Customer Reviews

HarperCollins Bible Dictionary

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I became aware of this volume while leading a Disciple II Bible study group. This volume is an excellent source for familiarizing yourself with almost any topic of interest from the Bible. I have been checking other sources and have not yet found another to be as helpful and readable as the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary. We have made it a part of the resource library for our congregation's youth church school class.

This Bible dictionary is a one volume source for nearly everything associated with or found in the Bible. It covers the Bible cover to cover with personalities, places, themes, concepts, etc. Anyone who needs a resource for Bible studies or just for general knowledge will want to own this book. Church libraries should have it available for library users. This is an excellent resource.

The editors chose authors who can write succinctly and clearly when they write on their subjects. Readers will appreciate the thoroughness as well as the readability of this book.

I can't emphasize it enough. This book is a must have for anyone interested in the Bible.

I have a number of reference books that I use rather frequently for scripture study. Without a doubt, the two volumes I refer to most are THE HARPER-COLLINS BIBLE DICTIONARY and HARPER BIBLE COMMENTARY. I find these two volumes to be the most helpful tools for Bible study and homily preparation. The dictionary is set up like any standard dictionary, but the entries are based on people, places, and books of the Bible. The entries give a detailed explanation of the person, place, event, or book of the Bible. Each entry is written by a biblical scholar and many of the names are among the best known names in Biblical studies. Many of the entries also have small bibliographies so that readers can get more detailed information if need be. The Harper-Collins Bible Dictionary is an indispensable tool for students of Biblical studies, people involved in preaching and teaching of scripture, and anyone interested in a more in depth look at the Bible.

This is a great book to have as a reference as you study the Bible or just to browse through when you have a few spare moments. This book has been put together by leaders in the study of religions. It is not biased toward any sect within Christianity. The information is backed up with references to the original documents.

A great companion to the Harper Collins Study Bible.

I actually purchased this from a bookstore back in 1988-89, then it was priced at over $100! I got it at a discount because there was a flaw in the binding. I wanted a Bible study resource that went beyond the concordances that were available at the time. Compared to some of the other Bible dictionaries that I've used this one reads more like an encyclopedia. It combines archaeological, anthropologic, and ancient historical data to give one a completely unbiased account of Biblical related facts. Another cool thing is the magnificent pictures of ancient artifacts spread throughout. I don't possess another reference book that comes close. I'm thinking of purchasing another because I've used this one so much in the last 20 years that it's starting to fall apart. It's worth the money.

The articles are precise and concise and give reference to other subjects. As a seminary student, I find this an invaluable tool in paper preparation. The editors have done an admirable job in preparing a volume that covers an inexhaustbly deep subject in a fair and complete manner.

This dictionary offers the very best of biblical scholarship in an easy to use volume. It makes a wonderful companion to the Harper Collins Study Bible, but will enhance your study of any Bible. It is an excellent resource for academic and personal study, aimed at offering a variety of information from names, places, history, and more.

This book is very easy to use. I am a minister and it has helped me with writing sermons and just understanding the Bible better.

The `HarperCollins Bible Dictionary', edited by Paul J. Achtemeier, in association with the Society of Biblical Literature is, for its size in one chunky but manageable volume, a superb reference resource which, if you can get it for a modest discount, is well worth anyone's money if you do any independent Bible study at all. One of the very few flaws I can find is that the book is misnamed. It is much more properly considered a one-volume encyclopedia than a dictionary, for several reasons.
First, not every word, especially not every proper name in the Bible appears in this volume. There are several person and place names connected with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist which cannot be found in their own entries, or even an entry which says `See ...'. And, there are several other cases I have found. Now in an encyclopedia, this is not a deficiency, as there is simply nothing one can say about these names except for what you see in the one and only occurrence in the Bible. In a dictionary, however, one can say a fair amount about the extra-biblical source and pronunciation. Second, the majority of entries are primarily analytical, summary, or even exegetical in the case of the articles on some of the major Books of the Bible. In a dictionary, one would not even expect such articles, let alone the three and a half page essay one finds, for example on Paul's letter to the Romans, with its outline, bibliography, history, and analysis of Paul's language in the letter.
Now both of these things are actually virtues when it comes to an encyclopedic reference. And, they are virtues for this very worthy volume.
It is part of the measure of this book's value that the only real competition I have found is the equally misnamed six (6) volume `Anchor Bible Dictionary' where each of the six volumes is as large as this one volume work.
The pictures in this volume are almost all in black and white, printed on the same non-glossy paper as the text and in exchange for bright, glossy pictures, we get many more, and therefore more useful selection of pics. Unfortunately, many of the black and whites are just a bit washed dark and in low resolution. Combine this with their small size, and about 1/5 of the pictures loose most of their value. I would also have liked to see a more detailed reference to the location of the sources (which Museum holds the original), but that may have doubled the cost of the book, so I won't grouse too much. The other side of the coin is that we see many wonderful little Easter eggs in the pictures, as with the Jerusalem temple inscription forbidding non-Jews from entering the Temple, written in GREEK!
I am happy to see that all quotes from the Bible are from the RSV translation, which is the direct ancestor to the NRSV commonly used in Lutheran devotions, so we Lutherans don't feel too far from home in these texts. I must also agree with all the other positive reviewers on the quality of the articles, give the space constraints in which each contributor worked. You will still need a true DICTIONARY, but this volume is a must as well.
Lastly, this volume has superior maps of Palestine throughout the Biblical eras. They are at least as good as those in the best study Bibles from Oxford and from HarperCollins, and far better than many you will see from `lay-friendly' sources like Rose and Holman.

I believe a very Christian should have a bible dictionary in their house, especially this particulary one. This is the best one and it even helps one with related scriptures in both the old and new testament with also the explaination of the words in spiritual contents not just webster dictionary's meaning, lol.