Bible Commentary Series

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I’m looking to bolster my biblical studies library by collecting many volumes of a single commentary series over the course of several years. I’m not interested in lay commentaries like the Navarre or Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, but my attention is focused on three possibilities: Sacra Pagina, Anchor Bible, or Hermeneia.

Sacra Pagina, of course, only covers the NT and is less expensive than the other two. I already own a volume of The Gospel of Luke by Luke Timothy Johnson, who is truly one of the foremost Catholic biblical scholars of our day.

The Anchor Bible is more ecumenical, which I definitely appreciate. It is quite expansive, not only covering the OT but also requiring at least two volumes per biblical book.

Hermeneia is more critical. I like critical. Like the Anchor Bible, it is quite expansive and equally expensive.

I’m currently working through R.T. France’s “Gospel of Mark” as part of the New International Commentary on the Greek Testament. The New International series appears to be evangelical but also technical, which is a fair, moderate mix, I believe. I could also continue to go in this direction.

Suggestions?
 
You might have a look at The Theology of St. Paul, by Fernand Prat, S.J.; it’s a two-volume work.
 
If the price is high on the list then Sacra Pagina is the way to go. Very solid commentary and @ less than $20 per volume on Amazon it’s a good value.
 
IMO – the Sacra Pagina series is good but I think it focuses too much on the historical-critical methods alone and therefore suffers the shortcomings of that method. Before buying any commentary, I would highly recommend looking over some of the essays found in Behind the Text: History and Biblical Interpretation (The fourth volume of the “Scripture and Hermeneutics” series. Pope Benedict XVI has also made a strong point of this issue in much of his writings getting to the topic of hermeneutics.
 
Epistemes said:
I’m looking to bolster my biblical studies library by collecting many volumes of a single commentary series over the course of several years…
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If you are interested in patristic exegesis of Scripture, I recommend the Catena Aurea of St. Thomas Aquinas, which is a detailed commentary on all four gospels from various Eastern and Western Fathers of the Church. I have the 8-volume set, but you can find it free online here.
 
Thanks for all of the recommendations thus far. However, it seems that aspiring to own all of the commentaries of a single series just isn’t practical from the standpoint of consistency: not all of the scholars involved produce equal quality work. And so, I must revise my query.

While all commentaries attempt to be comprehensive, none are. Each commentary is equally informing as it is misleading, and this includes the Navarre Bible and Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. To gain a mediocre understanding of 1 Corinthians, for example, would require, at the very least, 10,000 pages of intensive reading. And this necessitates great expense of both time and money.

Though I am currently slowly progressing through R.T. France’s commentary on the Gospel of Mark as part of the New International Greek Testament Commentary series as published by Wm. B. Eerdmans - and though this volume as most volumes in this series receives high marks - Adela Yarbro Collins in her own historical-critical study of the Gospel of Mark for the lauded Hermeneia commentary series makes no mention of France’s book nor any evangelical commentary, for that matter. Joel Marcus seems to have written a good commentary on Mark’s Gospel, but some say he sees Old Testament allusions where there are none. So, is his whole commentary half-baked?

While it must be admitted that any serious student of the Bible should own several commentaries just as one should own several translations, knowing where to start is a headache.
 
Epistemes said:
Thanks for all of the recommendations thus far. However, it seems that aspiring to own all of the commentaries of a single series just isn’t practical from the standpoint of consistency: not all of the scholars involved produce equal quality work. And so, I must revise my query.

While all commentaries attempt to be comprehensive, none are. Each commentary is equally informing as it is misleading, and this includes the Navarre Bible and Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. To gain a mediocre understanding of 1 Corinthians, for example, would require, at the very least, 10,000 pages of intensive reading. And this necessitates great expense of both time and money.

Though I am currently slowly progressing through R.T. France’s commentary on the Gospel of Mark as part of the New International Greek Testament Commentary series as published by Wm. B. Eerdmans - and though this volume as most volumes in this series receives high marks - Adela Yarbro Collins in her own historical-critical study of the Gospel of Mark for the lauded Hermeneia commentary series makes no mention of France’s book nor any evangelical commentary, for that matter. Joel Marcus seems to have written a good commentary on Mark’s Gospel, but some say he sees Old Testament allusions where there are none. So, is his whole commentary half-baked?

