Academic Books on Bible Study, Commentaries

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There are more and more Catholic Bible commentaries available for the average lay Catholic.

But, what are some of the books used for bible study in colleges and seminaries? Could some list these and perhaps indicate a source?
 
The New Jerome Bible Commentary is probably the most commonly used commentary in the academic arena. I personally love the Sacra Pagina series of New Testament commentaries published by Liturgical Press. They also publish the Berit Olam series of commentaries on the Old Testament. I’ve never read any of those, but would love to.

You could also check out the series The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture published by Baker Academic. What I’ve read of it has been very good, and the authors are all top-notch scholars and theologians, as well as being faithful Catholics.

For a good patristic commentary I recommend the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series published by IVP Academic. The books are expensive, but worth their weight in gold.

Incidentally, I’ve used all but the Berit Olam series in my graduate papers. I plan on using the Berit Olam series when I have to write an exegesis on something from the Old Testament. 👍

All of these are pretty high-level academic books. I could also recommend some more basic books if you’re interested. 😃
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
You could also check out the series The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture published by Baker Academic. What I’ve read of it has been very good, and the authors are all top-notch scholars and theologians, as well as being faithful Catholics.
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This series looks excellent in my view. I am very much looking forward to it being completed.
For a good patristic commentary I recommend the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series published by IVP Academic. The books are expensive, but worth their weight in gold.
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Do you have this? I was looking into it some time ago but heard mixed reviews. Its been a while so now I cannot remember where I heard them.

Not that I can afford either series right now anyway in either money or time. I have the Navarre Series to get through and a stack of books on Dominican Spirituality a foot high. However, I am always on the lookout for a good Bible Commentary.
 
jwinch2,

I have a couple of volumes from the Ancient Christian Commentary series. They are good. You have to go into them with the awareness that they were collected by Protestant scholars, however. The extensive quotes taken from the Church Fathers are excellent, and these constitute the huge majority of the series. But there are comments and summaries at the beginning of each new section that one ought to read with a critical eye. It’s not that they are bad comments and summaries, they are just written from a Protestant perspective, and thus sometimes miss the Catholic understanding. But even so, the scholars that compiled the series have some great things to say. I recommend the series heartily. I know that there are Orthodox hierarchs who also endorse it. Can’t remember if there are Catholic hierarchs who endorse it too, but I seem to recall that there are. 🤷
 
Oh, and the one volume that I have from the Baker Academic series is fantastic. I can’t wait to get the rest of them, when I have some spare change… 😛
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
jwinch2,

I have a couple of volumes from the Ancient Christian Commentary series. They are good. You have to go into them with the awareness that they were collected by Protestant scholars, however. The extensive quotes taken from the Church Fathers are excellent, and these constitute the huge majority of the series. But there are comments and summaries at the beginning of each new section that one ought to read with a critical eye. It’s not that they are bad comments and summaries, they are just written from a Protestant perspective, and thus sometimes miss the Catholic understanding. But even so, the scholars that compiled the series have some great things to say. I recommend the series heartily. I know that there are Orthodox hierarchs who also endorse it. Can’t remember if there are Catholic hierarchs who endorse it too, but I seem to recall that there are. 🤷
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Thanks for the info!
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
Oh, and the one volume that I have from the Baker Academic series is fantastic. I can’t wait to get the rest of them, when I have some spare change… 😛
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That’s the one I am really looking forward to seeing completed. That, and the Ignatius Study Bible Old Testament. Of course, I need to pick a copy of the Haydock Commentary as well sometime sooner rather than later.
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
For a good patristic commentary I recommend the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series published by IVP Academic. The books are expensive, but worth their weight in gold.
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Thanks for bringing this one to my attention. They’re expensive, all right, so I will have to be selective because of cost and because of the backlog of reading that I’m making for myself.

I’ve been wading through the commentaries of the Jewish Publication Society and the notes of the Jewish Study Bible (Oxford) for OT insights.

(Maybe I’m in the wrong place by doing so, but I do find them scholarly and the reading is “accessible” – which means it’s brought down to my level. Sometimes the insights I get by reading these [and the NIV Study Bible, I have to admit] are simple: like this, that the sabbath commendment in the Decalogue is the longest-worded commandment. Or, that there are 39 kinds of work specified in scripture that are prohibitied on the Sabbath. Or, a rather interesting observation that I never had before, that the fulfillment of the promise for a homeland IN the Torah is not fulfilled in the Torah – the fulfillment is in the Hexateuch, that is, when you add the book of Joshua. So, does it have what we would call an eschatalogical significance that the Torah is written that way, and leaves us unfilled, standing with Moses at the Jordan River? Quite interesting, isn’t it? that Jesus begins his public ministry at the Jordan River - perhaps not at the exact spot, but generally in the same “place,” at the Jordan River? See? I just realized this – I’ve never had an original thought, so I’m sure that somebody else at some other time said something like this. But, this is what excites me, to discover 'truth" like this. )

Thanks. I’ve never noticed anybody mentioning the IVP series before, but I guess it’s a new project. I think I’m going to buy into that commentary on Romans. Romans has been a mental stumbling block for me – I don’t understand it. I need 400 pages to wrap my mind in. (Please, somebody, explain Romans to me.)
 
Crumpy said:
Thanks. I’ve never noticed anybody mentioning the IVP series before, but I guess it’s a new project. I think I’m going to buy into that commentary on Romans. Romans has been a mental stumbling block for me – I don’t understand it. I need 400 pages to wrap my mind in. (Please, somebody, explain Romans to me.)
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Romans is a confusing book even for Pauline scholars. My own recommendation - apart from the IVP book on Romans - would be the Sacra Pagina book on Romans available from Liturgical Press (or Amazon). It’s quite excellent. 👍
 
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