Resource Suggestions for Series on the Whole Bible
I am doing a Bible study at church and my online channel that goes along with the NLT Chronological Bible plan. Each week, I teach on the major themes, context, and more complicated passages from that week’s readings. I am having to process an extremely large amount of information in a short time. I’ve been teaching through the Bible academically for several years, but I still have to refresh my memory and make sure that I cover issues specific to my mission.
My current workflow is this:
I use the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Notes to quickly refresh my memory on contextual issues.
I use Hill and Walton’s A Survey of the Old Testament and Collins’ Introduction to the Hebrew Bible and Deutero-Canonical Books for book specific introductory material and overviews of technical issues.
I then use the NIVAC to read through, supplemented with other commentaries as cited or needed for deeper clarification.
I use the IVP Black Dictionaries, Anchor Bible, and Dictionary of Deities and Demons for specific topics or subjects.
My question is this: If you were teaching through the whole Bible, focusing on background and cultural information, and covering a lot of material once each week, what would be your go-to resources.
The Lexham Research Commentaries are pretty ideal, but they aren’t available for most of the Old Testament. I like how they summarize major views and point me directly to the information in the source material.
I have a large library heavily focused on academic works, which is really part of the problem. I have information overload, and I need to whittle it down to a handful of resources that I can consult that will get me to the information I need quickly and efficiently.
Disclaimer: I hate using messaging, texting, and email for real communication. If anything that I type to you seems like anything other than humble and respectful, then I have not done a good job typing my thoughts.
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Joseph Turner said:
If you were teaching through the whole Bible, focusing on background and cultural information, and covering a lot of material once each week, what would be your go-to resources.
Other than AB, which you already mentioned... Catholic Bible Dictionary, The Catholic Introduction to the Bible: Old Testament, the Socio-Rhetorical Commentary Series (for the NT), the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (for the NT), the JPS Tanakh Commentary (for what it covers), and probably some other things that don't come to mind right now.
And yes, the Catholic resources I referred to above are, I believe, also useful to non-Catholics engaged in projects like the one you delineate, much like the Jewish ones given are.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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SineNomine said:
And yes, the Catholic resources I referred to above are, I believe, also useful to non-Catholics engaged in projects like the one you delineate, much like the Jewish ones given are.
I completely agree, and I have all of those you mentioned, but I'm hoping for some suggestions of resources that are more concise, or that offer summaries of issues and information. I'll look at the Catholic introduction.
Honestly, I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, so I'm hoping someone will have a suggestion that hits the nail on the head.
Disclaimer: I hate using messaging, texting, and email for real communication. If anything that I type to you seems like anything other than humble and respectful, then I have not done a good job typing my thoughts.
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Joseph Turner said:SineNomine said:
And yes, the Catholic resources I referred to above are, I believe, also useful to non-Catholics engaged in projects like the one you delineate, much like the Jewish ones given are.
I completely agree, and I have all of those you mentioned
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Joseph Turner said:I'm hoping for some suggestions of resources that are more concise, or that offer summaries of issues and information. I'll look at the Catholic introduction.
Other than the Catholic Introduction to the Bible: OT, which I honestly think everyone should have (i.e., would benefit from having) in their library, the Catholic Bible Dictionary's articles on each book of the Bible is probably your best bet from my list. In general, I find the CBD quite handy--and very concise.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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I use Carson & Beale’s Commentary on the NT use of the OT and the Zondervan and IVP Bible Background Commentaries (all in Logos). They often open up other avenues but capture the important stuff in a fairly concise way. These commentaries are also useful in that, if they don’t have anything to say on a particular verse, they don’t feel a need to say anything!
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For NT background and context I have found Barclay's The Daily Study Bible series to be surprisingly informative.
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Thanks GregW and John for the suggestions. I do use Beale for the OT background of the NT, and the IVP volumes are helpful, but the NIV Cultural Study Bible is based on the same notes. I do switch back and forth.
I will look into They Daily Study Bible.
Disclaimer: I hate using messaging, texting, and email for real communication. If anything that I type to you seems like anything other than humble and respectful, then I have not done a good job typing my thoughts.
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