Why is it so hard to find a good Catholic study Bible?

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jblake is right when he recommends just skipping using a study Bible. If you really want the most up-to-date scholarly commentary, you are not going to find it in a study Bible. Discoveries and insights are always being made, so it is far better to have a good collection of commentaries by a diverse range of authors than to have one or two study Bibles. In the end, study Bibles are both limited and can quickly be dated.

With that said, I think what you need to find is a Bible that can meet your needs. For me, no matter what the translation is, any good Bible needs to have cross-references (at least in the NT) and maps. With a solid translation, which contains the basic study tools one need, you can supplement this with good commentaries, an exhaustive concordance, Greek-english interlinear, and a good Bible dictionary.

Here are some Bible editions that I own which I like:

RSV-2CE

ESV with Apocrypha/Deuterocanonicals

NRSV Reference Bible
 
Deacon_Joseph said:
Here are some that I did. Scott Hahn and Jeff Cavins Catholic Bible Study. archive.salvationhistory.com/mission/index.cfm

greatadventureonline.com/

The Great Adventure Bible Study is a good one to start with. It takes you through the 14 narrative books of the Old Testament, Which prepares you for the Gospel of Matthew which comes next on Jeff Cavins’ Bible Studies. 🙂
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I agree. The Jeff Cavins course is a great spiritual and historical overview of the Bible. After this course, you are ready for course on any individual book of the Bible.
I also agree with other posters who recommmend the Navarre Bible for study, but it is not my Bible of choice for lectio-type reading or personal prayer because the lengthy footnotes distract me from the text. I prefer the Catholic RSV for the Gospels and the poetic Douay-Rheims for the Psalms and Wisdom books when I just want to meditate on the Word of God.
 
Maybe the real answer to the question of why Catholic resources are hard to find is that we as Catholics don’t make up a very strong market. Like any business, it relies on supply and demand. Protestants demand Bible studies and annotated Bibles and so they get them (even if they are flawed.) Catholics don’t seem to hunger for the Word of God as much as our Protestant brothers and sisters do. When I tell other Catholics that I’m in a Bible study, they usually look surprised and ask “Why?”. They don’t see the need or have the desire to study the Bible. I know that opinion is not usually found on this forum, but it is very common. Maybe the real question is why aren’t more Catholics interested in studying the Bible?
 
Some recommended Commentaries:

Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (Cheap and should be very good once it is combined into a single study Bible…in 2015, 2018, or whenever 😃 )

Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (Brand New and Very Good! I know some of the editors personally and they are outstanding scholars and very faithful. They have so far published an edition on Mark and the Pastorals)

The International Bible Commentary (I don’t own this yet, but I have heard some pretty good things about it. It has a nice collection of Catholic and Ecumenical Scholars.)
 
I noticed allot of comments just seem to say they like this or don’t like that but no real explanation. People will like different things and are looking for different things.

I have found the Catholic study bible a great all around book. amazon.com/Catholic-Study-Bible-Donald-Senior/dp/0195282787/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232590749&sr=1-3

It has maps and reading guides that help put perspective on the various books. The footnotes only take about 20% of the page but by and large every time I shake my head wondering what I just read the footnote gives a helpful explanation. This is true whether I am wondering whether I ask “wait does this comply with Catholic - as opposed to protestant -teaching” or “wait does this contradict some other passage” or such.

It does not give extended analysis of what these passages should “mean in our everyday life” types of notes. Nor does it dwell on the various ways that the church fathers have interpreted the scriptures throughout history unless it has to do with why we understand the passage to mean this or that. So if that is what you are looking for I would suggest other resources.

Now I think it does a good job at what it sets out to do. It makes it so that the bible itself is more readable and gives the reader the historical and literary context that likely existed when the scripture was created. It also addresses some issues about translation and possible copyist mistakes when there seems to be substantial evidence this may have occurred.

I would agree that the Catholic study bible is more concerned with informing the reader as to what the original authors meant and doing an accurate job passing that on as opposed to going into the various Church fathers views or trying to apply the text to modern culture.

