Customer Reviews

The Orthodox Study Bible: New Testament and Psalms

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_The Orthodox Study Bible: New Testament and Psalms_ is the only Eastern Orthodox study Bible available. This edition only contains the New Testament and the Psalms of the New King James translation. The text is commentated upon by notes giving the Orthodox teaching on Scripture. Currently, scholars at St. Athanasius Seminary are at work translating the entire Bible from the Septuagint, and will include the entire canonical Old Testament, including the Deutero-Canonical books (or as known to Protestants, the "Apocrypha") that are in the Greek Septuagint but not the Hebrew Bible. This edition contains information on how the Bible is viewed in the Orthodox Church, an outline of Orthodox history, tips on how the Bible is to be studied, a glossary of Orthodox Terms, a list of the Seventy, the lectionary and Orthodox prayers. The Canon of Scripture was decided AFTER the Ecumenical Council of Nicea, in which the Nicean Creed was drawn up as the statement of Orthodoxy, thus the Scripture is given its authority by the Church, and Scripture forms the centerpiece of the Church's Tradition dating from Christ and His Apostles. As another reviewer noted, this edition is a "who's who" of Orthodoxy, including Peter E. Gilquist, Jack Norman Sparks, Archbishop JAKOVOS, Bishop KALLISTOS, Bishop MAXIMOS and Fr. Anthondy Coniaris.

There are some people who feel that this translation is lacking in terms of it's strict adherence to Orthodox biblical tradition. The Holy Apostles Convent has published a two volume version of the New Testament that is heavily annotated with comments of major figures of Orthodoxy such as St. John Chrysostom, and is probably the more scholarly of the two versions. However, I still find the accessibility of the writing in the Orthodox Study Bible to be extremely helpful. and often read the versions together. The list of individuals who worked to create this Bible is a veritable who's who of contemporary Orthodoxy, and I certainly don't feel even remotely qualified to criticize their efforts. I believe that the Orthodox Study Bible is a very worthwhile investment and have purchased copies for my children and brother.

This happens to be the first English study Bible that offers study aids written from the Orthodox perspective. This Orthodox Study Bible is published by Thomas Nelson, it uses the New King James Version (NKJV and KJV are the versions most often found and approved by the Orthodox churches in the US) and it includes the New Testament 27 books along with the Psalms.

Side Note: the Psalms are numbered according to the Masoretic text but after Psalm 9 (which is where the numerical divergence begins between the Septuagint-LXX and the Masoretic text) a footnote shows the Septuagint number for each subsequent psalm.

This study Bible project is the brainchild of Fr. Peter E. Gillquist, famous former Campus-Crusade-for-Christ leader and convert to Orthodoxy,(and author or "Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith," "Coming Home: Why Protestant Clergy Are Becoming Orthodox,") and is also edited and backed-up by various Orthodox Th.D.'s, Ph.D.'s, Priests, Bishops, and Metropolitans.

This is the most uniquely structured (and most treasured) study-Bible in my collection. As a Christian-unity minded Protestant I appreciate all the special features of this study-Bible that makes it so Orthodox.

The study Bible starts with a section on The Bible and the Orthodox Church: The Church Fathers Speak, The Bible and Orthodox Tradition, The Creed and, Some Orthodox Beliefs and Their Biblical Foundation (which deals with topics such as Communion, honoring Mary, place of tradition vs Scripture, icons, saints, and liturgy). The second section of the introduction is basically A Guide to the Spiritual Life: Beginning the Journey to the Kingdom, How to Remain in Communion With God, Spritual Helps in the Examination of Your Conscience, Where to turn in the Psalms, and Where to turn in the New Testament (general subject indexes). There is also a short introduction on How to Use The Orthodox Study Bible and notes on the style and text of the NKJV.

