Collegeville Bible commentary?

[Brother Adam]

Do any of you have this? Is it fairly orthodox? Worth having on the shelf with other commentaries?

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Brother Adam' date='Dec 6 2005, 05:24 PM']Do any of you have this? Is it fairly orthodox? Worth having on the shelf with other commentaries?
[right][snapback]813965[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
I consider it to be one of the more worthless commentaries in my collection. But its not all bad.

[Brother Adam]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='Dec 6 2005, 06:32 PM']I consider it to be one of the more worthless commentaries in my collection. But its not all bad.
[right][snapback]813974[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

What are some good ones, especially more technical commentaries?

[Laudate_Dominum]

The most popular among scholars in the English speaking world is the Brown/Fitzmeyer stuff. To be more precise, the New Jerome Biblical Commentary and the Anchor Bible series.

That's what "modern critical" Catholic scholars use anyway. Can't say its my favorite, but its essential to own if you wanna get into Biblical research. Be prepared for annoyance, you won't find the highest regard for magisterial guidance in the field of Biblical scholarship.

[blovedwolfofgod]

i hear Navarre is really good. but you have to buy the books of the bible seperately.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='blovedwolfofgod' date='Dec 6 2005, 05:43 PM']i hear Navarre is really good. but you have to buy the books of the bible seperately.
[right][snapback]813993[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
Yeah, Navarre is good stuff. More catechetical and devotional than strictly scholarly however. But there are "scholarly" fruits that can be reaped from this commentary. In my silly opinion at least.

[Laudate_Dominum]

From what I've seen, the commentary Ignatius Press has been publishing is very balanced and good. But certainly its main weakness is that it is far from comprehensive.

[Laudate_Dominum]

It also depends on what you're interested in. The New Jerome deals a lot with form criticism. Metzger has stuff out there that focuses on textual criticism. The anchor series is varied.

Honestly, if the Jesus Seminar people (notably John Meier) make you physically ill, most of the popular Biblical scholarship will likely have a similar effect.

Ignace de la Potterie came up in a different thread. He is a "modern scholar" but from what I've read I like his style.

Oh, and I'm sure Dr. Hahn would do a most superb job of answering your question. As I'm sure you know, he's on the "in" when it comes to this subject.

[homeschoolmom]

I love saying, "Collegeville."

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Dec 6 2005, 05:56 PM']I love saying, "Collegeville."
[right][snapback]814014[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
I know right? hehe

I won't kid though, they have produced piles of crrrap in the area of Biblical studies. They had a noble and good agenda to make available Biblical study materials to the laity back in the 70's, but the result was liberal to put it in simple terms. Not just liberal, but kind of sappy and shallow if you ask me.

For whatever reason, I've ended up owning a good bit of their stuff and it all has the same flavor. If you love the NAB commentary, you might enjoy the collegeville stuff.

I'd describe it as virtually useless for the scholar; misleading, banal and annoying for the laity.

[homeschoolmom]

I said fun to say, not fun to read... Silly...


collegeville, collegeville, collegeville...

[Laudate_Dominum]

Gosh.. I feel mean.. I shouldn't be so sweeping in my condemnation. There is some good stuff to be found.

I was just never able to get into them, and I have seen weird things. I recall one commentary explaining how the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality was because of the social norm of the time, not because homosexuality is actually immoral.

[shortnun]

Brother Adam,

Extensive discussion regarding Biblical Commentaries has taken place in the "Word and Apologetics" forum.

[url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=43386"]Here is a more recent thread that deals with the topic of biblical commentaries and various methods of interpretation.[/url]

[url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/index.php?showtopic=40487&hl=new+jerome+biblical+commentary"]This thread stems from a longer, more in-depth debate about the New Jerome Biblical Commentary.[/url]

Let us know what you think if/when you use them.

[Laudate_Dominum]

My main advice to anyone thinking of delving into modern biblical scholarship:

Read "Divino Afflante Spiritu" by Pius XII and "Providentissimus Deus" by Leo XIII.
Read "Dei Verbum" of Vatican II.
Read "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church" by the Pontifical BIblical Commission.
Read "Sancta Mater Ecclessia", again by the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Read these documents carefully so that you can discern when a piece of Biblical scholarship is in line with the Church and when it isn't.
Hopefully this is an important question to you (namely the catholicity of "Catholic" scholarship), sadly I find it is often far from the mind of many "Catholic" scholars out there. But this should not be a great surprise considering the spirit of dissent that has been rampant for some time.

God bless.

[homeschoolmom]

collegeville...

...if you say it right, it can sound like a sneeze...