Author's Bias | Interpretation: conservative
Inclination: covenant | Seminary: Western (Portland)

What is this reference: Bible Commentaries?

This reference section has been listed last for a reason. Commentaries are designed to help the student out after proper study has been done, and are never to take the place of your own personal time in the Word. They should be used with caution and discretion, for they are simply the thoughts and biases of ordinary men and women.

However, commentaries can prove to be extremely helpful for the student to gain cultural, grammatical, and historical insights into the text. It can also be helpful to see other's views that challenge us and cause us to think about our own conclusions. We would do well to heed the following:

"The community is a check against my personal distortions" (Parker J. Palmer's, To Know As We Are Known: Education As A Spiritual Journey, p. 18).

"There is always a need to check our interpretations over-against those of others, including our own earlier interpretations" (From Fowl and Jones' book, Reading in Communion, p. 30).

"Once we acknowledge the plurality of interpretive interests, we need not treat alternative interpretations as failed attempts to discover the meaning of a text. One of the residual benefits of this is to rehabilitate the history of the exegesis of Scripture. While we need not always agree with the readings of such interpreters as Origen, Aquinas, Teresa of Avila, or Luther, discerning and critically reflecting on their interpretive interests can help to clarify and enrich our own readings" (Fowl and Jones, Reading in Communion, p. 16).

Tools: Bible Commentaries

This page lists the titles of many excellent references called Bible Commentaries with links to the publisher's forewards / prefaces. If you take a moment to read some of these prefaces / forewords, you'll find that they in themselves are enlightening.

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Series: A summary of Bible reference tools (Hansen)
What is this reference: Bible Software / Internet Resources?

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What is this reference: Bible Difficulties?

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Bible Study Tools

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