Study Bibles are supposed to help you go deeper into the text, to understand what you're reading. To do that, they come with a variety of feature including essays, cross-references, pictures, and detailed maps. But naturally what they're most known for is the study notes at the bottom of the page. They may clarify a word, a concept, or explain the entire passage. It's those notes that really constitute the difference between different types of study Bibles.
I want to emphasize that these categories are entirely mine. Someone somewhere may have a far better system, but I think this will help people pick out the type of study Bible they want.
Devotional Bibles
Scholars, pastors, and Bible nerds probably don't even think of these as study Bibles, but a lot of people in the pews do. And so do book sellers, thus they sit on the shelf with the study Bibles.
Devotional Bibles look a lot like study Bibles. They may have little text boxes in various places on the page, but most have notes at the bottom. However the notes are generally not study notes. They are geared instead for helping people respond to the passage. Do we want people to respond to the passage? Absolutely. But study Bibles help people understand the passage first.
Most Bibles with "Men's" or "Women's" on the cover are devotional Bibles more than study Bibles. Two notable exceptions I have found are the ESV Men's Study Bible, which is basically the ESV Study Bible with devotional essays, and the NLT Every Woman's Bible, which has pretty good notes in the text but is also "Filament enabled", giving the reader access to the NLT Study Bible's online notes via an app.
Pastoral study Bibles
When I study the Bible, I'm going to lay out all the commentaries. I want to see how different scholars explain a passage, what disagreements there are, and try to weigh the differences. Other people want one go-to commentary that will tell them what the passage means. They want it simple and clear, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Pastoral study Bibles do the latter. They just tell you, in the author's educated opinion, what the passage means. It's like having a pastor or scholar looking over your shoulder explaining things as you go.
Most study Bibles with a pastor's name on them do this. So do a lot of others. If you just want a study Bible from your religious tradition that will explain what a passage means according to your religious tradition, this is the type you're looking for.
Dispensationalist Baptist? The Ryrie Study Bible has you covered. Reformed? You've got several options including the excellent ESV Study Bible and the Reformation Study Bible. Not-so-dispensational Baptist? The CSB Study Bible is a good one. There's a study Bible for almost every major religious tradition, including Wesleyan, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic.
Scholarly study Bibles
But if you really want to dig deeper, you want to see the options, to know how different scholars have approached a passage; you want a study Bible that presents the major interpretations.
I must admit, there's no solid dividing line between "pastoral" and "scholarly" in my schema. It's probably best to think of it as a spectrum. Some study Bibles present a few options, some present more. The best way to determine which approach a given study Bible takes is to sample the notes for a few controversial or difficult passages.
I use Genesis 1, Genesis 7 (the flood), the date and route of the Exodus, Romans 7, and 1Timothy 2 as test passages. Do they offer one explanation? Pastoral — they're just telling you what they think. Do they present options but tell you what they think? That's a scholarly approach with a pastoral finish. Do they present options and leave it open? Also scholarly. The recently re-released CSB Baker Illustrated Study Bible (which is not the CSB Study Bible) is a good example of the latter.
Another way of thinking about scholarly Bibles is those that open you up to new ways of looking at the Scriptures. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible does that by teaching you biblical theology and showing themes through the text.
Academic study Bibles
These tell the people in the pews what academics believe. The teams making them aren't necessarily even Christians. If you want to know what skeptical or liberal academics believe about a passage, this is a good tool.
A popular example is the the Oxford Annotated Bible. It will tell you about the various authors who wrote the Pentateuch, correct the misunderstanding you had about creation from nothing, and point out how similar the Genesis flood account is to other Mesopotamian flood stories. If you're wondering why on earth anyone would want to read that, it's because some people intentionally try to interact with people who believe this, so they need to know what they think and why.
Specialized study Bibles
These are great tools but aren't really suited to being your only study Bible. The NIV Archeological Study Bible, the ESV Archaeology Study Bible, and the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible all try to help you understand those parts of the text that are unclear simply because we're 2000+ years removed from the culture of the authors. If you really want to go deeper into the Scriptures, one of these would be invaluable.
There are also various study Bible devoted to apologetic issues in the text. If you teach teenagers, this might be a useful tool.
The NET Bible isn't labeled as a study Bible, but it is if you get the full notes edition. It's breaks my system entirely, but one of the most notable features is the "translator's notes". Where most Bibles will have, at best, a few words or a sentence about a translation issue, the NET Bible will have a paragraph. Notes on textual issues are similar. It takes a little getting used to, but it's a great tool when you want to dig deeper into the text.
So with five types and umpteen options, what do you need? If you've got a devotional Bible, I highly recommend getting a pastoral study Bible. It would be good for you to learn to understand the text and then work out how to respond for yourself.
If you've got a good pastoral study Bible but are interested in learning about other views, you might just get a pastoral study Bible from a different tradition. If you're Reformed, you could get a Wesleyan or egalitarian. If you're Dispensational, you might get a Reformed. Or go for that CSB Baker Illustrated.
Why? Perspective is helpful. Recently I was teaching on the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matt 25), often used by progressives to argue a kind of works salvation. I was interested to see how the Orthodox and Roman Catholic study Bibles handled it; they agreed with the standard Protestant interpretation that works reveal the sheep's faith, not earn their salvation. That means the progressive version is novel and less likely.
Another thing to consider is getting a different translation than your primary reading/church Bible. If you read the NIV, you might get an ESV study Bible. If you normally read the ESV, perhaps something in CSB. Looking at different translations can also help you understand a passage better.
But whatever you have, the most important thing is to read it. An entire collection of study Bibles won't make you one bit more like Jesus if you don't open them and apply what you learn.
Image via Pixabay
No comments:
Post a Comment