jodhpurs

This page accompanies the article ‘What do jodhpurs say about a man?’ (The Testimony Vol. 86 [1013], Feb. 2016, p. 75-78). A pre-publication version of the the article is available on this site, here.

In the article I suggest some initial resources which could be helpful for people wanting to better understand the social and historical backgrounds of various books of the Bible. Below are links to a selection of reviews about those resources to support you in evaluating them. Also included are links to websites that can help evaluate commentaries.

Contents

  1. Bible dictionaries
  2. Other books helpful for understanding social and historic backgrounds to Biblical texts
  3. Commentaries
  4. Books demonstrating the value of understanding 1st century CE socio-historical backgrounds for understanding Jesus

1. Bible dictionaries

2. Other books helpful for understanding social and historic backgrounds to Biblical texts

3. Commentaries

There are a few “commentary surveys” available which could be useful when evaluating resources (although they can quickly become out of date):

  • Longman III, Old Testament Commentary Survey (Baker Academic, 2013) [preview on Google Books]
  • Carson, New Testament Commentary Survey (Baker Academic, 2013) [preview on Google Books]
  • Bauer, An Annotated Guide to Biblical Resources for Ministry (Wipf & Stock, 2011)
  • Evans, Guide to Biblical Commentaries and Reference Works (Doulos Resources, 2010) [excerpt]
  • Glynn, Commentary and Reference Survey (Kregel Academic, 2007) [preview on Google Books]

Catalyst, an online newsletter for United Methodists, has a series of posts, by different people, called ‘Building an Old Testament Library’, and another, similarly named, for the New Testament:

Building an Old Testament Library

Building a New Testament Library

Phillip J. Long has a (2012) series about commentaries on his blog, Reading Acts (recommended). Keith Mathison gives his commentary recommendations here: Top Commentaries on Every Book of the Bible (2014). There’s also some interesting reading (dated variously from 2005-10) on Jeremy Pierce’s blog, Parableman, about commentaries. Of course, these surveys are sometimes subjective, but they can be helpful. Using resources like these, Tim Challies has started (beginning in 2013) an online collection of commentary recommendations: Best Commentaries on Each Book of the Bible.

Other recommendations can be found at:

By comparing recommendations like these, one can see which commentaries are most recommended (and sometimes get a feel for which commentaries are best at certain things [e.g., analyzing language; analyzing literary structures; practical application; etc.]). Also, be aware that some of these recommendation lists are potentially out of date.

Another site worth a look is Best Commentaries, which ‘combines reviews and ratings from journals, books, and users to create an aggregate ranking for Biblical commentaries’.2

4. Books demonstrating the value of understanding 1st century CE socio-historical backgrounds for understanding Jesus

  • Wright, Who was Jesus? (SPCK, 1992) [preview on Google Books]
    • Although biased, the reviews on the back of the book state that it is a ‘sharp, well-targeted’, ‘easily readable critique’ of three ‘wide of the mark accounts’ of Jesus, along with a ‘scholarly and very readable re-assertion of the truth about the Jesus of history’.

Notes

1. Catalyst‘s 2012 recommendations for Matthew-Acts are substantially the same as those from 2015 (both are by the same author).
2. For what it’s worth, of the few commentaries I’ve engaged with, some of my favourites include: Mark Vincent, The Exodus: A Commentary on Exodus 1-15; Gordon Wenham, The Book of Leviticus (New International Commentary on the Old Testament); Donald A. Carson, Jesus and His Friends: An Exposition of John 14–17; David Garland, 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament); John Stott, The Message of Ephesians (Bible Speaks Today [BST]); Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament); Alec Motyer, The Message of James (BST).