Rating: 
Summary: A Great Study Bible for the Serious Student
Review: This bible is based on the New Revised Standard Version translation, which I like. It maintains the poetic and literary quality of the King James Version while the meaning and wording does not suffer. The rights to the NRSV are held by the National Council of Churches in Christ which is a group very focused on ecumenical issues. The footnotes are very good and thorough, though at time they are a little liberal, doubting whether events happened. But this is not major, for as in any study bible, you should make your own judgement. It has good maps and charts, including my favorite,a list of Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament. All books have introductions, and some outlines. It also comes with the deuterocanical books which is good for study even if your denomination does not endorse them. This bible is very good for mainline Christians and certainly good for study. I give this Bible 5 stars
Rating:
Summary: Most helpful study Bible
Review: This has been the most helpful and useful study Bible I have found. I do not have a strong background of knowledge about the Bible. I have tried a few other study Bibles and find this one to have the best footnotes. The footnotes do not lean to any certain Christian sect, they stick to the facts. I also highly recommend the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST BOOK I EVER READ!
Review: This has got to be the best book ever written! I mean, it has a good plot, well developed characters, and a very moving story. When you read it you can laugh, cry, smile, frown- all your emotions pour out. It completely changed me. Are there any others like it? It brought a new meaning into my life.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it so much, I bought a second copy.
Review: This is a fantastic Bible. I bought two copies so I could look at two separate passages at once without having to flip back and forth. Someone complained about the footnotes taking up too much space and adding to the bulk of the book. This is, of course, a STUDY BIBLE, so the footnotes are kind of the point. A Study Bible without annotations isn't really a Study Bible at all. Regular Bibles without footnotes are widely available, and less costly. Someone else complained that the translation of 1 Cor 7.16 does not make sense "contextually." I'm not sure what is meant by that, exactly, but I would "adjure" this person to learn Koine Greek and compare the NRSV to the original. I can't imagine how the translation of that particular verse could be improved. The KJV turned it into a rhetorical question (which was quite unwarranted), but it nevertheless made the exact same point. Bottom line: if you're looking for a good study Bible, this would be an excellent choice.
Rating:
Summary: Best Study Bible on the Market
Review: This is by far the best study Bible available. There are numerous annotations with cultural and linguistic references that the serious Bible student wants to know about, and that (in my case) led to a greater spiritual and historical understanding of Scripture, and of the socioreligious environment of the ancient Middle East. The New Oxford Annotated is another good option, but the commentary is often less detailed than in the HCSB. If you're looking for a Bible with serious in-depth explanations, rather than the simplistic behavioral dictates that pass for "study notes" in many other student Bibles, this one's for you.
Rating:
Summary: A well presented edition
Review: This is my favourite edition of the Bible. I find the notes really useful, and the text is good to read aloud. We've bought several copies for our congregation.
Rating:
Summary: Studiousness is next to holiness...
Review: This review is not a reflection on the text of the Bible so much as the usefulness of this particular edition. The Bible holds the record for the book with the greatest variation of editions, versions, and separate publications. The Harper Collins Study Bible is one of the few that has remained an essential part of my collection and study. I was given a copy of the Harper Collins Study Bible many years ago as a gift. I had several versions, and my friend thought he was giving me one more (I like to examine the differences in translations to find deeper meanings in the texts, or misinterpretations based on faulty or incomplete translation). Alas, he was disappointed when I informed him that this was not a distinctively Harper Collins translation; it is in fact a study version of the New Revised Standard Version, one of the dominant translations at use in church and scholarship today. The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an updating of the respected and established Revised Standard Version, which still has life as the preferred text of many senior scholars. The Harper Collins Study Bible was compiled under the direction of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) who, with the American Academy of Religion (AAR) is one of the most respected academic bodies in the field today. The AAR/SBL annual conferences are attended by thousands, including in the book vendor area a large contingent from Harper-Collins publishing. Wayne Meeks, a noted and respected scholar (primarily of New Testament and early Christian era studies) was the senior editor for this edition. Generously annotated throughout, practically every other verse has a footnote. Variants in source texts and translations are highlighted, as are competing traditions of interpretation of the text (and yes, taking the text literally is still an interpretation, and a tradition of interpretation, for which there must be justification in the interpretive framework). Brief essays establishing context, historical background, textual difficulties and transmission history appear at the beginning of each book. This book contains the apocryphal books which some Bibles exclude; these are included and their status explained for those who are unfamiliar with these texts. Various maps, charts, tables, and indexes aid the student, scholar or general reader in making way through the text. If I were to have only one copy of the NRSV, this would be it--if I were permitted to have only two Bibles, this would be the second next to my King James Version. Fortunately, I have no such restriction and thus use this beside the Jerusalem/New Jerusalem text, the Schocken versions that are currently being released, the New Interpreters series which is also currently being released, the Tanakh, a publication of the Jewish Publication Society, and various other versions. The Harper Collins Study Bible, however, is the central key around which my study of all other versions revolves. Peruse it sometime in the library or bookstore, and see, if you have any interest in Biblical studies at all, if this does not become an essential tool for you, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Study Bible for Serious, Critical Study.
Review: This study Bible is an excellent resource for serious, critically-minded students of the Bible. The scholarship is excellent, and the notes provide excellent and objective historical, cultural, and literary background and context. This is not, however, a devotional or life application Bible. The notes do an excellent job of making the text understandable to a modern reader, but the reader is left on his or her own to work out the implications and applications of the text. Generally, I consider that a good thing. But like other reviewers, I like to balance the HarperCollins with more devotional or evangelical Bibles. Of these, I prefer the somewhat liberal-leaning Access Study Bible published by Oxford, but the NIV Study Bible and NIV Life Application Bible are excellent resources from a more conservative perspective. Back to the HarperCollins, the format is beautiful and very easy on the eyes. But this comes at the cost of having no margin notes for cross references(contrary to the NIV Bibles). Because of this, all the cross references are contained along with the substantive notes at the bottom of each page, which can make these notes rather tedious. Still, the notes are well worth the effort they require. The text itself is the New Revised Standard Version, an accurate translation that uses modern, inclusive language. I consider it the best translation available for the modern world.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly Liberal Scholarship
Review: This study bible seems to be written from a liberal, non believer point of view.The notes are useful yet highly biased toward watering down any mention of the supernatural, and are sometimes a little too inclusive almost to the point of contradicting scripture, in my opinion. Also the scholars are perpetuating the JEDP view of the Pentateuch, which by and large has been disproven by modern archeology.
Rating:
Summary: solid intermediate-level study bible
Review: This volume has a pleasing layout and appearance and is easy to use. The NRSV is a good translation which tends to the more literal end of the spectrum. The inclusive language is an occasional detriment to style, but blame the English language for that. The inclusion of the deuterocanonical books from all the major traditions is useful and welcome. About half the book consists of introductions and textual and explanatory footnotes, which are concise and well-done, usually explaining the background needed for me to draw my own conclusions, instead of supplying the conclusions. The assumptions underlying the dating and book authorship attributions are more liberal than I hold to, myself, but they are not extremist.
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