A good Catholic study Bible?

[catholic1seeks]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good, *compact *Catholic study Bible?

I’ve researched these two online:

Fireside Study Bible
NAB Catholic Study Bible

The NAB Catholic Study Bible (2nd Edition) seems OK, but the little notes (found at the bottom of each page) don’t seem to be very extensive.

I’m looking for a good, compact, study bible. I realize there are SEVERAL good study bibles out there (the Ignatius study bible by Scott Hahn, the Navarre Study Bible), but I’m looking for one COMPLETE, COMPACT Bible with the Old Testament and New Testament together.

Am I being picky? *Well * it’s just I’ve looked over my mom’s old Protestant study Bible and it was really neat; there’s maps, articles on the biblical characters, etc. AND the notes were extensive. It’s just it wasn’t Catholic. If they have something like this, then there has to be a good Catholic study Bible!!

What do you use?

Please help! I want to know my Bible!

 

[puzzleannie]

I have the NAB Catholic Study Bible Oxford edition and most of the notes are at the front, with an extensive article introducing each book. also good study helps. Other editions of the NAB I have put the footnotes at the bottom of the page, and I find them too extensive, as it makes the page harder to read. It is anything but compact being the size of a websters dictionary. It don’t think “extensive notes and study helps” and “compact” go together. I have another giant type edition that has the notes at the back.

 

[catholic1seeks]

I don’t think “extensive notes and study helps” and “compact” go together.

My mom’s Protestant study Bible does!



any other suggestions?

Does anyone else have the NAB Catholic Study Bible?

**Compact as in ONE BOOK. I thought there were many good study bibles out there - - - I just don’t know of them!

• I believe the notes located at the bottom of the NAB Catholic Study bible are just the general NAB notes found within any NAB bible. I’d prefer genuine Catholic “stuff” - Catholic teachings, etc.

I know, I know. I’m just making a bunch of requirements. I just want (and NEED) a really good Bible - - STUDY Bible .

• OH, there’s also another good Protestant study Bible my mom she’s Catholic ] used to read. It’s Halley’s Bible Handbook, I think. It’s good . . .

 

[NotWorthy]

I wouldn’t exactly call it “compact”, but the Navarre now has a single edition New Testament Study Bible - with only 1200 pages!!! - called the Navarre Expanded Edition.

I really, really, like the Ignatius 2nd Edition by Hahn and Martin. Although it’s not in one book…

 

[SemperPax]

I found a Douay Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Bible - circa 1947.

It’s a gem…

 

[rft183]

I am a protestant interested in the Catholic faith. Being used to having many nice study Bibles available to me, I have been looking for a good Catholic one. The best I have been able to find is a NAB one. “The Catholic Youth Bible: Revised” by Saint Mary Press has been the best one that I have found. Don’t let the word “youth” scare you off. I’m not a youth, and still like it!

 

[Harri_Laaksonen]

The New Jerusalem Bible, Study Edition is what I have been using for several years now. It is compact and does have good notes although the small font is sometimes a problem.

I was using the NJB while in the Lutheran ministry for my personal reading and found it to be very good.

Harri**

 

[CalCatholic]

My mom’s Protestant study Bible does!



any other suggestions?

Does anyone else have the NAB Catholic Study Bible?

**Compact as in ONE BOOK. I thought there were many good study bibles out there - - - I just don’t know of them!

• I believe the notes located at the bottom of the NAB Catholic Study bible are just the general NAB notes found within any NAB bible. I’d prefer genuine Catholic “stuff” - Catholic teachings, etc.

I know, I know. I’m just making a bunch of requirements. I just want (and NEED) a really good Bible - - STUDY Bible .

• OH, there’s also another good Protestant study Bible my mom she’s Catholic ] used to read. It’s Halley’s Bible Handbook, I think. It’s good . . .

I have both the NAB Catholic Study Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible with the extended notes (not readers edition). They are both good study Bibles. The NAB has a reader’s guide in the begining that explains (in an overview) each section of each book of the Bible. The reader’s guide is about 500 pages long. It also has other scholarly writings such as; The Bible in Catholic life, Catholic interpetation of the Bible, and other articles. The Bible also has indented tabs which makes finding the books easier in a large Bible. And it has the extended Oxford maps in the back. The problem is when you offer all this it is hard to make it compact, unless you make the font size microscopic. So my solution is to have at least two Bibles (I have a lot more than that), the BIG Study Bible when I am working on scripture studies at home, and a compact Bible for taking place or for times I want a devotional Bible without all the notes.