While it must be admitted that any serious student of the Bible should own several commentaries just as one should own several translations, knowing where to start is a headache.
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Check out site Best Commentaries.com

here’s the commentaries available for 1 Cor
bestcommentaries.com/category/1-corinthians/

site includes Catholic commentaries like CCSS
bestcommentaries.com/series/catholic-commentary-on-sacred-scriptures-ccss/

Catholic Encyclopedia has a page on commentaries: look at end for modern commentaries
newadvent.org/cathen/04157a.htm
 

  1. *]While you are correct that the Sacra Pagina series covers only the New Testament, you may be interested in its twin Berit Olam series.
    *]Individual volumes in series vary tremendously in quality, so I would not purchase an entire series, unless you had a significant pricing discount in doing so. Rather, I’d select individual volumes. For example, even in the highly acclaimed Anchor Yale Bible series, there are individual volumes such J. Massyngberde Ford’s odd entry for Revelation in which she declares that the author is John the Baptist.
    *]With the above caveat in mind, I will note that my opinion is that of the series that you mention, I would suggest that Hermeneia tends to be the most interesting and critical. However, it is quite incomplete, so you will be frustrated in your study of the Bible if you rely only on it.
    *]Other series are worth your attention. For example, several of the volumes in the Jewish Publication Series are excellent; and individual studies published in a one-off format are often superior to those published in a series.
    *]In fact, R. T. France is cited in Collins’ commentary on Mark – see his paper cited on p. 599, footnote 55, and his book cited on p. 826 (bottom left column). However, I do not think one would mistake these two commentaries in the least – they are completely different in tone and approach, with France being far more conservative – even to the point of being devotional in passages.
    *]I cannot agree with John7’s recommendation – a quick glance at the site will show a bias against critical commentaries and towards devotional commentaries. (The site appears to be funded through Amazon links). Your best bet is consulting reviews in the scholarly journals. Failing that, for the Hebrew Bible, I have found Tyler William’s web site containing reviews of commentaries to be less free of bias often found in other web sites. However, again, I strongly caution you – I believe that in few cases have the authors of these review web sites actually read all the commentaries cover-to-cover, and their reviews must therefore be taken with a significant grain of salt.
    *]Joy in your studies.
 
I’ve got every volume of the Jewish Publication Society commentary series (which is incomplete, mind you).

They’re good as far as they go, anti-Christian when they have the chance. But, fairly good at literary analysis of the Torah. Quality and focus varies in each volume.

No doubt, no commentary is complete. This JPS Torah Commentary series suffers from a deliberate flaw – no index of words. Not available in CD, either. Self-described as the conservative point of view.

On the other point raised, yeah, I bet you could write thousands of pages on Corinthians and Galations and Ephesians.
 
Bible_Reader said:

  1. *]While you are correct that the Sacra Pagina series covers only the New Testament, you may be interested in its twin Berit Olam series.
    *]Individual volumes in series vary tremendously in quality, so I would not purchase an entire series, unless you had a significant pricing discount in doing so. Rather, I’d select individual volumes. For example, even in the highly acclaimed Anchor Yale Bible series, there are individual volumes such J. Massyngberde Ford’s odd entry for Revelation in which she declares that the author is John the Baptist.
    *]With the above caveat in mind, I will note that my opinion is that of the series that you mention, I would suggest that Hermeneia tends to be the most interesting and critical. However, it is quite incomplete, so you will be frustrated in your study of the Bible if you rely only on it.
    *]Other series are worth your attention. For example, several of the volumes in the Jewish Publication Series are excellent; and individual studies published in a one-off format are often superior to those published in a series.
    *]In fact, R. T. France is cited in Collins’ commentary on Mark – see his paper cited on p. 599, footnote 55, and his book cited on p. 826 (bottom left column). However, I do not think one would mistake these two commentaries in the least – they are completely different in tone and approach, with France being far more conservative – even to the point of being devotional in passages.
    *]I cannot agree with John7’s recommendation – a quick glance at the site will show a bias against critical commentaries and towards devotional commentaries. (The site appears to be funded through Amazon links). Your best bet is consulting reviews in the scholarly journals. Failing that, for the Hebrew Bible, I have found Tyler William’s web site containing reviews of commentaries to be less free of bias often found in other web sites. However, again, I strongly caution you – I believe that in few cases have the authors of these review web sites actually read all the commentaries cover-to-cover, and their reviews must therefore be taken with a significant grain of salt.
    *]Joy in your studies.
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  1. I did not realize that *Berit Olam *was in any way related to Sacra Pagina. If I ever own all volumes of a single commentary, it may be these two.

