Commentaries

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rweidn

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Hi folks,
I am planning on reading the Catholic Bible through in one year using a plan and starting Jan 1st. I don’t have a lot of time on my hands but would like a short commentary either in a book or a web resource. Something to give historical context and a Catholic perspective. I have previously used David Pawson’s Unlocking The Bible which is great but very Protestant. So something of a similar vein but entirely Catholic. Any ideas?
 
I would suggest the Ignatius NT Study Bible - it has a built in commentary. It’s the RSV-2CE version with lots of not too academic commentary. (By academic, I mean the historical-literary criticism). They are still working on the various books of the OT, but have published several individual, not overly expensive commentaries.

FWIW, I too a 4 year class on the Bible through my diocese. We spent 7 weeks alone on Exodus. Perhaps it’s a trendy thing to go through it in a year, but I’m not sure why you would put a time constraint on such a thing. Regardless, best of luck to you.
 
almost all major catholic bibles come with commentaries or footnotes and a introduction to each book like the NAB. I would also recommend the catholic youth bible st marys press
 
I also recommend the Ignatius Study Bible (the NT is available in one single volume and a few of the OT volumes are available individually at present). The John Bergsma book mentioned will definitely help you to familiarise yourself with the big picture and covenantal structure of the Salvation History.

The Augustine Institute is publishing a new “Bible in a year” devotional with daily reflections on the Scripture readings for each day. It hasn’t been released yet but it’s available for pre-order. I presume they’d like to have this available in time for the New Year.

Links: Leather Edition, Paperback Edition.

I would also recommend The Didache Bible, which you can preview here, and the forthcoming A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, written by Brant Pitre and John Bergsma.
 
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Just now, the Catholic Study Bibles available are somewhat limited, at least from a single volume standpoint. They are:
  1. The Ignatius Study Bible (NT) Very Catholic, excellent notes
  2. The Navarre Study Bible (NT) Very Catholic, devotional notes
  3. The NABRE Personal Study Bible (Whole Bible) Somewhat Catholic, very good notes, but too much focused on historical-critical controversies, with heavy handed assumptions.
  4. The 1966 Jerusalem Bible (Whole Bible) Catholic, not quite as disturbing as the NABRE above.
All of these Bibles are based on Translations from the original languages.
  1. The Haydock Bible (whole Bible) Most Catholic, excellent notes. Accompanies the D/R Vulgate translation which can be archaic.
 
commentaries are not for those who don’t have time. the best commentaries I have found are from the Jewish Publication Society – expensive but thorough (not necessarily exhaustive,since they are from a Jewish mindset. The Navarre commentaries may be the only catholic ones I know about
 
rweidn said:
Hi folks,
I am planning on reading the Catholic Bible through in one year using a plan and starting Jan 1st. I don’t have a lot of time on my hands but would like a short commentary either in a book or a web resource. Something to give historical context and a Catholic perspective. I have previously used David Pawson’s Unlocking The Bible which is great but very Protestant. So something of a similar vein but entirely Catholic. Any ideas?
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A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture is very good. It was written from 1952-1953 I believe and it’s based on the Douay Rheims translation of the bible. So if you’ve ever wanted to read the Douay Rheims bible, this commentary would be great in helping you understand this particular translation.

The Commentary itself is pretty extensive and it reflects solid Catholic theology. The link above is to a review of a new reissue separated into 2 or perhaps 3 volumes. You may be able to find older copies that were originally published in a single volume. I was lucky to have found my copy nearly 10 years ago from a used bookstore online. I think I only paid around $25.00, at the time used copies were easily over $150.

There is a newer version called A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, which was also by the same author as it’s chief editor, Dom Bernard Orchard. However, I was told that the New version wasn’t nearly as good as it began to favor more modern and liberal influence into the commentaries. I’ve never read the new version, so I can’t speak to whether this is true or not. However, I use the original version quite frequently and highly recommend it.
 
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