Scofield Study Bible-KJV-Large Print

Rating:
Summary: Great for advanced students
Review: I got the New Scofield NIV pretty much the moment it came out. It was my first "real" bible. I had a couple of cheap $5.00 paperbacks, but not a true study bible. This was the first one I ever read cover-to-cover, Genesis 1:1 to Revelations 22:21. It was a tremendous benefit to me, and has become my favorite Study Bible once again recently (now that I'm entering Fuller TS).

With that said, this is a better Study Bible for an advanced student than for a beginer. It's conservative in terms of footnoting. Many pages have no footnotes. However, each note provided contains a serious theological meat. Pure meat no filler. The cross-reference system is also the best and most advanced I've ever seen (I like it better than Thompson's).

I don't agree completely with the classic dispensational theology, and I don't agree completely with the NIV translators, but with that said, this is probably the best overall study system on the market.

Rating:
Summary: The best study Bible I own - bar none
Review: I own and use the NIV, NASB, NKJV, RSV and NRSV study Bibles and three Life Amplification Bibles. While each of these Study Bibles have their individual strengths and weaknesses, all are indeed helpful in understanding the everlasting messages given to us from God. It is not my intention to critique each version in detail. My purpose for this review is to, hopefully, add some information a first time Study Bible buyer might find useful.

Of the Study and Life Amplification Bibles I own, Dr. Scofield's is my personal favorite for several reasons. I will briefly describe those reasons.

A] Some Study Bibles somewhat overwhelm the reader with information while others are far too abbreviated. Since the foregoing statement is a personal opinion, I will not name the too much and too little Study Bibles. I do not want to add more confusion to a selection so important to one's spiritual growth. Dr. Scofield's essays, commentaries and explanations are an excellent middle ground to the above listed pros and cons.

B] All study expositions are thoughtfully placed on the same page - bottom - of the passages they refer to. As way of example, Dr. Scofield lists the Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew words that can have more than one translation and tells the reader the possible meanings of the translations. However, Dr. Scofield does not restrict his commentary to semantics. He also explains difficult passages and gives details about customs and life in Biblical times. Other Study Bibles do this also but Dr. Scofield's approach is far more "down to earth" and in clear language.

C] The center column cross-references are exceptional. The first to last listing of a particular word or idea is cross-referenced so the reader can easily go back or forward to see each reference. This is very useful in understanding the growth of God's plan for us.

I own the NKJV and the KJV. The NKJV of Dr. Scofield' New Study Bible does not have his original notes and comments. I find the study notes in the NJKV scanty compared the original KJV.

Finally, a comment about the various Bible versions. The NIV, NASB, RSV, NSRV, et al are in today's English. Some people find these versions easier to read and some say the KJV is difficult to read. Others claim the KJV is inaccurate. True, we now have more documents than the translators in the 1600s BUT the message is still the same. I, personally, prefer the KJV to all others. I will read a couple chapters in the today's versions and stop. That is not the case with the old KJV. I will read an entire chapter at one sitting. The reason is the beauty of the English of the time King James commissioned the translation. Yes, there are words we no longer use like thee, thou, art, and verb endings like dost and commeth. To me, that is the sheer poetic beauty of the language. The Old English has a lyrical flow that is a pleasure to read. I could compare the Old English to reading Italian opposed to Russian.

The KJV Old Scofield Study Bible is an excellent choice for those beginning to study God's word and those who are more advanced. Oxford University Press does a superior job in printing and binding. My copy is genuine leather and indexed. I am very pleased with my purchase and would not hesitate to buy this Bible again.

Rating:
Summary: SCOFIELD BIBLE: KJV ENHANCED AND POLITICALLY CORRECT
Review: The Scofield study bible has useful, and in some ways unique features, which enhance the King James or Authorised version of the bible. Scofield had a problem in that at the time of writing he knew that the KJV was not the best text available. New Hebrew and Greek biblical documents had been discovered since 1611, and textual criticism had advanced greatly. However, Scofield manages to preserve the universally recognised beauty of the Authorized whilst enhancing the textual accuracy at vital points with in-line glosses (word or phrase substitutions), with the original King James text moved to the margin. These glosses are indicated by a pair of vertical line | like this |. A good example of this is found in John chapter 1, verse 12: the phrase 'sons of God' is rendered as 'children of God'. This had the double virtue of being a more accurate translation of the Greek 'tekna theou', and is also gender-neutral - politically correct before his time! An Old Testament example would be Ex. 20 v.13, the well known 'Thou shalt not kill'. Here 'kill' is footnoted, and there is a one sentence explanation that, while there are several Hebrew words for 'kill', this instance means 'murder' as it has our modern legal sense of unlawful premeditated killing.

Other features include doctrinal summaries in the form of extended footnotes on the great themes of scripture, such as the section in John's gospel on grace. I think these are best described as conceptually rich and information dense. The coherence of the Old to New Testament sweep is such that several sermons or bible studies could be culled from any one of these summaries. Their usefulness in personal study is immense and sometimes saves the cost of a specialist reference book. The chain reference system enables one to follow a very extensive line of thought from the first bible occurrence of a word or concept through to the last. There are useful organised expositions of Judaistic culture, worldview, and thought habits. An excellent example of this would be the handling of the Hebraic habits of naming and word play (I don't call them 'puns'). One of the most potent of these is his analysis of the Names of God, from Elohim to 'Alpha and Omega'.

Having said all I have to say in a laudatory vein, I have to add that sometimes Scofield's conciseness is too clipped for his own good. He gives cut-and-dried answers to things which would be better handled as 'maybe this, or maybe that', and this is guaranteed to irritate the true scholar at times. He can also make comments which are so text-critically controversial that he would be better off passing over them in silence, an example of this would be the four line footnote on the 'woman taken in adultery' in John chapter 8. But buy it and not regret it is my only advice.