Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
 Of making many Study Bibles there is no end October 26, 2006
Charles S. Houser (Binghamton, NY)
79 out of 89 found this review helpful
Every day there seems to be another new study or devotional Bible on the market. If you're not a Bible fetishist, this plethora of choices must be truly mind-boggling. All I can say on behalf of the "Fully Revised and Updated Harper Collins Study Bible" is that the first edition was great and the revised edition has some nice enhancements. First, it comes with a concordance that is complete enough to help readers find key passages, but not so long as to make the book too thick and bulky to handle. Also, the Bible includes five articles that provide clear explanations of important topics every Bible reader should be aware of: Strategies for Reading Scripture; Israelite Religion; The Greco-Roman Context of the New Testament; The Bible and Archaeology; and Archaeologoy and the New Testament. Many of the introductions to individual books of the Bible have been revised. The scholarship in the articles and introductions is consistently good and they are written in language that is sensitive to both the person of faith and to those people who may be interested in the Bible as literature who don't want to have doctrinal positions foisted upon them. The notes, the editors assure us, have also been thoroughly revised. The Bible employs the New Revised Standard Version (which has not changed since the earlier 1993 editon of the HCSB was first published) and includes the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books, those books read by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians but not by all Protestant traditions. If you only want to buy one study Bible, this may be the one for you.
"Desert Island" Study Bible of Choice November 12, 2006
William B. Jones
48 out of 53 found this review helpful
My question as a user of the first edition of Harper Collins Study Bible was whether it was worth "upgrading" to the new version. The new edition is the same trim size as the original, which makes it (still) a better fit in one's hand than either the heavier New Oxford (Third Edition) NRSV or bulkier New Interpreters (NRSV) Study Bibles. It has both a new concordance, indexing common Biblical terms, and more general articles than the first edition (though at only five, not yet at the level of the still-unsurpassed introductory articles of the Oxford Revised English Study Bible, nor with the range of the more technical New Oxford NRSV articles), yet manages all this in fewer pages than before. How? With a slight (but notable) reduction in font size, albeit with slightly darker print in compensation, and with even narrower margins. In other words, it is a more informative edition of the Bible, but also a more difficult one in which to add notes as you go (and yes, as noted elswhere, with in-text black-and-white maps from the first edition poorly reproduced in this one).
If you have none of the top-flight Study Bibles mentioned herein, by all means go with the new Harper Collins (the notes, which highlight ancient social, political, historical and textual details, cover much the same ground as did the previous edition, though with notable expansion of introductions and/or notes in such key books as Genesis and the Gospels). If you already own a Harper Collins, but neither New Oxford (the largest font-size of the three, whose editorial apparatus seeks to address similar textual concerns, along with consideration for modern church usage) nor New Interpreters (the smallest font-size, by a decisive drop, and self-conciously seeking to cover more literary/theological issues in its numerous mini-essays), you might want to obtain these next, while not overlooking the excellent notes (and translations) of either the New Jerusalem Bible or Oxford's Jewish Study Bible.
Difference between Study and Student versions March 24, 2009
Emiilie Murray (Los Angeles, Ca)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
The only difference between the student and study version is that the study version has a concordance while the student version doesn't. That is the difference in page numbers and material. All other material and bonus features are the same.
Was trying for ages to figure out the difference as I wanted to get the most complete Bible I could and was seeing that the student version had less pages, which one would not expect. Hope this helps others in their purchasing.
an excellent resource and reading Bible December 20, 2007
Ken
17 out of 20 found this review helpful
I read almost all Bible translations and compare them often. I think that many reviews are from people who have not actually spent time studying and are instead just regurgitating the comments of their conservative pastors.
The NRSV is a great translation. The use of gender accurate language is a common practice in real world literature and it is only logical that it would also be used in Bible translations. The linguistic arguments are well worn and should be known and understood by all potential reviewers.
I regret that the Harper Collins Study Bible is not available in leather editions. The font size, word spacing, layout and printing quality is all excellent. I think the font size is about 10.5 - 11 pica. The study notes are obviously smaller, but my old eyes can still read them.
In regard to the so-called "liberal slant," the commentators are using principles of higher criticism. You don't have to agree with everything they say, but it would behoove us all to understand their perspective. Many of the comments are on word choices or alternative renderings. I find many of the comments to be helpful and they enhance my understanding. Some of their comments, such as on 1 Corinthians 6:9ff, are quite conservative in their interpretation.
This is not a Life Application Bible, which has its own attributes. The student of the Bible would do well to use various tools in their learning endeavors.
I find this edition of the NRSV to be comfortable to read from on a daily basis. I would encorage the reader to get a copy of this wonderful study Bible and just enjoy the translation and commentary. Don't let the ultra-conservatives tell you what to read and not read. Take charge of your own spiritual life.
The best Study Bible for Serious Scholars. September 30, 2007
B. Marold (Bethlehem, PA United States)
19 out of 24 found this review helpful
`The Harper Collins Study Bible' for the New Revised Standard Version is one of, if not the best study Bible I've found for serious study. Its closest competitor may be the `Oxford Annotated Bible', which I originally used to prepare Bible Study classes, until a Theological Seminary professor recommended the Harper-Collins. The very first thing which one notices is that the general editor for the Harper-Collins is Wayne Meeks, who, even in my short experience with Biblical studies, stands out as one of the more important mentors of Biblical scholars in the United States.
One thing the Harper-Collins is not is a fancifully colored layout. The text of the scriptures are plainly stated, but with the advantage over Oxford of providing titles for the various subjects and incidents (commonly called pericopes when they appear in the Gospels). Oxford does not have these, and they are an immediate help.
Another thing the Harper-Collins does not have is a Concordance section. Oxford has such a section, and I found it a total waste of space. While their section was a few dozen pages, the Strong concordance runs to over 1200 pages. One can imagine that Oxford left a lot of things out!
The Harper-Collins and Oxford had several features which were virtually identical, such as the maps section and the table of parallel passages in the Gospels. Oxford did have a comparable section for Hebrew Scriptures, which I do not see in Harper-Collins, so that's one point for Oxford.
Harper-Collins also has an eminently useful listing of all Hebrew passages quoted in the Christian scriptures. This is invaluable. I only wish they had done it by both OT and NT books rather than just by OT books.
In the notes, I tend to find Harper-Collins more useful and richer in the number of notes and the amount of information therein, but that may vary from book to book, as different contributors did different books. It is certainly true of the Gospels.
Like some other books, `Oxford' is a brand name which yields good, but not excellent results. If you can get your hands on a Harper-Collins Study Bible, you will not be disappointed, as long as you do not expect it to replace commentaries on individual books.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
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