    It’s funny that you mention J. Massyngberde Ford’s commentary on *Revelation *as I managed to pick up a used copy at a bookstore a year or so ago. I’ve not yet looked through it, so it’s interesting to learn that she thinks John the Baptist is responsible for writing the book. After Mark, I hope to spend some time with Revelation, as it’s a negelected book on my part. Perhaps I’ll utilize this commentary alongside a more moderately-conservative one.

    I, too, find that the biblecommentaries.com website is slanted more towards conservative, pastoral commentaries rather than the more technical, critical ones. This evidenced by the fact that the New International Commentaries rank well-above the more critical ones. And ecumenical or Catholic commentaries are ranked very, very low.

    For my current study of Mark’s Gospel, I’ve decided to go with France’s commentary on the Greek alongside Joel Marcus’s two-volume commentary for AB. I decided to forgo Collins’ commentary in favor of Marcus’s because, after comparing the two, I found Collins a little too verbose in making the same points as Marcus. I also picked up a copy of Metzger’s *Textual Commentary *on the Greek Testament. I think this pattern will suffice throughout the remainder of my studies for many, many years.
 
I started using the Ignatius Study Bible and I am reading the Gospel of Matthew. I find it really very helpful to understand the maps, the state of the Pharisees etc.

I cannot it compare to the other volumes you reference, but I would give Ignatius a thumbs up.
 
Epistemes said:
It’s funny that you mention J. Massyngberde Ford’s commentary on *Revelation *as I managed to pick up a used copy at a bookstore a year or so ago. I’ve not yet looked through it, so it’s interesting to learn that she thinks John the Baptist is responsible for writing the book. After Mark, I hope to spend some time with Revelation, as it’s a negelected book on my part. Perhaps I’ll utilize this commentary alongside a more moderately-conservative one.
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In all fairness, Ford’s commentary is probably the single worst commentary I’ve read in the Anchor Bible series – and thus not representative as the series as a whole. Perhaps the niche appeal of a female Catholic Pentecostal firebrand was simply too great for the editors.

In any case, the editors have long since done penance and more recent volumes are of a much higher standard.
 
Epistemes said:
… While all commentaries attempt to be comprehensive, none are…
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I don’t think that such a thing is even possible, or desirable.

I was once asked why the Catholic Church does not publish an “exhaustive” commentary on Sacred Scripture. Here’s what I said…

Firstly, the intent of the Sacred Author was not that Holy Writ should be taught in bits and pieces. The Bible should be understood as a whole, in the context of all the other passages of Sacred Scripture, and also in the context of the tradition (Gk “paradosis”) of Christ’s Church. Thus, any “official commentary” on the deposit of faith should attempt to describe what Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition teach as a whole. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is that kind of commentary. You can read it online here: Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Secondly, the Catholic Church does not view Scripture passages as having one and only one definitive meaning. The revelation of God, both in the things He has made, and in his sacred deposit of faith, is often ambiguous and difficult to understand. I believe this ambiguity is purposeful, [as St. Augustine also taught] so that we will never presume to have exhausted the grand fountain of God’s holy Revelation. With every fresh discovery, new questions arise.