Each New Testament book is preceded by study notes on the Author, Date, Major Theme, Background Information, and an Outline. Gospel passages and sub-titles are shown with their equivalent texts in the other Gospels. Each text has carefully prepared study notes with easy to follow highlighted words. Keeping in line with Orthodox Christian living, this study Bible has a chart of Scripture reading to offer guidance for daily devotions, a guide for morning and evening prayers, and readings for feast days. Keeping in line with NKJV tradition, this study Bible has the words of Christ in red, and also center-columns cross references and translation notes. The end of this study Bible has lots of extras: a glossary of Orthodox Christian terminology, an index to annotations, a treatise on Interpreting the Scriptures, a harmony of the Gospels chart, Monies-Weighs-and-Mesures table, a Concordance, and Color Maps. A final addition that makes this study Bible distinctively eastern-Orthodox is the presence of various iconic images placed throughtout the text and related to a specific passage.

I would recommend this study-Bible to any cradle-Orthodox who has never read the Holy Scriptures and who wants to live more like Jesus Christ and follow the example of the Christians of the Early Church.

This study-Bible is also useful to anyone else (like Protestants, Catholics) who wants to learn more about the Eastern Orthodox Church and Christian traditions in this branch of Christianity.

As an evangelical Protestant, I am using this guide as a more comprehensive view of textual hermeneutics and ecclesiology, a correct view of Christology, and a deeper spritual devotional.

Interstingly enough, this paperback edition is 25% more than the hardcover edition.

First, let me say that this "study bible" is quite evidently aimed at low-church, or evangelical, protestants or those who are converting to Orthodoxy from that background. This is most immediately evident in the notes given about Orthodoxy in the beginning of the book. The questions the team of editors chose to respond to are entirely protestant in nature: "How does the Orthodox Church view the sacraments?" "Why does the Orthodox Church continually honor and bless Mary?" "Does the Orthodox Church place tradition above or equal to scripture?" etc etc. Now, their answers to these questions are good, and having them in the study bible doesn't seem to harm it in any way (indeed, a cradle-orthodox reader will profit from them simply because they are questions they will likely face when encountering protestants, who are the most prevalent in the English speaking world). That said, it is sad that one doesn't find an Orthodox perspective on the papacy or the filioque (two major dividing issues between the Eastern and Western churches).

The other articles and materials provided at the beginning and end of the book are superb. Most of them deal, from a variety of perspectives, with how to understand and use the Holy Scriptures. The sources of Orthodox tradition are discussed, as is the Orthodox spiritual life and the importance of a regular rule of prayer, scripture readings, and partaking of the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church. The end of the book also has a brief history of the Church and another article on interpretation, which echoes the first, but offers some additional insights.

Each individual book of the Bible is preceeded, as in most protestant bibles, by an introduction to that book; it lists the likely author (the traditional one), some major themes, and gives an outline. Headlines at the top of key passages inform you when a particular passage is used for a feast day, icons pop up in the pages (seemingly at random times, I couldn't find a pattern). The footnotes are parituclarly a blessing, because they provide quick answers to how the Church interprets particular passages that may be controversial given the directions that Western Christianity has gone. Furthermore, I've found them to be great jumping off points for conversations with my priest - always a good thing when one is attempting to grow in the spiritual life.

To the reviewer who was so aghast that no prayers to Mary were offered in the evening and morning prayers: I don't know if you have a different edition, but mine has one of the most classic prayers to the Theotokos in all of Orthodoxy: "It is truly right to bless you, O Theotokos, ever blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim, without defilement you gave birth to God the Word: true Theotokos we magnify you" (p.761). It is listed in both the morning and evening prayers, as it should be.

Also, to the reviewer who commented that a "study bible" is not an Orthodox phenomenon - one of the justifications of the icons at the seventh council was that they are a gospel to the illiterate. In this society, we are largely literate, and it makes sense to offer a scripture usable to that literate population. With the profusion of Bibles and translations out there, one that is marked as Orthodox is a necessity. That said, I'm looking forward to the actual translation (the text for this Bible is the New King James Version). Still, this is a great first step towards having an authorized, poetic (but comprehensible) Holy Scriptures for use in the daily devotional rule of an Orthodox Christian. Saying that we should really learn about the Holy Word in liturgy is half the story. We should learn about it there, but we should read it as well (the Fathers are in agreement on this) if we are able, and submit our understanding to the Church in her councils, the writings of her saints, and, yes, in her liturgy. It's all part of one big picture, and this study bible at least offers a (good) tool for the English speaking Orthodox Christian to incorporate daily readings into his or her life.

