Expositor's Bible Commentary -- Original vs. Revised

I a pretty sure I am going to have to pass on this one. I have the the first version and like it.  This revised edition seems like they rewrote large portions of it.  If so, then it seems to be YAC (Yet Another Commentary).  That's not a bad thing, but I see nothing really telling me why I would want this one over the other or even as a companion. 

Thanks Jesse [:)]

Pavel Škoda said:

Is this final price or just "intorductory" price (which is going to be set higer after some time)?

Prepub prices always go up when the product ships (except in the few cases where there's no discount to start with). 

I just bought the original for fear it will be pulled out of print. It is disappointing to see they have not included the first volume of introductory articles in the new edition. Some very fine articles are in it. 

David Kirk Davis said:

I just bought the original for fear it will be pulled out of print. It is disappointing to see they have not included the first volume of introductory articles in the new edition. Some very fine articles are in it.

I just noticed that. I have both editions, but am surprised they didn't include the Introductory Articles, especially since the Revised Edition has 13 volumes and not 12 as the original had. Of course, # volumes may not mean anything; they could have used larger print in the print edition of the Revised Edition, thus necessitating an additional volume. As best as I can tell, the Introductory Articles aren't included or repeated (even in revised form) anywhere in the Revised Edition set.

DAL said:

This is one of the reasons why I believe the old version will not go out of print, because the introductory articles sort of set it apart from the new revised version of the commentary.  Personally, I would add the new revised edition, but I think it's too expensive compared to the old one; hence, I'm so happy and content with my old version, which by the way, does have the introductory articles which are extremely helpful :-)

DAL

Maybe an updated Introductory Articles volume will be included in the Third Edition, which we'll probably see in about 2030 [:P] (which I won't have to worry about purchasing; of course, if they detect a market for it, they might do something like that sooner - money talks).

It's probably expecting/asking too much to think Zondervan/Logos might sell Volume 1 of the original edition as a stand-alone - but maybe they would as an add-on for owners or purchasers of the Revised Edition. [:D]

James Milne Smith said:

I compared the old and the new versions side by side in a book store and found little difference. This commentary set is the one I use most by far.

I trusted the advertising blurb re: how much had been revised:

"Now complete and available in a 13-volume set, this thoroughly revised edition of The Expositor's Bible Commentary includes the work of fifty-six contributors, thirty of whom are new." (Amazon.com)

but perhaps they're more duplicative than implied.

You are probably right. I just looked at a few passages at random.

Dan Francis said:

. But I do feel the EBC R is over all an improvement.

-Dan

I feel that $459.95 is too expensive for a revised version, when the original costs $129.  I'd probably pay $200 or $250 at the most (and that's pushing it), but over 400 that's in my opinion too much.  Plus, they took away the introductory articles which are very helpful.  

DAL

Logos had an upgrade price for owners of the original. I paid $297.67 including 8.25% tax = $274.99 + tax. I got the original for $84.42 including tax as a Pradis user during the original promotion. So $382.09 including tax is reasonable for both.

Is this commentary still worth the price (even with the March Madness discount) if you have the original set.  Will there be any further discounts if you own the original set?

John Brumett said:

Is this commentary still worth the price (even with the March Madness discount) if you have the original set.  Will there be any further discounts if you own the original set?

when the deal goes live, I don't think you will get a better price on this for a longtime. I have been watching this set for years to pick it up. It never goes on sale. Not that I have ever noticed. When it does go live, it will be less than the pre-pub it seems.

Also, didn’t the volume on John by Andreas Kostenberger get removed for plagiarism? I guess people really forgot about this important detail when they voted, because this fact really takes away from the value of the set!

DAL

scooter said:

It says Mounce does John.

I don’t see the John volume listed. Hmm 🤔 

Paul Lee said:

DAL said:

Also, didn’t the volume on John by Andreas Kostenberger get removed for plagiarism? I guess people really forgot about this important detail when they voted, because this fact really takes away from the value of the set!

