The Oxford Bible Commentary - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198755007 ISBN 13: 9780198755005

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2001

Synopsis

The Oxford Bible Commentary is a completely new Bible study and reference work for 21st century students and readers. It offers verse-by-verse explanation of every book of the Bible by the world's leading biblical scholars. It provides everything any reader needs to understand the text of the Bible. From its inception, OBC has been designed as a completely non-denominational commentary; contributors have been chosen from every faith and none. The OBC will enlighten readers with no religious background, as well as Jewish readers and those from all Christian traditions - Protestant, Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox. Written for all readers, expert and novice The OBC has been carefully written and edited to provide the best scholarship in a readable style, Details are not introduced for their own sake but to make the explicaton clearer and to bring insights from various critical approaches to clarify the meaning of the text. A commentary on the Bible in its entirety The OBC includes comment on all the books recognized as canonical in Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Churches, as well as those books regarded as Apocryphal in the Anglican tradition, and extracts of books found only in the Ethiopic or Coptic canons. Written by a team of 70 respected biblical scholars from all over the world The OBC contributors include scholars from Jewish, Catholic, Anglican, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions. The best combination of scholarly approaches for each individual book The OBC uses the traditional historical-critical method to search for the original meaning of the texts, but also brings in new perspectives and insights - literary, sociological, and cultural - to bring out the expanding meanings of these ancient writings. Everything you need There is a full Bibliographical Guide to Biblical Studies providing a much-needed up-to-date reference guide to key works, and there are bibliographies contained in each article. An index to the introductory articles is provided, whilst the commentaries themselves can be accessed through the use of any standard concordance. OBC also contains 11 full-colour maps. A resource that can be read with any modern version of the Bible. The perfect reference work for a multitude of needs The OBC serves readers wishing to explore the religious, cultural, and historical significance of the Bible; students looking for an authoritative but accessible introduction to the scholarly issues involved in understanding the biblical text; and professionals, clergy or lay peoole, who teach or preach. Offering greater insight into the meaning of this complex and many-faceted work, the OBC brings this ancient text alive for a new generation in the third millennium. 'Our aim has been to make a commentary that would provide everything the 21st-century reader requires to engage quickly and immediately with the text. Of primary importance has been finding the best approach. In the Oxford Bible Commentary the traditional historical-critical method in Biblical studies sits alongside other ways of reading which bring their own rewards. We have not abandoned the search for the original meaning, but have given individual contributors freedom to explore for the modern reader new perspectives and insights into the evolving meaning of the Biblical text. We hope that a wide readership will be helped by the Commentary. From those who seek a clearer perespective on a text which they hold in reverence - pastors preparing sermons, those reading the Bible together in study or discussion groups or in private meditation - to readers for whom the Bible is a highly significanct document from the ancient world and a major classic of world literature- each should discover a clearer understanding of this complex and many-faceted work. If it also stimulates plenty of discussion and further enquiry, we will consider our job of editing this 21st-century commentary well done.'

About this title

Review

The Bible stands in a category of its own among world literature. How you view the Bible, however, depends on what spectacles you are wearing. Like statistics, the Bible can be used to prove almost anything. As a result Bible commentaries are notorious for giving the author's particular angle on the Bible as if it is the only viewpoint. In the case of The Oxford Bible Commentary the angle is objectively academic. John Muddiman and John Barton are the pair of Oxford dons who have put together the latest weighty book of Biblical scholarship. Happily, they are aware of the limitations of academic comment and don't pretend the book is more than it is.

Contributing scholars are mostly British and American and most of them come from a mainstream Protestant background. The articles are therefore polished, precise and professionally pedantic. No one can fault the meticulous scholarship and wealth of detailed content. That's just what you want from a hefty Bible commentary. On the other hand, what can strike you when dipping into this tome is how slippery Biblical scholarship has become. At the turn of the last century Biblical criticism shot fundamentalism full of holes, but the new generation of scholars have now shot the certainties of old-fashioned Biblical criticism full of holes. As a result the articles exhibit an odd mix of solid content with honest supposition, guesswork and shoulder shrugging. This actually makes the book better. It's refreshing to read academics who admit their uncertainties. Their honesty allows some questions to remain open-ended, and that's exciting for any serious Biblical student. -- Dwight Longenecker

Review

Considering the volume of new publications constantly occurring, it is impressive that material quite recent in terms of the publication date is included. Certainly no institutional academic library should be without this volume, and many individual scholars will likewise consider it a worthwhile investment. (Louvain Studies)

For the "novice", this work is a treasure trove. Expert scholars will likewise find much of interest, particularly in areas other than their own specialities. (Louvain Studies)

This imposing one-volume commentary, the work of 70 international scholars from Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Jewish traditions, is impressive in scope. The commentary is offered as a resource for all readers, both "expert and novice". (Louvain Studies)

This book should be a helpful guide to the general reader, for whom it is intended, and it should certainly find a place in every library with any interest in the Bible. (Journal of Theological Studies)

The Oxford Bible Commentary can be recommended as an up-to-date, vast treasury of biblical knowledge. (International Review of Biblical Studies)

Like the best of its kind, it draws on a broad spectrum of critical scholarship to provide an authoritative guide to reading the books of the Bible and is likely to dominate this section of the market for a long time to come ... a milestone in biblical scholarship. The editors deserve our thanks and congratulations - and a wide readership. (The Expository Times)

The emphasis is on reading and understanding the books of the Bible. It puts the resources of scholarship at the disposal of a wide readership - not simply the academic specialists but a range of readers with widely differing interests and concerns. Students will derive excellent guidance from it. Those who have primarily an interest in the Bible as literature will find it a source of new insights. Preachers, teachers and pastors who recognize the essential link today between scholarship and exposition, will find it enormously helpful. (The Expository Times)

Easily the best one volume Bible commentary available ... The Oxford Bible Commentary sticks to the text - and the fullest text possible, including all the apocrypha, some Post-Biblical Jewish Literature and some extra-canonical early Christian literature. This makes it unique as well as extra valuable. (The Reader)

Unlike some one-volume commentaries the OBC is valuable on the major books as well as the lesser-writings, especially on the Gospels. (The Reader)

Excellent model of what the finest reference books should be ... It is written for a wide readership and is expressed clearly without jargon or obscurity, and should prove invaluable not only to the priest and the student, but to the ordinary person in the pew ... will be invaluable for any religious or specialist library. (The Irish Catholic)

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0198755007
• ISBN 13: 9780198755005
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1416
• Editor: Barton John, Muddiman John