 

[puzzleannie]

the one I am referring to is The Catholic Study Bible NAB, Oxford University Press, 1990
the explanatory footnotes and cross references that are standard with the NAB, plus extensive intro to bible, OT and NT, each book several articles on how to use the bible, bible history etc., reading guide for each book, reference articles, tables, biblical archeology, maps etc.

since I don’t know what specific features you are looking for and that compare with the Protestant bible you have it is hard to answer your question.

I don’t call a book bigger than the Webster’s unabridged dictionary compact, but maybe you do. it has over 600 pages of reference material and articles, exclusive of the footnotes and maps

i imagine your mom also had a good concordance to her bible, and there is one for the NAB, there is also a Dictionary of Biblical Theology tied to the NAB translation, which would be the first reference book I would get.

I don’t think it matters which one you get, as long as you just start reading w/o waiting for the “perfect” edition.

 

[Epistemes]

Does anyone else have the NAB Catholic Study Bible?

I have the NAB Catholic Study Bible 2nd Edition which has become my primary Bible for just about all purposes (though I still keep an RSV-CE by for more intimate devotional purposes). I have no real objections to the NAB, though I really wish someone would explain why verses and chapters in 1 Kings are chopped and spliced (though the text is more comprehensible!).

 

[catholic1seeks]

Thanks for the posts

I just went to a Christian book store. There were many good study bibles but only few(like five) Catholic study bibles.

My mom just wants me to get a really nice one - “it doesn’t matter if it’s Catholic”. To me it does. With my interest in apologetics and ACTUAL Catholic beliefs, I’d prefer a Catholic study Bible rather than, say, the NIV Study Bible.

 

[NotWorthy]

Thanks for the posts

I just went to a Christian book store. There were many good study bibles but only few(like five) Catholic study bibles.

My mom just wants me to get a really nice one - “it doesn’t matter if it’s Catholic”. To me it does. With my interest in apologetics and ACTUAL Catholic beliefs, I’d prefer a Catholic study Bible rather than, say, the NIV Study Bible.

Wow!!! Five Catholic Study Bibles at a Christian Book Store! That’s five more than I’d find at my local “Christian Book Store”!

How about Veritas, CatholicCompany.com, GetFed.com; EmmausRoad.org, for study bibles?

 

[Crumpy]

It’s bound to be a long process, but I am hoping that the recently concluded bishops synod in Rome on the Word of God in the daily life of the Church will “bear much fruit” in the area of Bible studies and publications.

I don’t know any more if a study bible is exactly what I need. I do have maybe nine versions of the Bible (The Jesus Bible/NIV, NIV Study, KJV, RSV-CE, etc.) and I look through them all when I really get focused on a question. I have Matthew Henry Condensed Commentary, and other Catholic and protestant references including a Strong’s concordance. I also have a New Jerome Biblical Commentary (which I would say should be used with caution). In the latter, I especially liked section 82 which I read just recently, on Paul’s theology.

I confess being somewhat reckless in buying a lot of such books, and I even have a couple books of marginal value, like one that talks about the myths and/or problems in the Bible.

As Father Corapi says, you should have a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church nearby when you are reading the Bible.

He once talked about the subject of the catechism “trumping” bible exegesis. Which means, the catechism overrides any book of bible explanations you may have.

That’s what I think we need is a Bible that is integrated with the Catechism (at least by reference, if not by inclusion).

I feel that Bibles with “footnotes” have a lot of value, but that can be misleading. The footnotes are NOT inspired like the text. Some of the footnotes in my old NAB probably should have their own footnotes to explain them.

I don’t always dig into these, but I like a Bible with appropriate cross-references, to help understand the connection of a verse of interest with other parts of scripture.

If you have a chance to read “The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church” (available in the document library at www.ewtn.com, you might get a) confused but b) some insight into some recommended ways of analyzing the Bible. It would be a noteworthy achievement, if there was a study bible that was “compliant” with this Church document. This paper by the Pontifical Biblical Commission says there is value in carefully looking at Jewish writings that give the background and interpretation of the Jewish scripture (OT).

In his apostolic exhortation, Catechesi Trandendae, Pope JPII also talks about the value of studying some selected protestant sources about the Bible.

Then, too, you might get a lot of benefit by reading books by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger/ Pope Benedict XVI, such as his “Jesus of Nazareth”. He has finished the followup book to that, that he promised us. "Jesus of Nazareth is a bit technical, with respect to the issues he is discussing, but if you read carefully and slowly enough, he really puts everything in there to explain most things, along the way. You would benefit by having the Bible nearby, to lookup the verses he refers to, but does not quote.

