27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alpha and Omega on CD, December 22, 2005
This review is from: New Interpreter's Bible: Complete Twelve Volume Commentary CD-ROM (New Interpreters Bible Commentaries) (CD-ROM)
The New Interpreter's Bible is a twelve-volume series, updating the popular Interpreter's Bible from a few decades ago. There are several key features common to all of the volumes of this series. First, each includes a two-column, double translation of the Biblical text (NIV - New International Version, and NRSV - New Revised Standard Version) arranged by topical unit or story. Then, they provide commentaries that look at the passages as a whole, as well as verse-by-verse. Third, interesting Reflection pieces that relate the passages to each other, to history, and to current concerns occur at the conclusion of each passage. Fourth, introductory articles for each book are provided that discuss transmission, historical background, cultural setting, literary concerns, and current scholarship. Finally, there are general articles about the Bible, each Testament, and various types of literature (Narrative, Gospel, Wisdom Literature, etc.) are provided to give general placement and knowledge about the text overall.
The list of contributors, editors, and consultants on the project is a veritable Who's Who of biblical and theological scholarship, representing all major traditions and schools of thought liberal and conservative. Leander Keck, of the Yale Divinity School, is the primary editor of the series.
The volumes were published individually, and can be purchased individually, which is a good thing, given that they are a bit expensive. But for any serious biblical scholar, preacher, student, or enthusiast, they are invaluable. A great way to purchase them, however, is by buying the entire set, as is on offer here.
The text set includes seven volumes for the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures, and five volumes of the New Testament. Interspersed among the first seven volumes are the apocryphal texts. These books are called apocryphal because their status is not canonically clear within the Christian tradition. They are not contained in the official canon of the Hebrew scripture, and so Protestant tradition has tended to leave the books out of the Old Testament. However, these texts were included in the Septuagint, the primary Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures in the ancient world, and so the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches consider the texts canonical. This CD set includes all of this text.
High praise goes to the general editorial staff for working with such strong authors/scholars, that their work fits together well as part of this set while retaining their individual characteristics (much like the writers of the Bible itself!).
--Volume contents--
The following is a list of each volume in this twelve-volume set, and the contents of each. Each is included on the CD.
Volume I: General Articles on the Bible; General Articles on the Old Testament; Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus
Volume II: Numbers; Deuteronomy; Introduction to Narrative Literature; Joshua; Judges; Ruth; I & II Samuel
Volume III: I & II Kings; I & II Chronicles; Ezra, Nehemiah; Esther; Additions to Esther; Tobit; Judith
Volume IV: I & II Maccabees; Introduction to Hebrew Poetry; Job; Psalms
Volume V: Introduction to Wisdom Literature; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs; Book of Wisdom; Sirach
Volume VI: Introduction to Prophetic Literature; Isaiah; Jeremiah; Baruch; Letter of Jeremiah; Lamentations; Ezekiel
Volume VII: Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature; Daniel; Additions to Daniel; Hosea; Joel; Amos; Obadiah; Johan; Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah; Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi
Volume VIII: General Articles on the New Testament; Matthew; Mark
Volume IX: Luke; John
Volume X: Acts; Introduction to Epistolary Literature; Romans, I Corinthians
Volume XI: II Corinthians; Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; I & II Thessalonians; I & II Timothy; Titus; Philemon
Volume XII: Hebrews; James; I & II Peter; I, II & III John; Jude; Revelation
The one drawback, as noted by another, is that one must have the CD to use; it cannot be completely loaded on the hard-drive as a stand-alone. For me, this is not a major inconvenience, but might be for some, so please note the issue.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
be warned...This will not run on Vista or Mac OS 10 and higher!!, January 23, 2008
This review is from: New Interpreter's Bible: Complete Twelve Volume Commentary CD-ROM (New Interpreters Bible Commentaries) (CD-ROM)
If you still have XP or Mac with lower OS than 10 then this is a good program. You can get around the requirement of having the CD with you in the drive to run the program by buying a program such as Power ISO which is basically a virtual cd-rom. You can then make an ISO image of the cd-rom and have that stored on your laptop and just by right-clicking on the image of the cd you can mount it to the virtual cd-rom and both protect your cdrom and save having to bring it with you everywhere.
it is a little challenging to get used to using the program but once you get the hang of it it is quite handy and much easier than carrying 12 volumes of books everywhere you go!!
THIS NEEDS A PATCH FOR MAC OS10 AND HIGHER AND FOR VISTA!!!!!
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44 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Silly Inconvenience, June 16, 2003
This review is from: New Interpreter's Bible: Complete Twelve Volume Commentary CD-ROM (New Interpreters Bible Commentaries) (CD-ROM)
...There is no question about NIB. You know it's the best.
As for the CD ROM edition, I have a big problem. I MUST run it from a CD drive. You can load the program into the hard drive but NOT the DATA to run it without the CD. I called them and they confirmed. My notebook computer (the light weight IBM ThinkPad X series) comes with external CD ROM that I don't usually carry it with me to reduce weight. So I have everything I need in the hard drive, including the entire Libronix Digital Library System, 1,000 MB of data. But now, I am not allowed to put this 85 MB of data into my hard drive. Even if I have a built-in CD drive on my notebook, I will still prefer to run it from the hard drive and not to carry the CD with me because I could lose it. I think it's just an outdated paranoia, which will hinder the widely usage of the great NIB, and prevent the growth of the software company itself. What a shame!
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