items such as the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, New Bible Commentary..etc
Maybe you could then add the Bible Speaks Today series to this? Total cost ~$329... Then save for something better... I'd recommend this option if you can't stretch the budget (remember what doing this in print versions would cost!)
Assuming you don't need a commentary that deals directly in Greek and Hebrew, the Tyndale set would be my first choice for your use. Unfortunately it is not as in depth as you might want. The NICOT/NICNT is double what you have to spend and is not complete, but is definitely more in depth. The New American Commentary is not complete but worth looking at on Amazon (if you can look inside). You don't need the ICC, Hermeneia, The NIGNTC series, the Word Biblical Commentary, Preacher's, Pulpit, and a number of others. You will enjoy Tyndale and get much good from it. Use the extra funds to pick up a good Bible dictionary (ISBE Revised or Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary) and the IVP Reference Collection. You can do some good study with these and produce some fine small group studies. BTW: for Greek you need a good lexicon and there is none better that what is known as BDAG (the third edition of a classic). See if you can purchase that if you don't have it and are serious about using Libronix's Greek tools.
Yes, I would support this advice. For the Bible Dictionary I have both Anchor and ISBE Revised and I found ISBE very satisfying. Anchor is great of course, but ISBE serves excellent it's purpose.
One additional thought. Every time I looked at the NAC I was pleased with the fair level of that series. Since I have it in Golden Library, somehow I tend to forget it (when you pay a big money for a separate series, you KNOW you have it). You might find some useful information on commentaries here http://www.bestcommentaries.com/ There is also info there on the availability of those commentaries in Logos.
I would also give the tyndale series a strong reconemndation, but would suggest to help balance things out some things a couple that you may want to add in One volume comentaries are Believers Bible commentary which is a wonderful one volume commentary with a very devotional nature to it.I would also recomend the Harpers Bible Commentary, many will find this item far too liberal but it s a good genral commentary to offer a bit of varying opinion and also covers the apocryphal books of the bible giving you a bit more information on intertestamental literature which is occasionally comes up. This should give you a blanced set without breaking the budget.
-Dan
Thanks to everyone who put in their 2 cent or $400 [:D]
I have decided to go with the IVP CD and Tyndale. I'm also looking at the price to upgrade from scholar's to gold for the commentaries alone. Just don't know (yet) how much it will cost.
I already have a number of the older NT and OT Tyndale's in print and they're sufficient and will go OK with the IVP OT and NT full commentaries.
In full disclosure: I have a number of the NICOT, NICNT, WBC, NIVAC, BST, and NIGTC commentaries in print that I use on a daily basis. Anchor Bible Dictionary is fantastic and I have it in another format, just can't bring myself to pay for it yet again.
Thanks,
Mike
Mike, I think you made very good choices with the criteria you set.
IVP Reference Collection is all good.Tyndale Commentary is excellent for lesson preparation.Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary is worth duplicating in Logos . The instant search and linking is priceless.
You can get an upgrade price for Scholar Gold by logging in to Logos.com go to the "Products" tab and look under the Scholar Gold box for the "upgrade" button. That will tell you how much and offer other titles you don't have. (You have to be logged in.) Also, maybe a salesman (Dave Kaplan) can help you.
One other commentary that is useful for teachers is Everyman's Bible Commentary Series (44 Vols.) on Pre-Pub http://www.logos.com/products/prepub/details/5148 .
-Sell all your hardbacks to help upgrade to Scholar's Gold.-Seriously consider adding NICOT/NICNT later for deeper study. You'll never exhaust it.
I'm looking for a good commentary series. I heard both good & bad about Tyndale Commentary. Someone told me that Tyndale is a bit old & with life application. Is that true?
IVP Reference is on my wish list for sometimes, just wait for a discount.
Maniel
The Tyndale is a good set with almost no application. It is exegetical not expositional. There are still quite a few volumes from the original series, but many replacements and revisions have been made in recent years. You will not find all the latest theories addressed in these volumes, but that really isn't their purpose. They are meant to be compact and accessible for laypersons, not scholarly commentaries addressing all new scholarly issues.
I don't know what your idea of a good price is, but you can get the IVP Reference Collection for a pretty good price if you shop around some of the Christian Bible study software stores on the Internet. I've seen it for about $100 recently.
Mark,
Thanks for your suggestion. Any commentary which is good for laypersons and with application? Someone suggests NIV Life commentary series, but it is not in Logos format.
The commentaries by Warren Wiersbe are very good as are those by Kent Hughes and Montgomery. The latter two do not cover the entire bible.
Newsflash - all Zondervan products to head to Libronix!
Checkout all the titles that are on pre-pub now including the Expositors which is an excellent commentary for a lay person!
Expositors is a good recommendation. It is more expository than Tyndale. The two together would be a nice set for many lay persons. The price for Expositors makes this extra compelling.
I bought the Scholar's Library which gave quite a selection of commentaries. After using it for a while, there was a lot of similarity between them around the interpretation of biblical passages.
The JPS set of commentaries give a different perspective altogether because they come from a Judaic point of view. Often thought provoking and if judiciously applied, definitely resulting in a more "rounded" view. Although covering only OT books, its surprising how often the OT is referred to by NT writers so JPS is useful in helping to understand why the NT writer chose that piece of scripture to reference.
Knowing what I know now, I wonder if it would have been more cost effective to pick up a couple of the most commonly recommended Christian commentaries (say IVP Essential Collection) and then augment them with the JPS Tanakh Commentaries? HTH
getting in a little late on this discussion, but I agree with some of these comments:
