Trick answer cannot be none - thanks for your replies.
I'm, genuinely, unsure how the "Baptist seminarian" aspect would change things here.
As a Baptist minister, I most frequently use NIC, PNTC, NAC, WBC, Preaching the Word and find them all useful.
Is there something more behind the question?
If you're a Southern Baptist and/or you want to play it safe - NAC
If you have the money and you want to go futher, NICOT and NICNT
If you are short of cash but are prepared to be more adventurous, but sometimes confused - WBC
If you want to be challenged at every turn - AB, Hermeneia
Of course you must have Calvin's commentary : )
I would also suggest that you look at the Expositors Bible Commentary.
Merry Christmas!
I've been impressed by NAC and use it a lot. If you are a seminarian though I suggest you make use of the academic discount and get a variety from different perspectives. Consider something you are likely to disagree with too - it helps you to have something to preach about if you have something to stretch/challenge you. Perhaps a catholic commentary or hermania/continental?
Hello Graham (Rev.) and others.
Thanks for your guidance, replies and posts.
Nothing behind my question and no hidden agenda....just a desire to use my budget/dollars wisely within Logos.
Happy New Year everyone.
A hopeful assistant pastor (redeemed servant) wannabee (God willing) in Rhode Island
Hello Graham (Rev.) and others. Thanks for your guidance, replies and posts. Nothing behind my question and no hidden agenda....just a desire to use my budget/dollars wisely within Logos. Happy New Year everyone. A hopeful assistant pastor (redeemed servant) wannabee (God willing) in Rhode Island
Josh - it's worth checking out base packages because you'll very often get commentary sets much cheaper this way. Baptist Silver and above have the NC series, which (as a non-Baptist) I find one of the more consistent series - most commentary sets have very good and some less helpful volumes. Baptist Gold and above also has the IVP series, as well as some other useful commentaries. WBC and NICNT/OT volumes can be bought individually and I started out with WBC by just buying the volume that was relevant to my Exegesis class. Individual titles bought count towards Dynamic pricing if you later want to complete the set.
Curious how many of you make us of commentaries even as seasoned preachers and pastors?
Feel free to reitarate which one you pull down or up often especially if its in Logos.
oops typo....should read
Curious how many of you make use of commentaries even as seasoned preachers and pastors?
Feel free to tell us which one you pull down or up often especially if its located in or on Logos.
If you're a Southern Baptist and/or you want to play it safe - NAC If you have the money and you want to go futher, NICOT and NICNT
I'd agree with that. But I'd add Pillar and Baker Exegetical as alternatives to NICNT, and Tyndale/Bible Speaks Today as great value intermediate commentaries.
... I'd add Pillar and Baker Exegetical as alternatives to NICNT, and Tyndale/Bible Speaks Today as great value intermediate commentaries.
Absolutely.
But I'd add Pillar and Baker Exegetical as alternatives to NICNT
That sounds good but how about NICOT - any alternative(s)?
What John Goodman said. The thing with a Baptist going to a Baptist seminary choosing a Baptist commentary is that it's an exercise in confirmation bias. I'm speaking as an ex-Southern Baptist-now-Catholic-convert who used to insulate himself from contrary or alternative positions.
This comment is mainly for those who have recommended NICNT above.
I was kind of considering or thinking about buying the New International Commentary series (both Old and New Testaments) next year when I will be finishing with the monthly payments for my Gold Standard package. I am not really a Baptist right now, but from a doctrinal stand point, I am very close to it. After studying the Bible alone for many years, somehow I found this NIC book about the Gospel of John from an author named Leon Morris (who was from the traditional Anglican movement in the old good days), and I feel this book was a blessing for me. So this is why I was considering the NIC series and I came to this particular forum thread.
When searching for the other NIC books, I found out that the author for 1 Corinthians was somebody with the name of Gordon D. Fee (along with two other books), who in the paper edition of the book I mentioned above, this author seems to be also the editor in chief of the series since 1990. However, I found out that this distinguished scholar is associated with the Assemblies of God, which would typically hold a different doctrine about the role spiritual gifts play today as most Baptist would understand it. Now, let me clarify here that I respect most different views than my own, and I appreciate the fact that this person (I found out later) wrote a book against Prosperity Gospel teachings (I doctrine I strongly consider to be anti-biblical). However, he is still in the other side of this difficult and often divisive topic -- and I don't mean to make it even more divisive here that's not in my agenda , but I don't quite understand the basis of recommending this particular commentary series, especially when the author of a commentary about 1 Corinthians hold different views on interpretation (and please let me know if I am wrong on this one); unless, of course, this recommendation is based on the grounds of examining "everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good".
Blessings,
Carlos, have you read enough Gordon D. Fee to know the quality of his scholarship or the degree to which his personal beliefs bias his scholarship in the context of a Bible commentary series? No series is going to be theologically pure but it is reasonable to assume that a trained preacher will be able to detect theological bias and inappropriate conclusions.
Just a suggestion. Gordon Fee does have a couple of "How to read the Bible" titles available on Logos. They are under $15 each. Perhaps one of those would inexpensively provide sufficient insight to address your questions mentioned above. He also has other single volumes available.
In regard to NICOT/NT: I purchased this series last month on sale and am pleased with what I have read so far. Previous to this I did own the NICOT set on Isaiah by Oswald in hardback. I have not specifically read anything by Fee from the series but expect that his scholarship will live up to the level of the series. If there are things I am not sure of or disagree with in any book I am free to set them aside or study further in order to "rightly divde the word of truth."
God Bless!
Anne
I like this TEACH THE TEXT series but its expensive in (hard) book format and not inexpensive on Logos.Maybe I will wait til the whole set is available.
MJ Smith, I just assumed that a Baptist seminary student, with limited resources, going to a Baptist section of the Logos forum, would be interested on something close to his own interpretation of the Holy Bible for his future sermons (and I believe I already wrote that it’s also my opinion that we should read from diverse topics and authors). My intention was not to demonize Gordon D. Fee, who I even called a “distinguished scholar” (in his own right) and whom I even praised for one particular book about his position about Prosperity gospel teachings. My intention was instead to evaluate the wisdom of spending $1,700 in a publication series which probably would be not close enough to what the recommendation sought by the original poster, considering the facts that there are MANY other good options here at Logos for such a major life investment (I also said that one particular book of this series was very useful for me but now there are two books on the Gospel of John). I personally would love to see this author’s commentaries on Chapter 13 and 14 of the 1st Corinthians commentaries book to be able to evaluate better this author’s position on this important topic (this topic on spiritual gifts is important for me, a non-Baptist Christian evangelical and for many other Orthodox Christian Evangelicals is also a very important topic especially due the fact that the Charismatic/Pentecostal interpretation of spiritual gifts have been around only about 100 years), and possibly I will be buying this series next year (yes I also read books from authors with different views but usually I spend much more time studying the Bible and reading books/articles I consider to be God inspired). This particular commentary (on 1st Corinthians by Mr. Fee) is the most recommended book in this particular part of the Bible (1st Corinthians) by another website’s readers. This is not necessarily good or bad news, but considering the fact that there were almost 600 million people in the world in 2011 (according to a Pew Poll in that year) who are in the Charismatic/Pentecostal movement (both Catholics and Christian Evangelicals), I would not be really surprised to find out that many of these readers recommended a book from an author who holds similar views. Last comment, there is a reason why publishers write about their authors in the back of many books, and they usually mention something about the authors' work background, education, and religious and/or political associations. This is something I always read, and I don’t think I am an exception on this. I didn’t mean to start a debate here (although I believe that doctrine is very, extremely important especially when I see all the things that are going on in the world), and I think that this author could also use our prayers because from what I’ve read in Wikipedia, he had to retire a few years ago due to some health issues.
Thank you Anne for your kind answer. I will consider your suggestion too.
As a once "Baptist Seminarian" and now Baptist pastor who has purchased several sets in both Logos and Hardback form, I would encourage you to not buy sets of commentaries at all. Instead go to www.bestcommentaries.com and start buying the best one or two commentaries for each book of the Bible. The reality is that no set of commentaries are perfect, all of them have strong and weak volumes. So instead of taking the good with the bad, just pick up the best ones as you can. Then add sets as you have more money. It will cost a little more, but it will serve you much better as a student and pastor.
I'd like to mention two new sources (new for me at least) I found from my last comment. The first two links comes from a Logos customized package that Dallas Theological Seminary, in partnership with the Logos Bible company, put together for all of its students:
1) Main page of resources: http://www.dts.edu/logos/?adsource=HomeRotator_Logos and the complete list: http://www.dts.edu/download/student/DTS-Logos-Student-Resources.pdf. Many of these commentaries are classical and a few commercial. I think it's also a good idea to consider reading the other materials included here and not only Bible commentaries.
2) The second list is for those who would also like to consider recommendations for each specific book in the Bible. I also found it from reading BestCommentaries.com's reviews in several Bible books. Here it's where I mentioned that Mr. Fee's book comes as the number one on 1st Corinthians, and please read my comments above about the top recommended commentary Bible book in this website, which is not necessarily a personal endorsement for this website or book (as I mentioned above in my both previous comments in this forum thread), but one place that can be useful to go if you'd like to see what's popular right now as judged by the number of votes from Christians in different and differing denominations. While reading this particular website, I read about Keith Mathison's Ligonier Ministries recommended book. He recommends the top 5 commentaries on each book, and you can find a link to this resource here: http://www.ligonier.org/blog/top-commentaries-on-every-book-of-the-bible/.
Please notice that although neither of these resources are Baptist, they are doctrinally associated with mainstream Baptists pastors and authors. This is simply my opinion (especially on the second resource I mentioned above), but anybody is welcome to disagree with me.
At the end JoshInRi (and to any other who may be reading my own comments in this forum), however, please remember that the best thing to do when choosing a book to read, within any Christian publication or author, is to look for the direction of the Holy Spirit when praying and reading the Bible. I know this is pretty basic, and I hope nobody gets offended (I am not trying to lecture the many experienced pastors and ministers here in this forum), but one thing that one should never, ever replace is reading the Bible daily for any other book, even any Christian book or commentary (and here the double negation means an emphasis not do do something and not a positive statement). It's my opinion that in any given day, we should either read the Bible alone (especially when we are pressed on time); or read the Bible and (not or) any other Christian publication; but never read on any day other Christian publication without the Bible (I know most Bible commentaries also include portions of the Bible, but still I think we should dedicate some time to Bible reading without external influences, but with meditation and prayer). The Bible is the only source source we can be 100% sure it is 100% inspired by the Spirit of God.
CMC
Carlos - I appreciate your reply!I am a Baptist from cradle roll, attending a baptist seminary for my masters degree, and am the assoc pastor (though within the month will likely be the sr pastor) of a baptist church. Perhaps we should consider the typical Logos Forum user perspective when considering their advice. We are by and large all owners of more than one base package, which means we have many many many commentaries in our libraries (will update this part with my count after I post). We generally see value in reading the positions of people we disagree with. This prevents position bias, and quite frankly the theological weirdos sometimes ask questions that are interesting and (while we likely won't agree with the weirdos in their conclusions) help us further refine our own position(s). That is not to say AOG are weirdos, nor is it intended as a slight to the author; good scholarship is good scholarship. The only caveat being that if an individual doesn't know or else hasn't been trained in the baptist position (or as my professors would say the scriptural position), then one might consider a baptist leaning (or outright baptist) commentary on those titles. Danny Akin of SEBTS offers freely the book entitled: Building a Theological Library - which is due for an update this year. He does much the same as DTS, and other seminaries do for their students in making suggestions on books that cover a wide array of topics (including commentaries).
I didn’t mean to undermine Pastor Funkhouser’s recommendation on BestComentaries.com, and as I think I’ve mentioned before I have visited that website, and in one of the last times, it was there where I found another set of recommendations, which I considered even more useful from a doctrinal perspective, that is, those recommendation in the website of Ligonier Ministries. I guess I just wanted to mention that at least I wouldn’t just go there (to this website) and choose just book from their top recommendations lists blindly. In my case, I would read several of this website’s comments from other readers on several Bible book commentaries, and I’d make my mind about what to read next. That’s just the way I’d do it, and I am not saying everybody should do it in the same way, but I did have in mind the original question in this forum’s particular thread.
Now I hope I also mentioned before that I am not a Baptist, and in fact I do have some disagreements about some peripheral issues, even with pastors/authors who I respect very much such as R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur and John Piper (and yes this last author believes in the continuation of spiritual gifts although he himself doesn’t speak in tongues as far as I heard in one of his interviews); but with all these minor disagreements I have, I still read mostly these authors’ articles and watch some of their sermons in YouTube.com. I guess that considering my own doctrinal background, perspectives and spiritual needs; and especially in consideration to what I thought I understood from the original asker in this forum’s thread, I thought that what the type of recommendation sought was more like a set of Biblical commentaries which would be used as a “primary source” of information (besides the Bible, of course, which should be the main source of inspiration together with praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit) for sermon preparation and (I imagine) for our own spiritual growth.
However, as this last contributor has mentioned (thank you Bondservant for your comments), from a typical Logos user perspective (with many resources), users are more inclined to read from different sources, and I guess that’s the premise on which some replied on. Another assumption I thought I saw was probably better explained with a variant of the common maxim that “you can’t judge a book by its cover”, that is, “you can’t discern a book by its author”, but I think I have already said enough from it before. However, one think I’d like to add last is that I also saw that comment from somebody who was supposed to be a Baptist, and (according to this claim) who wouldn’t read anything else until one day it came that aha moment, and he began reading something else and became something else. I’ve also read long time ago about the case of a Methodist missionary who after a mission trip to India, he became a Buddhist. Now, it’d be very easy to dismiss this last missionary at least as somebody who was not appointed by God from the beginning of the creation, but I think that one should be careful in what we read (there are spiritual forces up there working through books and anything else they can use to lead us to, let’s be careful here so nobody gets offended, to “non-Christian” doctrines), and what we choose to read shouldn’t always be based on the quantity of our library, whatever form this could be, but on how strong are our own convictions, among other things (like free time).
Now going back to the first pro-noun again, I also have a decent library too (very recently and thanks to Logos), but I am more interested right now in reading more from Old Testament again (this time slower) and in some days I’d like to spend some time reading some commentaries from sources I personally trust. I guess that was part of my own “bias” on assuming others follow a similar set of priorities; thus, I thought I didn’t want to emphasize the “other” books and to read the basics first, for my own spiritual growth, from sources I personally trust (and with the "other" word, I don't mean to offend others but I guess we all wear some form of doctrinal glasses, one way or another, and I hope this last statement is taken the way I meant). I know I will have more time to read about other things later on, and I am already much familiarized with different doctrines (in fact, for instance, I had regularly attended two different Pentecostal churches for years before), but after much of a internal debate, I decided to read the Bible alone for a while again, make up my mind about what I felt God really intended to teach us, from a doctrinal or theological point of view, and then when opportunity was sent (from above I believe), to teach the basics of the Christian faith to inmates who typically have little general education, and also little or no Biblical knowledge. I think I am in the safe side with these “premises” about my intended target audience, and so far I think I’ve been blessed the most. I think many people too worry about spiritual growth more than satisfying their own intellectual needs by reading (among other things) good scholarship.
I didn't intend to talk about me, at first at least, but it was my impression that I was or I could be missunderstood, or perhaps it's my own culture or tendency to disagree, when appropriated, especially in issues I consider worthy. Anyway, I’ll visit that last source Bondservant mentioned last too. Thank you again.
As a "Baptist Seminarian" I have nearly all of the sets mentioned previously and use them all for academic work, but I often find myself turning to the NAC and NIVAC for devotional and sermon/lesson prep.
I realize this is coming from a while back but I did want to agree with you but make on slight suggestion. Buying the best for each book is a very wise thing but it is good to have a complete base set you trust and can go to to start off... for me this is New Interpreter’s Bible (12 vols.) for a baptist I would assume The New American Commentary Series (NAC) would be the logical choice, although I would suspect a baptist would not be too far off the theological mark with Expositor's Bible Commentary, Revised Edition (13 vols.) Now the three I mention suffered as you said inevitable unevenness but it makes a good base to build on.
-Dan
Danny Akin mentioned in his hermeneutics class a couple years back that he preferred EBC over NAC.However, you are right Dan that both are in our wheelhouse. for the most part.