The view of the Catholic Church is better expressed by St. Ephraim the Syriac, a deacon from the 4th century…

St. Ephraim the Syriac, 4th century:
Lord, who can grasp all the wealth of just one of your words. What we understand is much less than what we leave behind. Like thirsty people who drink from a fountain, for your word, Lord, has many shades of meaning, just as those who study it have many points of view. The Lord has colored his word with many hues, so that each person who studies it can see in it what he loves. He has hidden many treasures in his word, so that each of us is enriched as we meditate on it. The word of God is a tree of life that from all its parts offers you fruit that is blessed. It is like that rock that is open in the desert, which from all its parts gave forth a spiritual drink. He, who comes into contact with some share of its treasure, should not think that the only thing contained in the word is what he himself has found. He should realize that he has only been able to find that one thing from among many others. Nor, because only that one part has become his should he say that the word is void, empty, and look down on it. Because he could not exhaust it, he should give thanks for its riches. Be glad that you are overcome and do not be sad that it overcame you. The thirsty man rejoices when he drinks, he is not downcast because he cannot empty the fountain. Rather let the fountain quench your thirst, than have your thirst quench the fountain. Because if your thirst is quenched and the fountain is not exhausted, you can drink from it again whenever you are thirsty. But if, when your thirst is quenched, the fountain also is dried up, your victory will bode evil for you. So be grateful for what you have recieved and don’t grumble about the abundance left behind. What you have received and what you have reached is your share. What remains is your heritage. What at one time you are unable to receive, because of your weakness, you will be able to receive at other times, if you persevere. Do not have the presumption to try to take in one draft what cannot be taken in one draft. And do not abandon out of laziness what you may only consume little by little.

[St. Ephraim, cited by Dr. Scott Hahn, *The End: A Study of the Book of Revelation, (St. Joseph Communications, audio series)]
With that said, Catholic Bible commentaries can be purchased and read online which provide the student of Sacred Scripture with the result of study by many Catholic Bible scholars. They are not issued officially by the Holy See, but by other scholars and publishers, so they are not “official” in the former sense. Some Catholic Bible commentaries are better than others.
 
Epistemes said:
I’m looking to bolster my biblical studies library by collecting many volumes of a single commentary series over the course of several years. I’m not interested in lay commentaries like the Navarre or Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, but my attention is focused on three possibilities: Sacra Pagina, Anchor Bible, or Hermeneia.

Sacra Pagina, of course, only covers the NT and is less expensive than the other two. I already own a volume of The Gospel of Luke by Luke Timothy Johnson, who is truly one of the foremost Catholic biblical scholars of our day.

The Anchor Bible is more ecumenical, which I definitely appreciate. It is quite expansive, not only covering the OT but also requiring at least two volumes per biblical book.

Hermeneia is more critical. I like critical. Like the Anchor Bible, it is quite expansive and equally expensive.

I’m currently working through R.T. France’s “Gospel of Mark” as part of the New International Commentary on the Greek Testament. The New International series appears to be evangelical but also technical, which is a fair, moderate mix, I believe. I could also continue to go in this direction.

Suggestions?
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I think I have a good sense of what you’re looking for.

As others have noticed, the quality of volumes in the Anchor Bible are quite uneven. Besides Ford’s volume on Revelation, the volumes on the Psalms by Dahood are basically entirely dismissed by biblical scholars. Other volumes that I’m familiar with that are of mixed quality or have some faults in their outlook that would probably have them labeled as significantly dated (even though not that old) are: Exodus, Amos, Hosea, and 1 & 2 Samuel. Some other volumes are just plain old and in serious need of updating.

The Hermeneia commentaries I have used have all been excellent–but they are quite expensive–so expensive that I don’t own any. And as you’ve observed, the New International series leans quite evangelical, but if you can read around that, they are generally not too bad. Many of the Sacra Pagina volumes are quite good, especially for the price. Other gems can be found in other series–for example, I think David Aune’s three volume commentary on Revelation published in the Word Bible Commentary series (usually pretty evangelical) is one of the best out there.

Incidentally, almost everything in the Anchor Bible Reference Library is quite good.

My general suggestion would be to work toward collecting a “best of” set of commentaries rather than one particular series. Overall, you’ll get better quality for your money, even if they won’t look as nice on your shelf 😉
 
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