 

[jfallaw]

I have both the NAB Catholic Study Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible with the extended notes (not readers edition). They are both good study Bibles. The NAB has a reader’s guide in the begining that explains (in an overview) each section of each book of the Bible. The reader’s guide is about 500 pages long. It also has other scholarly writings such as; The Bible in Catholic life, Catholic interpetation of the Bible, and other articles. The Bible also has indented tabs which makes finding the books easier in a large Bible. And it has the extended Oxford maps in the back. The problem is when you offer all this it is hard to make it compact, unless you make the font size microscopic. So my solution is to have at least two Bibles (I have a lot more than that), the BIG Study Bible when I am working on scripture studies at home, and a compact Bible for taking place or for times I want a devotional Bible without all the notes.

I also have the NAB extended Study Bible. It’s nowhere near compact, but it is a great study aid.

 

[jfallaw]

“The Catholic Youth Bible: Revised” by Saint Mary Press has been the best one that I have found. Don’t let the word “youth” scare you off. I’m not a youth, and still like it!

I’ll check it out. Unfortunately, most Catholic study aids I have read seem to be much too scholarly in form. While I am educated enough to understand theological works, I just don’t think that everything Catholic should have to sound so “high and mighty” all the time lol. It’s as though we think putting something in layman’s terms somehow diminishes its truth.

I bought a Zondervan NIV Bible called Revolution: for Teen Guys, for a kid when I was a youth leader at the protestant church (there are not really any youth programs at the two Catholic churches here, unfortunately). After looking through it a bit, I almost bought one for myself.

 

[Crumpy]

My mom’s Protestant study Bible does!

I think that this thread would make more sense if the OP were to favor us by opening the cover of that Bible and telling us which version of the Bible he/she is referring to.

The OP seems to take delight in rubbing our noses in how good his mother’s bible is, without sharing a critical insight. It’s hard to have a good conversation with someone who is taunting us.

 

[catholic1seeks]

My mom’s Protestant study Bible does!

I think that this thread would make more sense if the OP were to favor us by opening the cover of that Bible and telling us which version of the Bible he/she is referring to.

The OP seems to take delight in rubbing our noses in how good his mother’s bible is, without sharing a critical insight. It’s hard to have a good conversation with someone who is taunting us.

Psh.

Well someone was telling me that it would be hard to find a good compact study bible.

My mom has one, but it’s Protestant.
I believe it’s the* NIV Aplication Study Bible*

i don’t see how that helps;

I’ve already described what I’m talking about - - what I mean by a “compact Catholic study bible”. I just want one that’s in one book AND one in which the footnotes are Catholic, if possible.

 

[alavenderluvbug]

I am a protestant interested in the Catholic faith. Being used to having many nice study Bibles available to me, I have been looking for a good Catholic one. The best I have been able to find is a NAB one. “The Catholic Youth Bible: Revised” by Saint Mary Press has been the best one that I have found. Don’t let the word “youth” scare you off. I’m not a youth, and still like it!

I have been having this same problem. I used to the the NIV Study Bible. I loved it. I had all the foot notes, cross references, concordance, subject index. I was able to find a verse in seconds.

The best Catholic study bible I have been able to find is The Catholic Youth Bible. It gives references for the 7 sacraments, has a subject index, concordance, a few cross references and footnotes on the same page. I am sure you would like this. I don’t think that us Catholics have really good compact study bibles out yet like the protestants do.

Lately I have been reading a lot of bad things about the NAB so I just bought the RSV-SCE. It have very little cross references or footnotes but I have hightlighted a lot and wrote my own footnotes where I could fit them. The RSV bible is what most recommend for apologetics and such.

I hope this helps. I know what you are going through!

 

[RosaryGirl_777]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good, *compact *Catholic study Bible?

Am I being picky? *Well * it’s just I’ve looked over my mom’s old Protestant study Bible and it was really neat; there’s maps, articles on the biblical characters, etc. AND the notes were extensive. It’s just it wasn’t Catholic. If they have something like this, then there has to be a good Catholic study Bible!!

What do you use?

Please help! I want to know my Bible!

No your not being picky, I’m looking for the same type of Bible. I’m really glad you asked this question:thumbsup:

I have the fire side NAB companion Bible (the one with the rosary on the back) but I haven’t found the study notes to be very helpful some are but most weren’t very helpful to me.

I also use a compact revised stander version catholic edition it doesn’t have any study notes(wish it did), but it is really small so I can keep it in my purse

 

[RosaryGirl_777]

the one I am referring to is The Catholic Study Bible NAB, Oxford University Press, 1990
the explanatory footnotes and cross references that are standard with the NAB, plus extensive intro to bible, OT and NT, each book several articles on how to use the bible, bible history etc., reading guide for each book, reference articles, tables, biblical archeology, maps etc.

Just curious is study notes in The Catholic Study Bible NAB, Oxford University Press written in laymen terms or it is scholarly?

I don’t think it matters which one you get, as long as you just start reading w/o waiting for the “perfect” edition.

:extrahappy: :extrahappy: