You’ve hit on one of the “springiest” subjects that you see in these forums. Half of everybody is looking for a “good” Bible and the other half has varying opinions about it.
Back in about 1993, the Pontifical Biblical Institute issued a paper called “Interpretation of the Bible in the Church.” It had a discussion of various types of “criticism” or analysis of scripture. The paper listed what each type of criticism may be able to offer, and what it’s limitations were. The Church does not endorse any single point of view for analyzing scripture.
The paper ended up saying that a interested Catholic should study the Bible alongside a generally accepted commentary, to help explain the text.
I think that the upcoming Ignatius Study Bible, when it is completed, should be compliant both the the Catechism and with the advice of the Pontifical Biblical Institute.
You might check out
www.salvationhistory.com for their recommendations, and an update on the progress of the Ignatius Study Bible.
One of the principal writers is Dr. Scott Hahn. His feeling is that you can find commentaries that help you with either the Old Testament or the New Testament, but it’s hard to find one that bridges them both. I think he’s on to something. The Catechism says that there are four “senses” of scripture: literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical. You WOULD want to get a study bible that assists you with all those “senses” of the Biblical text.
The Old Testament, in the first instance, is the main teaching of an entirely different religion, Judaism. The New Testament is not just the New Testament, but it is a bridge from the Old Testament. You may want, as I do, a Bible/commentary, like the upcoming Ignatius Bible, which is supposed to explain the whole thing, as much as it can, in one volume.
The PBI paper that I referred to at the start, says that it may be valuable to look at Jewish commentaries, for what they can provide. That’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been reading the commentaries of the books of the Torah from the Jewish Publication Society. They’re not Christian, and they’re a bit anti-Christian in parts. But, they do provide a deep level of commentary on those books. These commentaries are especially focusing on the meaning of the ancient Hebrew texts.
Even if you don’t go in that direction, here’s a bit of information that I have picked up there. These commentaries are very oriented to the literary structure of those first five books of the Bible. First, the words and ideas point to the antiquity of those writings. Second, they point out how much is missing from the Bible, for example, how it is just a skeleton in parts, assuming that the reader / listener already understands some things it talks about. One example is the cherubim which is stationed at the entrance to Eden, after Adam and Eve are expelled. “Cherubim” are not explained there. Cain and Abel are offering sacrifices to God and there is no explanation of how “sacrifices” came about or what they thought they were doing. Or, in chap one of Genesis, creation is said to occur in seven days.
Seven days are not important from an astrophysical sense, that is, days each of 24 hours duration. It is not referring to necessarily a seven-day period, but to something very important, i.e. creation, and a seven-day period is the way anything important is done, in the ancient middle east. Seven days is a metaphor to tell you that it was important.
There’s a lot more to learn about Genesis in a 325 page commentary, than in a few marginal or foot notes in such-and-such translation or edition.
Best advice: feel good about what you buy, and then start there, and don’t stop reading and asking questions.