DAL

Revised EBC volume on John was written by Robert H Mounce (inside the Luke-Act volume.) The original EBC was written by Merrill C. Tenney.  REBC was not affected by this problem.

Rick Ausdahl said:

John Brumett said:

Is this commentary still worth the price (even with the March Madness discount) if you have the original set.  Will there be any further discounts if you own the original set?

So back to John's question.  Any more thoughts on the value of getting the Revised set at this MM price if you already own the original set?

I have the original EBC in Logos, and I bought the revised EBC in OliveTree for $229 two years ago. At the time, Logos resource pricing was just ridiculously high, and I started buying resources from Olive Tree, if there is a large pricing differential.  Having the opportunities to use both versions, I find that the new version gives deeper insight and interact with current scholarship discussion. A good example are the commentaries on Jonah 2, Jonah's prayer inside the big fish. The original EBC basically rephrase the prayer and discuss how important prayer is when we are in trouble.  The newer EBC interacts with the current literary critics that notice that Jonah's prayer is not sincere:

-----------------------------

8–9 Jonah vows to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the Lord’s rescue of him. An important issue in this chapter is the question of whether or not this psalm implies that Jonah has repented and is now a willing prophet. Upon examination of the psalm, I do not find a single line that suggests Jonah has recognized the error of his ways and is anxious to pack his bags and head for Nineveh. In fact, he sees his destination as the temple.
Furthermore, the attitude he demonstrates in ch. 4 suggests the contrary is true. The lesson Jonah seems to have learned is not that it is wrong to disobey the Lord and try to escape one’s commission, but rather that it is fruitless. Jonah, I would suggest, is not repentant but resigned to the facts: He is going to Nineveh one way or the other. The Lord will not even allow Jonah’s death to interfere with this mission. So while Jonah is clearly thankful that his life has been saved, the fact that no repentance is mentioned in ch. 2 and the persistence of his bad attitude in ch. 4 suggest that this is the same Jonah who fled for Tarshish. He has simply been shown that this is one assignment he cannot shirk.
The concluding statement, “Salvation comes from the Lord,” is important to the book’s continuing development of its theme. Though the line reflects on Jonah’s experience, it also describes the experience of the sailors and, more importantly, the outcome of the mission to Nineveh.
10 Even the fish cannot stomach this self-righteous, false piety, and in its divinely ordained regurgitation of Jonah it perhaps expresses God’s opinion of Jonah’s prayer. The text does not state where Jonah is “dropped off” by the fish; the logical implication, however, is that Jonah is right back near Joppa where he started. Reluctant obedience has instructive value, and Jonah now has the opportunity to demonstrate that he has learned at least this part of the lesson. So off he goes to Nineveh.

(From Revised EBC Jonah 2.)

-------------------------

Whether to get R-EBC if you have original EBC depends on the following: your budget, whether there are alternative resources you want to purchase, how many other commentaries you have, and how much you have been using the original EBC in Logos. If you have NICOT/NT and you have been using NICOT/NT over EBC, I would not bother unless you have a lot of cash.  If you use EBC all the time, then getting the R-EBC at this price makes sense.  If you have another resource that you want to buy and your budget is limited, then you need to compare which resource gets more bang for the bucks: consider buying NICOT/NT or NIVAC instead.  If you are a book collector and money is no object, then of course you would buy it.

So it all depends.

For someone who does not own either the original or revised version, which one is a better buy?

Dan Francis said:

If you review this thread you will find a wide discussion of the pros and cons of each set...  Over all the revised is an improvement but the loss of volume one's articles is sad. Also many of the replaced commentaries in their own right are very good. Given The price difference I would go for the EBC but I do own both.

-dan

Thanks for the advice! 

Friedrich said:

anybody know how to? contact me...

I have sent you a message in Faithlife. I have a Pradis 6 application that can install under Windows 10.  I just used it this week to copy from Pradis and paste into a L8 note for the sermon I am preaching tomorrow.