The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha

Rating:
Summary: Good Resource, but with some faults
Review: The Oxford Annotated Study Bible is pretty much that - a study bible. The strengths of this SB are:

1) Excellent introductions to the books of the Old and New Testaments, including full discussions of the issues over authorship and historical and social contexts

2) Helpful essays on interpretation at the end

3) Inclusion of the Apocrypha, with commentary

4) A helpful concordance at the end.

However, this Bible also has some faults. The commentary is rather dry, languid and uninspiring; often you feel the authors are as dusty and dry as this book would be after sitting in the Oxford Theology library for half a century or so. At other times, the commentary leaps to some obscure point which the commentators assume the student would know (not all of us are Oxford students!) while other important sections are only given a very cursory examination (for example, the purpose and ideas in the 'Law' books of the Pentateuch are not explained, and the notes on very important books like Ezekiel, Daniel, Revelation, etc do not really help much in interpretation). Some more clarity and liveliness in the exposition would certainly have helped make the Bible come more alive, which the NIV commentators seem to be able to do with such grace and elegance.

If you are a fundamentalist or evangelical, this Bible is probably not for you, unless you want to get a more liberal viewpoint. I would recommend the NIV, which sticks to the principle of the Bible being the 'God-breathed, infallible word of God.' Evangelicals will like the allowance of historical and literary criticism without compromising the scriptures themselves, and fundamentalists will probably also like the refusal to depart to a more liberal agenda. If you are fairly liberal though like I am, this is a pretty good resource, the flaws in the commentary aside, though a good Bible dictionary and commentary (such as the New Interpreter's Bible Set, or the NIV Commentary) are also necessary resources in my view for any serious bible study.

This is a pretty good investment for your money and a useful study bible to add to your collection.

Rating:
Summary: an excellent Bible
Review: This Bible should be on every Christian's book shelf. It contains the most extensive canon of Scripture as accepted in the Eastern Churches. The RSV is also the finest english translation of Scripture to date (unfortunately the NRSV is quirky in some places and makes excessive use of inclusive language). The introductions and notes are, for the most part useful, but do represent a slight liberal protestant bias (see for example the notes on John 6). Also, the DeuteroCanonical books are included in an appendix in the back and should be either placed between the two testaments or in canonical order. Nevertheless, this is the most ecumenical edition of the Bible available in a translation that is liturgically acceptable to Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox. I would use this Bible along with the New Jerusalem Bible.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Bible There Is
Review: This is the best bible for study purposes, and most of the commentary is based on sound historical and archaeological sources. For those who are not religious, this is an especially nice feature - it's essentially a secular explanation of various linguistic, social, and meanings that are not clear by reading them in English.

I recommend this not just for the excellent footnotes, but because the RSV (Revised Standard Version) of the Bible is an excellent compromise between the King James Version (which is as difficult to read as Shakespeare) and the NIV, in which the English is so modern that it loses much of the poetic qualities of the KJV. This version preserves the beauty of the language of the KJV while still being easily understood by modern English readers.

Rating:
Summary: Non-ecumenical Bible - not for Orthodox Christians
Review: This RSV edition claims to be "ecumenical" and that "it can be used by Eastern Orthodox Christians". And that it was endorsed by Orthodox Bishops. However this endorsement only goes for the fact that the full Orthodox Canon is included. Not for the concept of this "study Bible", which is in no way ecumenical, since all notes and introductions are liberal protestant and historistic. There is not one single Orthodox Holy Father mentioned in the notes!" Furthermore an Orthodox Christian will find statements like "This Gospel is anonymous" in the intro to St Matthew, if not blasphemous, then at least very dubious - why do the editors think it's called the "Gospel of St Matthew"? Ever heard of the "Gospel of St Anonymous"? Broken off from Holy Tradition, the protestant editors fail to grasp the Spiritual layers of the Holy Scripture, and notes never spiritually rise above being "historical" spiced up with a few feeble moralistic comments inserted here and there. Not a trace of the Wisdom of St John Chrysostom. St. Ambrose, St Bede, or any other interpretations from the Holy Fathers, which are indispensable to the Orthodox. This example of heretic Bible "study" is *not* recommendable for Eastern Orthodox Christians! Get the "Common Bible" from Collins instead - same RSV text of the complete Orthodox Canon, but no heretic articles or blasphemous introductions to the Books.

Rating:
Summary: Non-ecumenical Bible - not for Orthodox Christians
Review: This RSV edition claims to be "ecumenical" and that "it can be used by Eastern Orthodox Christians". And that it was endorsed by Orthodox Bishops. However this endorsement only goes for the fact that the full Orthodox Canon is included. Not for the concept of this "study Bible", which is in no way ecumenical, since all notes and introductions are liberal protestant and historistic. There is not one single Orthodox Holy Father mentioned in the notes!" Furthermore an Orthodox Christian will find statements like "This Gospel is anonymous" in the intro to St Matthew, if not blasphemous, then at least very dubious - why do the editors think it's called the "Gospel of St Matthew"? Ever heard of the "Gospel of St Anonymous"? Broken off from Holy Tradition, the protestant editors fail to grasp the Spiritual layers of the Holy Scripture, and notes never spiritually rise above being "historical" spiced up with a few feeble moralistic comments inserted here and there. Not a trace of the Wisdom of St John Chrysostom. St. Ambrose, St Bede, or any other interpretations from the Holy Fathers, which are indispensable to the Orthodox. This example of heretic Bible "study" is *not* recommendable for Eastern Orthodox Christians! Get the "Common Bible" from Collins instead - same RSV text of the complete Orthodox Canon, but no heretic articles or blasphemous introductions to the Books.