I give it four stars because it lacks the Old Testament (a translation from the Septuagent is in progress), lacks answers to differences between Catholic and Orthodox beliefs, and is ultimately a protestant translation with Orthodox footnotes. Still, I gave it four because it is a good resource for daily devotion (though I recommend getting a fuller book of prayers for forming your prayer rule), a good resource for quick answers to questions of the Church's use and interpretation of passages of scripture, and the most accessable Orthodox bible currently available.

Next time someone asks you to recommend a version of the Bible. You can suggest this one. With Litergically based "Morning and Evening Prayers" pg. 755 and an informative letter titled "How to read the Bible" by Bishop Tim Ware on pg.762 and a section on pg. 820 titled "Interpreting the Scriptures." This Bible helps bring Orthodoxy to the masses. And with the numerous versions out there many will find this one, to be one of only about three they really need to keep handy. (others that might be kept handy are the NRSV already mentioned, The Jerusalem Bible and The Orthodox Study Bible NKJV.)
Unfortunatly, the study Bible consists only of the New Testament books (but one only has to get "The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphia" or NRSV) for O.T. interpretations that are geered twords Christian Orthodoxy.

Clearly it is not possible to discuss even a small part of this annotation in detail. It is a pity that more explicit reference to the Fathers was not provided. I have noted a number of curious remarks, to put it no more strongly. On Matthew 8:20, 'Since Son of Man refers to the Messiah (Dan. 7:13), it expresses both His humanity and divinity.' Since there is nothing divine about the figure in Daniel, doubtful if the figure is the Messiah and doubtful if the expected Messiah was thought to be divine I fail to follow the logic of the comment. The note on Luke 22:48 at least shows some evidence that the writer is aware of recent work on this difficult title. The note on Luke 23:44 tells us that Jesus died on the Cross at the sixth hour, despite the clear statement by St Matthew and St Mark and the clear implication in St Luke that he died at the ninth hour, a belief to which the texts of the Church's offices make abundant reference. I find no clear evidence that the Greek ekpneo, used at Mark 15:37 of Jesus' death, 'connotes a voluntary death.' This sounds like theologically wishful hermeneutics. The note on John 1:1 fails to notice, though Origen discusses the point at some length, that there is a difference in Greek between ho theos, '[the] God', that is the Father, and theos, 'God', without the article, that is 'God', but not the Father. In general, what Orthodox readers need is to be helped to enter into the spiritual teaching of the Gospel, which is about theology, in the true sense, about the great mystery of the coming of God incarnate into human history, about the response of the sinner to the loving invitation of Christ. They will hardly be helped to any of this by being told that Luke 24:13-35 is 'a delightful account of a resurrection appearance of Christ', which sounds more like a description of the visit of the Bishop to the parish sale of work.

The notes on the Psalms are woefully inadequate. We are told that where a psalm is u! sed in the 'fixed' parts of the daily round of offices this will be pointed out. We are not however told that Psalms 19 and 20 form the main part of the Royal Office which precedes the Six Psalms every day at Matins. Psalm 23 is used 'quite sparingly in the services', despite the frequent use of the phrase 'the waters of repose' in the liturgical texts. We are told that the LXX has 'Lift up your gates, O Priests' at Psalm 23.7. So far as I am aware it has 'you rulers', in Greek archontes, and I know no of no variant reading. We also learn that 'verses 7- 10 are proclaimed as the priest knocks on the door of the church on Easter morning'. This is a ceremony unknown to the Triodion and, so far as I am aware, to either Greek or Russian tradition. It seems singularly inept, since the point of the procession in the dark and the entry into the church is to re-enact the coming of the Myrrh bearers to seek for Christ's Body, only to find the tomb open and filled with light and sweet fragrance. Hence the rubric that while the procession is outside the sacristan is to light a brazier in the church and cast sweet-smelling incense onto it. Psalm 50 is used every day in the Office not 'three' times, but 'four', but perhaps the editors are unaware of the existence of the Midnight Office. It is the Psalm which begins the daily round and which ends it. Psalm 118 is used every day, except Saturday and Sunday, at the Midnight Office, and is used every Saturday and on most Sundays at Matins. It is thus said nearly every day of the year in the Church's daily round of prayer. Likewise the Psalms of Ascents (119-133) are the regular Psalms at Vespers during about half the year. They are not, as suggested here, particularly Lenten. In neither Greek nor Russian use is Psalm 136 used 'throughout Lent itself in the Matins services.' Psalm 142 is also used daily at Small Compline. The whole of Psalm 144 forms part of the grace before the main meal in monasteries, not just two verses. Since the typikon that underlies this book is cle! arly most bizarre, it might have been helpful to have been told where it comes from.

