Top Catholic Bible Commentaries

MJ. Smith
MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 54,882
in Books and Courses Forum

I am trying to put together a list of recommended Bible commentaries for each of the ACELO churches ((high)Anglican-Catholic-East Orthodox-(high)Lutheran-Oriental Orthodox. I have used ChatGPT and Perplexity among my sources. This list is for Western Catholic resources:

  1. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS)
  2. Navarre Bible Commentary Series
  3. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible amazon
  4. Sacra Pagina New Testament Commentary Series
  5. Jerome Bible Commentary amazon
  6. Douay-Rheims Bible (Haydock edition)
  7. Berit Olam: Studies in Hebrew Narrative & Poetry
  8. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (Orchard Commentary)
  9. Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible
  10. International Bible Commentary (1998) amazon
  11. A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament
  12. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture
  13. The Church’s Bible
  14. The Golden Chain (Catena Aurea)

Do you have additions to the list, or would you remove something from the list? why?

Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

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  • NichtnurBibelleser
    NichtnurBibelleser Member Posts: 525 ✭✭✭
    edited February 23

    All in Logos:

    Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament (HThKAT)

    Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament (HThKNT)

    The Paulist Biblical Commentary

    Klaus Berger: Kommentar zum Neuen Testament

  • NichtnurBibelleser
    NichtnurBibelleser Member Posts: 525 ✭✭✭
  • NetworkGeek
    NetworkGeek Member Posts: 3,751 ✭✭✭
    edited February 23

    Pretty good list, one could quibble about the order, but they are all good I think.

    There are some you don't have. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible was sold for awhile I guess, I don't see it now in the store? I have NT plus Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

    I like Little Rock Catholic Study Bible, not on your list. The Kingdom Series is excellent (Edward Sri, Tim Gray, Michael Barber, etc.) but it's only Matt, Luke, Acts, and Rev.

    I like having some of the older commentaries down the list too - Fathers of the Church, Aquinas, Cornelius.

    This is my Prioritized list of commentaries:

    Screenshot 2025-02-23 at 7.01.12 AM.png
  • ASUNDER
    ASUNDER Member Posts: 253 ✭✭✭

    What's your methodology for recommendations?

    I'm actually curious, having some catholic books now myself.
    As in, I don't even know who would is considered the authority to recommend catholic things. ?

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 54,882
    edited March 6

    What's your methodology for recommendations?

    Mine is > 1/2 century of listening to priests, religious studies/philosophy professors, seminary professors from GTU Berkeley including Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic, and Presbyterian professors who were particularly influential for me. Plus decades of liturgical coordination, faith formation involvement, development of small group Bible study materials … There are priests, deacons, seminarians, lay leaders on the forums whose opinion I value. Because there are 30 or so Catholic rites (Western, Byzantine, and Oriental) and hundreds of orders with different emphases (Franciscan, Dominican, Jesuit, Cistercian, …) except for a handful of resources that are foundational, recommendations are personalized. What NOT to read is more easily defined.

    What I was taught were the basics for Western Catholics: Bible, Ott, Denzinger, Jurgen, and the Catechism. Ott is no longer available in English in Verbum. Denzinger is an old edition, Jurgen and the Catechism are available,

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • ASUNDER
    ASUNDER Member Posts: 253 ✭✭✭
    https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1361283#Comment_1361283

    Ok. Your recommendations then.

    I was thinking there was some kind of catholic prominent figure that said, "I recommend this book".
    (I have no idea if there is or not, just curious). Like the Logos software is recommended by a bunch of third-party people, etc.

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