The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard...

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, ... | Excellent Scholarship

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The New Oxford Ann...

	The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, ... Oxford University Press, USA, 2007 - 2432 pages average customer review:based on 137 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, Third Ed.

Of the five Bibles I have owned over the years, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha is my favorite. The type is easy to read; the language is clear, concise, and comprehensible; and the annotations are very helpful. Inclusion of the Apocrypha is indispensible for further understanding. I am very satisfied with this version of the Bible.

Excellent Scholarship

The New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, as well as a group of great scholars. There is a slight liberal slant, but the scholarship is not clouded by this too much. This has great resource material as well as an explanation of the high theology criticisms such as redaction, form, text and narrative criticisms. The NRSV is a very good translation and flows well. Well worth the price.

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The New Oxford Annotate Bible, New Revised Standard with the Apocrypha, Third Edition

The Bible to me is THE most important part of my life. This Bible will not only inspire but help you understand God's word and the way we should live our lives. I use this Bible in my New Testament studies at the University I attend. The purchase of this Bible is worth having in your book collection.

Thanks Amazon,

Margaret Dixon

Excellent ecumenical study Bible

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to read the entire Bible. I then had to decide which edition. I definitely wanted a study Bible, but I wanted an ecumenical one, not one that assumed its conclusions and argued from that position. I also wanted one with decent-sized print for my weary old eyes, not one with your standard microscopic King James lettering. From there, it wasn't hard to settle on the Oxford Annotated.

I am satisfied with my choice. The text is easy to read, and the translation (the New Revised Standard Version) is current with the latest scholarship. The annotations are placed at the bottom of each page with indications of the chapter and verse down there, rather than any sort of intrusive punctuation in the text itself. This makes it easy to pay as much attention to the annotations as you wish: you can simply read the text uninterrupted, or you can check the annotations periodically to see if there's anything to read (and there frequently is).

(Eric Krupin'a spotlight review, I will add, provides a very detailed and accurate description of the "look" of this book.)

The annotations themselves are almost always a boon to comprehension and understanding, from placing the specific lines of text into context to correcting the translation to providing cultural information, I almost always found it worthwhile to read the annotations as I was going along. Where there are weaknesses are generally in repetitiveness and lack of consistency: I didn't need to be told over and over again that sackcloth and ashes are signs of mourning, and I know there was at least one occasion where the annotator for Matthew flat out contradicts the annotator for Luke, though I can't find it now.

I can sympathize with some of the complaints about this edition from conservative Christians. Even though I'm an atheist, I don't see how Paul's comment in Romans 1.27 about "men, giving up natural intercourse with women ... Men committed shameless acts with men...."could be interpreted as a condemnation of "immoderate indulgence" rather than homosexuality, as the annotation suggests. However, that's one single annotation amongst thousands.

In addition to the annotations, there are short essays at the beginning of each book and each group of books: the Pentateuch, the historical books, the Gospels, and so on. These provide further clarification. And interspersed with the text at appropriate locations are black-and-white maps, supplemented at the very end of the volume by sumptuous color maps. At the end are also several essays on more general topics: the development and definitions of the canons of the Bible, textual criticism and the various sources, translations into English, and the various interpretations of the Bible and how they have evolved over time. Reference sections include a timeline, a table of rulers, weights and measures, parallel texts in the Bible, and a concordance, concluding with the aforementioned maps. (In fact, I wish I had read some of the essays at the end first.)

Even with all this information, there is, not surprisingly, still more to learn. I found it very fruitful to be reading other Biblical references as I went along, as well as the annotations and essays here. I will specifically mention Asimov's Guide to the Bible and Reading the Old Testament, by Lawrence Boadt as two of the most useful ones. And I'm sure there are plenty of others.

Christians might be comfortable with another study Bible designed more for them. And I have not looked at other study Bibles more than superficially, so I can't say whether there are better ones out there. I can say that I was very satisfied with this one, and I recommend it to any who are looking for a study Bible that's not geared specifically for believers.

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