This book does a good job in providing commentary notes on Bibilcal passages with an Easern Orthodox viewpoint. The right amount of information is given. It assumes the reader has no or very little knowledge so as not to confuse potential readers, including new converts, curiosity seekers, or cradle Orthodox who have never really studied their faith.

It is filled with iconograpgy throughout and the end of the book has special sections in regards to Orthodox views, prayers, and doctrines. It is done in an easy fomat to spark one for further study and research.

This study Bible should be in any serious Bible students libarary regardless of religion. The views of the East have been often neglected by the West and the East has a rich tradition the West can learn and enjoy.

I applaud the efforts of those who contributed to the creation of this study. There are many helpful notes, introductions, and topical studies that elucidate themes central, or at least unique, to Eastern Orthodoxy. In particular I found helpful the notes in the Epistle to the Romans. At the same time, I was very disappointed to find that in many places the notes were quite dumbed-down. To make it worse, in the section of morning and evening prayers, which, by the way, are very handy, there is no mention of Mary, the Mother of our God and Savior Jesus Christ!! This has lead me to conclude two things. Firstly, this production is intended to convince Portestants that we Orthodox do indeed love the Scriptures and it is a tool to draw them into our fold (which isn't a bad thing!). Secondly, the claim that it is THE Orthodox Study Bible leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Perhaps I'm a nit-pick, but to neglect the Mother of God in the prayers is wrong when it's touted as THE OSB. Perhaps in its second printing it could be modified to say AN OSB.

Although there are many differences between the Orthodox and the Catholics, which I in no way dismiss as superficial, I still find the Jerusalem Bible's notes helpful. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, my former home, has published through Concordia Publishing a helpful study Bible which an Orthodox could read with profit, although there will be obvious differences in parts (i.e., Romans and James). I recommend these titles since they are more scholarly than the OSB in most respects. Nonetheless, everything they say cannot be endorsed as Orthodox and, depending on the subject in question, caution must me used.

I think it can also be said that the whole idea of the interpritation of scripture is that the Church in our liturgies and sermons tells us what the meaing is and we learn by finding the scriptures within the liturgical life of Mother CHurch, the Bride of Christ. THat is also why in a sense we have no need for an authoritative translation. Of course some are better than others (I.E. Jerusalem bible over the NIV), but it is still not enough. We must have the mind of the Fathers from Abraham on down.
All in all, don't forget that the concept of a study bible can lead to a "me and my bible" mentality even if you are reading one with notes from the holy Fathers. Keep going to liturgy, say your prayers, love your neighbor and your enemies and our loving Fahter will show you His will- with or without a Protestant-geared bible.
THat said, it can certainly be used with profit. Just don't see it as the end all.

Let me start by saying, I am an Orthodox Christian who is not a scholar and has a ton to learn about the faith. That being said, the "Orthodox Study Bible" is a tremendous resource to me. There are good introductions to each of the chapters as well as a ton of footnotes for understanding. There are also pages inserted in the Bible on different Orthodox traditions as well as full page icons. Once you start reading, often you are inspired to dig deeper into the subject and learn more and there are a bunch of other Orthodox publishings out there on a variety of topics, especially from Light-n-Life Publishing. Is this Bible a perfect edition, of course not but it's effective and helpful and can be a great resource for any Christian, Orthodox or otherwise, at any level of their religious belief.

