What is a good study Bible?

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thewanderer

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Hi,

I’m not sure if this is the right place, but I figured of all the forums my question can probably be best answered here.

I’m looking for a good Catholic study Bible to help me learn more about my faith.

What I’m looking for:
  • Orthodox translation, preferably as close to a literal translation as possible, (though I’m open to other translations and would love to hear why people recomend them)
  • Durable
  • Looks like a book that contains Divine Revelation, no plain paperback versions for me! (well… I will take paperback if its the best option out there… but I really want it to look nice)
  • Room for notes, whether at the side, bottom, top, or in between lines
Study notes in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church would also be a plus, but are not necessary.

Thanks in advance for helping me out!
 
Jeff Cavins has a fantastic bible study, some of which you can catch on EWTN called the “Great Adventures”

It’s a bit costly though, so many parishes are sponsoring this study as a group to offset the cost, plus studing in a group has many advantages.
 
To me, a Study Bible is one that provides a reliable translation of the Scriptures, and has reliable footnotes based on traditional Catholic thought. But it should be one that can easily be carried around. The Ignatius Study Bible and Navarre Bible are called study Bibles but they are more like commentaries. They are awesome commentaries but not practical Study Bibles. The Study Bible that i prefer is the Douay Rheims with Bishop Richard Challoner’s footnotes. Excellent translation and very reliable concise footnotes.
 
Thanks for the advice so far!

By orthodox I meant to imply that i don’t want any inclusiv language or any other such nonsense. 😉 I guess thats implied in asking for a literal translation, but I’m even ok with translations that take a little more liberty, so long as its not going to extremes. 🙂

I do like the Douay Rheims but I’m not sure if I want it for a study bible because it can be such of a mouthful at times. 😉 However, I’m not gonna rule it out just yet. How much space is there for writing notes in the version with Bishop Richard Challoner’s footnotes?

How large is the Ignatious Study Bible? Is there space for taking notes? I don’t particularly want a Bible that is going to be difficult to carry around with me…
 
Also, I just noticed that the Ignatious Study Bible is only the New Testament… It sounds like a really good option from what I can see but I would prefer to have the whole Bible, is there any Old Testament that I could get to accompany it?
 
thewanderer said:
Thanks for the advice so far!

By orthodox I meant to imply that i don’t want any inclusiv language or any other such nonsense. 😉 I guess thats implied in asking for a literal translation, but I’m even ok with translations that take a little more liberty, so long as its not going to extremes. 🙂

I do like the Douay Rheims but I’m not sure if I want it for a study bible because it can be such of a mouthful at times. 😉 However, I’m not gonna rule it out just yet. How much space is there for writing notes in the version with Bishop Richard Challoner’s footnotes?

How large is the Ignatious Study Bible? Is there space for taking notes? I don’t particularly want a Bible that is going to be difficult to carry around with me…
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The Ignatius Study Bible is pretty big - but it’s pretty packed with info, so not sure how many notes you are planning on putting on the pages - at least the version I’ve seen. It’s on my birthday list as it is not inexpensive.

God bless,
Bryan
 
COPLAND_3 said:
To me, a Study Bible is one that provides a reliable translation of the Scriptures, and has reliable footnotes based on traditional Catholic thought. But it should be one that can easily be carried around. The Ignatius Study Bible and Navarre Bible are called study Bibles but they are more like commentaries. They are awesome commentaries but not practical Study Bibles. The Study Bible that i prefer is the Douay Rheims with Bishop Richard Challoner’s footnotes. Excellent translation and very reliable concise footnotes.
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I second this. I recently bought a Douay Rheims Challoner, it’s wonderful. 🙂
 
thewanderer said:
Also, I just noticed that the Ignatious Study Bible is only the New Testament… It sounds like a really good option from what I can see but I would prefer to have the whole Bible, is there any Old Testament that I could get to accompany it?
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They are coming out with the Old Testament one book at a time. So far Genesis and Exodus are available.

ignatius.com/IProducts/36534/the-book-of-genesis.aspx

ignatius.com/IProducts/135291/exodus.aspx

Also…here are some online Catholic Bible courses…with an endorsement from Scott Hahn.

agapebiblestudy.com/index.html
 
As for having room for writing your own notes, that really has to do with what size Bible and its layout. I have a couple of different Douay Rheims Challoner revisions, one is small and the other is bigger. Most of the time the bigger Bible will have more room. But most Bibles leave enough room to be able to gloss.

Like i said before, the Ignatius and Navarre Bibles are great commentaries, but not practical to carry with you, it would be like trying to carry a bookshelf full of books. If you are wanting a Bible to make glosses then i would recommend that you pick one that is medium to large in size, but not huge, and i would try to get one with normal paper, not the super thin pages because when you write in them you can see it on the otherside of the page.
 
The Oxford Annotated Study Bible Expanded Edition with the Apoc/Duet books.
 
COPLAND_3 said:
Like i said before, the Ignatius and Navarre Bibles are great commentaries, but not practical to carry with you, it would be like trying to carry a bookshelf full of books.
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The Ignatius Study Bible has a really great single volume New Testament available in hardcover, paperback, and leather that’s not really all that large. Apparently, there’s even a Kindle edition available now!

amazon.com/Ignatius-Catholic-Study-Bible-Testament/dp/1586172506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336169901&sr=8-1

Edit: I should mention that the single volume New Testament contains everything except the study questions from the individual volumes, and they can be downloaded for free from the Ignatius Publishing website.
 
Rolltide said:
The Ignatius Study Bible has a really great single volume New Testament available in hardcover, paperback, and leather that’s not really all that large. Apparently, there’s even a Kindle edition available now!

amazon.com/Ignatius-Catholic-Study-Bible-Testament/dp/1586172506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336169901&sr=8-1

Edit: I should mention that the single volume New Testament contains everything except the study questions from the individual volumes, and they can be downloaded for free from the Ignatius Publishing website.
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That sounds really good! I am beginning to prefer electronic texts these days, even though i have bookshelves full of Bible material. I enjoy having the Aquinas Study Bible at my fingertips with many commentaries of each book of the Bible!
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone! I think I’m gonna have to go with the Ignatious Study Bible… even if its just the New Testament, Maybe I’ll get a Douay Rheims as a back-up until the Old Testament Finally comes out fully. That way I can get the Douay Rheims version as well! 😉
 
I’ve been using the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible for my OT Scripture class. When we study the NT, I go with the Ignatius Study Bible.
 
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