A Basic Bibliography for Biblical Studies

Study Bibles:

• Catholic Study Bible. 3rd edition. Donald Senior and John J. Collins, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016 (2nd edition 2011; 1st edition 2002).
  • probably the best Study Bible currently available, with over 600 pages of introductory articles, "Reading Guides" to each biblical section and book, Lectionary tables, glossary, concordance, and maps, in addition to the text, introductions, and notes of the New American Bible (NABRE); a comprehensive all-in-one textbook!
• Little Rock Catholic Study Bible. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2011.
  • excellent edition for general public use; lots of information in small notes and inserts, as well as expanded essays, articles, and graphics.
• Liturgy and Life Study Bible. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2023. - NEW!
  • indispensible resource with introductions to each biblical book and extensive notes showing how biblical texts are used in the Mass and other liturgies of the Catholic Church.
  Anselm Academic Study Bible: Catholic Edition. Winona, MN: Anselm Academic Press, 2007.
• contemporary approach, with over 100 pages of introductory articles, charts, maps, and many other good study aides; uses the NABRE translation.
• The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Fifth Edition. Michael D. Coogan, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
• a very good "Ecumenical Study Bible," also based on the NRSV; second edition (1991) was by Bruce M. Metzger & Roland E. Murphy, eds.
• The Revised New Jerusalem Bible: Study Edition. Henry Wansbrough, ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 2019.
• original French edition produced by the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem; contemporary translation and excellent notes; available in various editions and sizes; previous editions called "The Jerusalem Bible" and "The New Jerusalem Bible."
• The SBL Study Bible. HarperOne, 2023. - NEW!
  • a revision of the HarperCollins Study Bible, now incorporating the "New Revised Standard Version - Updated Edition" translation of the Bible into English.
• The HarperCollins Study Bible. Fully revised and updated edition. Harry Attridge, ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
  • still very good, with excellent introductions & notes, by members of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL); based on the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation; the 1993 and 1997 editions are also still good.
    
• Click here for a list of Modern English Translations.

Parallel Bibles:

• The Complete Parallel Bible, with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. Revised edition. Oxford University Press, 1993.
  • contains the whole Bible (OT & NT) in four versions: NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), REB (Revised English Bible), NAB (New American Bible), and NJB (New Jerusalem Bible).
• The Catholic Comparative New Testament. Oxford University Press, 2006.
  • prints eight versions in parallel columns: DR (Douay-Rheims), NAB (New American Bible), RSV (Revised Standard Version), NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), JB (Jerusalem Bible), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), GNT (Good News Translation), and CCB (Christian Community Bible).
• The Contemporary Parallel New Testament. Oxford University Press, 1998
  • with eight popular Protestant translations: KJV (King James Version), NASB (New American Standard Bible), NCB (New Century Bible), CEV (Contemporary English Version), NIV (New International Version), NLB (New Living Bible), NKJV (New King James Version), and The Message
• The Precise Parallel New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
  • contains eight versions, some Protestant and some Catholic: the GNT (Greek NT), KJV (King James Version), DR (Douay-Rheims), AB (Amplified Bible), NIV (New International Version), NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), NAB (New American Bible), and NASB (New American Standard Bible).
    

Bible Dictionaries:

• HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Revised and Updated edition. Mark Allan Powell, ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2011.
• the best one-volume dictionary available today, with brief articles, helpful cross-references, and additional bibliography; usually presents the consensus opinions of modern scholars; by members of the SBL.
• Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. David Noel Freedman, ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000; paperback reprint 2019.
  • another excellent recent one-volume dictionary with up-to-date bibliography
• Catholic Bible Dictionary. Scott Hahn, ed. Doubleday Religion, 2009.
  • a very recent one-volume dictionary, from an explicitly Catholic perspective
• The Anchor Bible Dictionary. 6 vols. David Noel Freedman, ed. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
• the best new multi-volume resource;  also available on CD-ROM;  too expensive for most individuals, but essential for any school, parish, or community library.
• The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. 5 vols. Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, ed. Nashville: Abingdon, 2006-2009.
  • updated edition of a standard classic (listed next).
• The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. 4 vols. George A. Buttrick, ed. Nashville: Abingdon, 1962.
  & The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Supplementary Volume. Keith Crim, ed. Nashville: Abingdon, 1976.
  
• older, but still an excellent resource for many topics; check the supplementary volume for updated articles on some topics.
• Dictionary of the Bible. John L. McKenzie, ed. NY: Scribner, 1965; reprint Touchstone, 1995.
  • somewhat dated, but still excellent overall; very compact entries with many biblical references, from a Catholic perspective.

