{"id":4678,"date":"2008-12-04T00:30:32","date_gmt":"2008-12-04T00:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/books-are-the-best-presents.html"},"modified":"2008-12-04T00:30:32","modified_gmt":"2008-12-04T00:30:32","slug":"books-are-the-best-presents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/books-are-the-best-presents.html","title":{"rendered":"Books are the Best Presents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year at the annual meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature I meander through the book stalls, make some purchases, and set myself up for another year of reading and researching. Today I want to make some book suggestions in the general area of commentaries and reference books. <\/p>\n

Pastors, preachers, students, professors and those seriously studying the Bible and theology can find something here. <\/p>\n

You might want to play a trick I always play: wrap one up, put it under the tree, and write on it “To [your name], from [your name].” Works like a charm.<\/p>\n


\n
My pick of the year for a reference book is W.A. Dyrness, Veli-Matti K?rkk?inen, Global Dictionary of Theology<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>. Almost a thousand pages, this reference book examines theology from a global perspective. All the major topics, evangelical in perspective, but fresh in orientation — I enjoyed reading the essays on justification and kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

But I have to also give top billing to Michael Holmes’ new handy Greek-English edition of the apostolic fathers. Simply a must: The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now some commentaries:<\/p>\n

On Judges, in the Old Testament Library from Westminster, Susan Niditch: Judges: A Commentary (Old Testament Library) (Old Testament Library)<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>. I learned much from her book on Israelite religion.<\/p>\n

On Psalms, John Goldingay has completed volume 3 in his series: Psalms, vol. 3: Psalms 90-150 (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms)<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>. I go to Goldingay’s commentaries on Psalms first.<\/p>\n

In the same series, Tremper Longman has completed his commentary on Proverbs: Proverbs (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms)<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>. I often find myself wandering into Proverbs and in need of a commentary and Longman’s will become the first one I go to.<\/p>\n

Fuller professor Leslie Allen has a new commentary on Jeremiah: Jeremiah: A Commentary (Old Testament Library)<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>. <\/p>\n

Now to the New Testament. An old friend, Robert Stein, has completed his commentary on the Gospel of Mark: Mark (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>. Stein’s commentary is marked by common sense and, perhaps the greatest sign of common sense, the commentary is the right length. (We don’t need multi-volumed commentaries on the Gospels.)<\/p>\n

One of the most erudite, scholarly, critical commentary series is the Hermeneia series; Richard Pervo’s commentary on the Acts of the Apostles is now out: ACTS: A Commentary (Hermeneia: a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible)<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

There are two more commentaries from the New Testament Library series: Jerry Sumney’s brief, readable piece on Colossian: A Commentary (New Testament Library)<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em> and Judith Lieu’s I, II, & III John: A Commentary (New Testament Library)<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

And the Baker Exegetical Commentary has two new books: Bob Yarbrough’s 1, 2, and 3 John (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em> and Gene Green’s Jude and 2 Peter (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)<\/a>\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year at the annual meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature I meander through the book stalls, make some purchases, and set myself up for another year of reading and researching. Today I want to make some book suggestions in the general area of commentaries and reference books. Pastors, preachers, students, professors and those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\nBooks are the Best Presents - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/books-are-the-best-presents.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Books are the Best Presents - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every year at the annual meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature I meander through the book stalls, make some purchases, and set myself up for another year of reading and researching. 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