Question about commentaries

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ddeluna

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I’m doing my New Testament grad work and am thinking of beefing up my commentaries. I have a question - What is your opinion of the following commentaries?

-Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, 2008-2007 (7 vols), Various authors, almost all clergy
-Navarre Bible New Testament, Standard Edition, 2005, (12 vols) (this is only commentary - no Bible included, and obviously not to be confused with the Navarre Bible New Testament one volume edition), various authors
-Collegeville Bible Commentary, 1990, various authors
-The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament

These I already have:
-Catena Aurea, Thomas Aquinas
-Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, George Haydock
-New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1989, Raymond Brown
-Introduction to the New Testament, 1997, Raymond Brown
-A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, 1953, Orchard, Sutcliffe
-The Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide, 1908
-And some other minor or Protestant ones.

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

David De Luna
 
I have no experience in graduate study of the Bible. Are these your personal references?

Aren’t there more scholarly and academic commentaries? I’ve always wondered that.

Depending on your budget, I’d recommend the Jewish Publication Societies 5-volume commentary on the Torah. This is considered by them to be a very high quality resource. The point being, that the various approaches of the respective authors of the 5 volumes may help you to have a perspective on the New Testament – what the Jewish community thinks about it, what the mindset of first century Jewish Christians was, evaluate the significance of the Septuagint version of scripture, etc.

You see, the Jewish commentaries have built-in to them their reaction to Christian interpretations about scripture.

There’s also two volumes from Oxford U. Press, the Jewish Study Bible (OT only, of course, which is different from the JPS commentaries somewhat, gives you the latest Jewish translation of the OT, and gives lots of commentaries on ‘scripture’) and the Jewish New Testament (a commentary on the NT by Jewish scholars – a lot seems like yada yada yada commentary, but then I’ll run across an insight like this: St. Paul rants against practices like circumcision, but he never tells Jewish Christians to stop practicing their traditions).

In this (ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PBCJWSCR.HTM) THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEIR SACRED SCRIPTURES IN THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE Pontifical Biblical Commission

Cardinal Ratzinger/Benedict XVI says that you CAN’T understand the NT without the old. He says this in the emphatic terms. Keep this in mind. I think, if I recall correctly, he says that the NT is meaningless without the OT. So, you ought to dwell on that suitably.

Another Jewish reference you want to know about is EVERYMAN’S TALMUD by Cohen.
This is a modern classic about Jewish thought (including superstitions) which shows things like, the Jews believe in some form of purgatory, where one is cleansed after death before going into the presence of the Almighty. I don’t know the scriptural basis of that belief, but that book is a starting point.

In the Jewish Study Bible, you will read that there is NO official Jewish interpretation of scripture. There or otherwise you learn that there is no structure that corresponds exactly to the notion of a magisterium. e.g. while rabbinic Judaism is all you may know about, there is a modern version of non-rabbinic Judaism (because “rabbis” are not mentioned in OT scripture. see next post
 
I am subscribed to the series called the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, from Intervarsity Press.

The second volume in the OT series, on Ex/Lev/Num/Deut, has an intereseting and refreshing overview (about 15 pages) of early commentators and commentaries on the New Testament. It describes the points of view of these orthodox Christians.
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary Has a lot of academic-oriented essays on the entire Bible.

Even I could tell that the NJBC has a different take on the book of Ruth than does the Jewish Publication Society commentary on Ruth. The former asserts that the marriage of Ruth and Boaz WAS a levirate marriage, whereas the latter states emphatically that it is NOT a levirate marriage (and it even says something supporting this point of view in the book, itself).

If you are swept away with this post and my previous post, you are about $1600 poorer by this point. Buyer beware.
 
Here’s a suggestion to put in your hat about a topic for a research project or such.

start here to get an idea
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shema_Yisrael

The Shema starts with Deut 6:4-5. Jesus is quoted as reciting it twice in the NT, at Mk 12:29 and Lk 10:27

Jesus adds that we should love God with all our mind. Why might Jesus have added this?

So, what does loving will all our heart mean? with all our soul? with all our mind? and with all our strength? (as always, there is a book at Jewish Publication Society “The Shema” offering an explanation.)

in the Wiki article and in Cohen’s book on the Talmud, we see that Jews recite the Shema three times a day and when facing death. It is the “pledge of allegiance” to God, a response to the covenant which God has made.

Do Christians celebrate the shema as much as they should? Is this some backlash against Judaism that we don’t?

Where are the places in the NT which allude to the Shema? When Benedict XVI came to the US a few years ago, where did he insert a reference to the shema in his public addresses?
 
I was reading more today in the ACCS to which I referred above. There is a comment by Caesarius of Arles of a subject that might also make a good essay or research project:

That what is promised corporeally or materially in the OT is fulfilled spiritually in the NT. Of course a big example is “land” in the OT and “heaven” in the NT.
 
There is a thread about a lot of commentaries: christianforums.com/t7541241
… feel free to post in that thread!:
ddeluna said:
Anyone else?
Click to expand...
Of the ones You mentioned in Your OP, I have:
-the volume on 1-2 Pt, Jude in Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture
-Catena Aurea
-Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary
-A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture

I don’t use Haydock’s at all. Catena Aurea almost not at all. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture very little. The 1-2 Pt Jude in Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture a little (and I hesitate to buy more volumes from that set) - I’ve read through the section on Jude and compared with Jonathan Knights commentary. I have the latter both as printed matter and in Logos.
 
Another one volume scholarly bible commentary is ‘The Oxford Bible Commentary.’
 
I’ve read the Ignatius New Testemtn twice now… it’s pretty generic while still holding an academic focus. I learned a lot from it.
 
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