Bible Commentaries:

• HarperCollins Bible Commentary. James L. Mays, ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000.
• good section-by-section comments; less expensive than NJBC, but fewer introductory and topical articles; formerly called Harper's Bible Commentary (1988).
• The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition. John Collins, et. al., eds. T&T Clark, 2022.
  • the most recent edition of this classic; very detailed line-by-line commentaries on each biblical book; also contains excellent overview articles on many historical and theological topics.
  • previous edition: New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Raymond Brown, et al., eds. Inglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990.
• The New Collegeville Bible Commentary. Daniel Durken, OSB, ed. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2017.
  • updated as of 1994; available in one large volume, or two separate volumes (OT and NT), or inexpensive individual pamphlets for each biblical book.
  • previous edition: Collegeville Bible Commentary. Dianne Bergant & Robert J. Karris, eds. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1989.
    • also available in one large volume, or two separate volumes (OT and NT), or inexpensive individual pamphlets for each biblical book.
• The Paulist Biblical Commentary. José Enrique Aguilar Chiu, ed. Paulist Press, 2018.
  • another good recent one-volume commentary on the whole Bible
• There are many other commentary series with individual volumes on each biblical book; see especially:
• "Anchor Bible Commentary" series (Doubleday) - large, detailed, mostly excellent volumes; some still being revised/republished.
• "Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture" - collects patristic-era comments on each book of the OT and NT.
• "Berit Olam" (OT) and "Sacra Pagina" (NT) series (Liturgical Press) - excellent volumes combining academic scholarship with a more pastoral focus.
• "Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture" - detailed volumes on each book of the OT and NT, from a Catholic perspective.
• "Old Testament Message" and "New Testament Message" series (Liturgical Press) - shorter, slightly older, but still good intros.
• "Doubleday NT Commentary" series (Image Books) - short volumes entitled "Invitation to XYZ: A Commentary on XYZ with Complete Text from The Jerusalem Bible"; older, shorter, but still useful; available in many public and parish libraries.
• "Wisdom Commentary" - award-winning large new academic volumes, more to be published soon, from The Liturgical Press

Bible Atlases & Archaeological Encyclopedias:

• Oxford Bible Atlas. Adrian Curtis, ed. 4th edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
  • First edition 1962; second edition 1974; third edition 1984.
• HarperCollins Atlas of Bible History. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2007.
• The Carta Bible Atlas. 5th revised & updated edition. Yohanan Aharoni & Michael Avi-Yonah, eds. Jerusalem: Carta, 2011.
  • Revised edition of The Macmillan Bible Atlas (3rd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1993).
• The Collegeville Atlas of the Bible. Marcus Braybrooke and James Harpur, eds. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998.
• The HarperCollins Concise Atlas of the Bible. James B. Pritchard and L. Michael White, eds. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997.
• Nelson's Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts. 3rd edition. Thomas Nelson, 2010.
   
• The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford Archaeological Guides. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
• The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. 4 vols. Ephraim Stern, ed. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
  • Vol. 5: Supplementary Volume. 2015.
     
• Bible Maps and Slideshows - restricted to current students only (due to copyright laws; sorry!).
• Other online sources with Bible Maps:
  • https://biblemaps.com/
  • https://www.biblestudy.org/maps/main.html
  • https://www.bible.ca/maps/

Bible Concordances in English:

• New American Bible Revised Edition Concise Concordance. John R. Kohlenberger III, ed. CCD: 2012.
• NRSV Exhaustive Concordance. Bruce M. Metzger, ed. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1991.
• The Concise Concordance to the NRSV. John R. Kohlenberger III, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible. 22^nd American edition. Robert Young, ed. Hendrickson, 1984, 1998. -- uses the KJV; also on CD
• Note: Most electronic Bible programs can also give comprehensive lists of biblical terms and references; see esp. the BibleWorks and Bibloi programs.

Gospel Synopses, Pauline Parallels, and OT Parallels:

• Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Revised Standard Version. New York: American Bible Society, 2010.
• English-only edition; re-issue of the classic Synopsis by Kurt Aland.
• Aland, Kurt. Synopsis of the Four Gospels: Greek-English Edition. New York: United Bible Societies, 1985.
• available in Greek-English, Greek-only, or English-only editions; uses the RSV translation.
• Throckmorton, Burton H., Jr. Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels (NRSV Edition). 5^th ed. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1992.
• compares Matthew, Mark & Luke, in NRSV translation; also includes references to the Gospel of Thomas and a few other non-canonical texts.
• ONLINE Gospel Synopsis: The Five Gospels Parallels, by John W. Marshall.
   
• Wilson, Walter T. Pauline Parallels: A Comprehensive Guide. Westminster John Knox, 2009.
• Francis, Fred O., and J. Paul Sampley. Pauline Parallels. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984.
• Endres, John C., et al., eds. Chronicles and Its Synoptic Parallels in Samuel, Kings, and Related Biblical Texts. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998.

Introductory Bible Reading Guides:

• Binz, Stephen J. Introduction to the Bible: A Catholic Guide to Studying Scripture. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2007.
• Fischer, James A. Interpreting the Bible: A Simple Introduction. New York: Paulist Press, 1996.
• Mueller, Steve. The Seeker's Guide to Reading the Bible: A Catholic View. Chicago: Loyola Press, 1999.
• Nutting-Ralph, Margaret. Scripture: Nourished by the Word. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2002.
• Ruff, Jerry. Understanding the Bible: A Guide to Reading the Scriptures. Winona, MN: St. Mary's Press, 2008.
• Somewhat longer introductions:
  *Montague, George T. Understanding the Bible: A Basic Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Revised & expanded edition. New York: Paulist Press, 2007.
  *Miller, John W. How the Bible Came to Be: Exploring the Narrative and Message. New York: Paulist Press, 2004.
   
• See also my page on Bible Reading Plans and Study Guides

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More Bibliographical Recommendations:

Part 2: Exegetical Handbooks | OT Intros | NT Intros | Non-Canonical Collections | Church Documents | Miscellaneous

Part 3: Bibles in Spanish | Bibles in Ancient Languages | Hebrew & Greek Resources

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