I see some do not like the NAB. Again from what I know (and I do not read ancient Greek or Hebrew) is that the NAB tried to translate the text in a way that was very faithful to what the original writers did. It did not set out to do so in a poetic way nor did it intend to paraphrase in easier to read English. I know some think that it could have accomplished its goal and also have been a bit more poetic in its language. But all the accounts I have read (again just reading on the net) seem to agree the NAB does indeed do what it set out to do. It gives a very faithful translation of the bible based on our best understanding of the ancient texts we have.

Now for myself I am looking to also buy one of the bibles that is more focused on defending the faith against protestant attacks so that it can be used for that limitted purpose. But in the end I think the Catholic Study Bible by Oxford press is a good all around bible for understanding scripture.

I hope this is helpful.
 
Cara_Serrano said:
Maybe the real answer to the question of why Catholic resources are hard to find is that we as Catholics don’t make up a very strong market. Like any business, it relies on supply and demand. Protestants demand Bible studies and annotated Bibles and so they get them (even if they are flawed.) Catholics don’t seem to hunger for the Word of God as much as our Protestant brothers and sisters do. When I tell other Catholics that I’m in a Bible study, they usually look surprised and ask “Why?”. They don’t see the need or have the desire to study the Bible. I know that opinion is not usually found on this forum, but it is very common. Maybe the real question is why aren’t more Catholics interested in studying the Bible?
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Coming from a Protestant, I think the reason for this problem in both Catholicism and Protestantism, is that most nominal Christians just listen to what their churches tell them is the truth without studying the Word of God themselves. Although, Protestants do tend to study the Word than Catholics do in my experience, maybe it’s because we believe in Sola Scriptura, or we don’t have the same structure as you folks do. At any rate, I’de highly recomend that Christians of all creeds read and study the Word of God. God gave it to us for a reason, not to sit up on a dusty old shelf, or for just the priests to interpret. He wants us to read his love letter to us, which is what the Bible is.

Just my two coppers.👍
 
Crimson_Seraph said:
Coming from a Protestant, I think the reason for this problem in both Catholicism and Protestantism, is that most nominal Christians just listen to what their churches tell them is the truth without studying the Word of God themselves. Although, Protestants do tend to study the Word than Catholics do in my experience, maybe it’s because we believe in Sola Scriptura, or we don’t have the same structure as you folks do. At any rate, I’de highly recomend that Christians of all creeds read and study the Word of God. God gave it to us for a reason, not to sit up on a dusty old shelf, or for just the priests to interpret. He wants us to read his love letter to us, which is what the Bible is.

Just my two coppers.👍
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Good advice! We should all explore the treasures of the Bible more deeply.
 
Coming from a Protestant, I think the reason for this problem in both Catholicism and Protestantism, is that most nominal Christians just listen to what their churches tell them is the truth without studying the Word of God themselves. Although, Protestants do tend to study the Word than Catholics do in my experience, maybe it’s because we believe in Sola Scriptura, or we don’t have the same structure as you folks do. At any rate, I’de highly recomend that Christians of all creeds read and study the Word of God. God gave it to us for a reason, not to sit up on a dusty old shelf, or for just the priests to interpret. He wants us to read his love letter to us, which is what the Bible is.
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Catholics, according to Scott Hahn, have the most Biblical liturgy of any Christian church. They are exposed to more variety and depth through the connections made during the Eucharistic Liturgy than any Protestant church can do with their services.

So Catholics are already innately Biblical, if they are sincere and practising Catholics. 😉

The idea of Bible study has to be approached from a certain perspective. That is what separates Protestants from Catholics. Protestants MUST study the bible to prove they are Christian to a certain extent. Catholics MUST attend and participate in the Eucharistic Liturgy to prove they are Christians (if you will.) I’m speaking figuratively not literally.

So Catholics should (or can) study the Bible in a completely different way than Protestants. That motivation must be resolved upon first. That is what the poster quoted above is saying (I think.)

We (Catholics) can study the Bible for apologetic purposes, scholarly purposes, or devotional purposes. That is why, for Catholics at least, it is difficult to point to an all purpose “Study Bible.”
 
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