There are notes which are simply unacceptable to any true Orthodox Christian, since they are omissions or distortions of vital Orthodox teachings.

a) Matthew 14:14-2 1. In discussing the feeding of the five thousand, the editors somewhat grudgingly say that the feeding of the four thousand (reported in Matthew 15:32-39) "...is PROBABLY not a duplicate report of the first miracle." Thereby, the editors are challenging the authenticity and reliability of the Gospels, since the same Gospel reports the two miracles separately and since the Lord Himself refers to both of them as separate events (Matthew 16:9-10). To raise even a question about whether these are separate events is to call into question the Lord's veracity and the reliability of the Gospels-surely not an Orthodox attitude toward either.

b) Mark 9:38-40. The note says, "Sectarianism and triumphalism (the attitude that one creed is superior to all others) are forbidden, for God's working transcends our limited perceptions. One is either for or against (v.40) Christ, but it is not always ours to know who is on which side." Does this mean that the creed of the First and Second Ecumenical Councils (the Symbol of Faith) is no better than any other creed (e.g., the Lutherans' Augsburg Confession)? Any Orthodox Christian who does not think that the Church's creed is superior to all others places himself outside the Church. Furthermore, while we may not always know where a person's heart is, we can see that those who willfully promulgate false creeds are working against our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The attitude in this note is simply foreign to any healthy Orthodox Christian.

c) Mark 10:30. The Lord promises that those who give up family and possessions will receive them back a hundredfold, but the note calls this into question, saying that this is "not an absolute promise: countless saints and martyrs were not so rewarded." Here the authors betray t! heir carnal viewpoint. The Fathers apply this passage to the whole Christian community, saying that those who give up earthly family and possessions receive new fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, homes and lands in the CHURCH, but not in the carnal sense of getting more personal possessions. It is bad enough that the authors' viewpoint is carnal, their error is compounded by the fact that they openly disagree with the Lord and question the accuracy of His promise.

d) Acts 13:3. The note supports multiple ordination. This practice has been forbidden in the Orthodox Church for many centuries, so there is no reason whatsoever to mention it, unless it is to justify the extreme irregularity of performing such ordinations when the so-called "Evangelical Orthodox" were received into the Antiochian Church.

e) I Timothy 2:12. By citing Romans 16:1 to suggest that women have been ordained as deacons and by stating that "women are not ordained to the offices of bishop and presbyter in the Orthodox Church," the note implies that women can be ordained deacons. This is not the case. The order of deaconesses is not currently in use in the Church, and in any case the Church does not treat the order of deaconesses as equivalent to that of deacons, since the former do not perform the deacon's liturgical functions.

f) II Timothy 1:9. The note says, "Our salvation and CALLING are based on His GRACE and love, not on anything we have done to merit God's favor." The Orthodox viewpoint is that our salvation does in fact depend on our response to God's grace and how we use it in our lives. We are co-workers with God in our salvation, as St. Paul says (I Cor. 3:9; II Cor. 6: 1; Phil. 2:12-13). Even our calling as Christians is based on our synergy in responding to God's grace in our lives, since we are all sustained by His grace in every breath we take. Those who respond to this grace receive a calling to participate more fully in it, a calling which is based on their earlier responses.<P! >g) The note on I Peter 3:18 glosses over the Lord's descent into Hades. You may be able to find this doctrine in the note if you know it is supposed to be there, but it certainly is not presented in a clear and unambiguous way. And yet, this is the focus of the primary icons of the feast of the Resurrection, so how can it be skimmed over with no more than a hint in what claims to be an "Orthodox Bible?"

These comments are representative of the non-Orthodox viewpoint which permeates this Study Bible and which makes it unsuited for use by Orthodox Christians. It is truly sad to see so much effort, time, and expense put into producing this Bible with such meager results in the end. It would, however, be far safer for Orthodox Christians to avoid such inaccurate and misleading aids as are provided in this Bible, especially since several more reliable "Orthodox Study" Bible commentaries are available in English for Orthodox readers (e.g. Johanna Manley's "The Bible and the Holy Fathers" her "Grace for Grace: The Psalter and the Holy Fathers" (which has the added advantage of using the Orthodox Psalter as its basic text, rather than the Protestant one); and the ongoing translation of Blessed Theophylact's commentaries on the Gospels.