Customer Reviews

The Oxford Companion to the Bible (Oxford Companions)

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Oxford University Press has a reputation second to none in the production of scholarly reference works, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. It has certainly upheld that fine reputation for scholarship, objectivity, and authoritative research with its latest 'Oxford Companion to the Bible', edited by Bruce Metzger and Michael Coogan.

Pulling together a worthy group of researchers and scholars (the directory of contributors spans seven pages of rather small typeset print), the 'Oxford Companion to the Bible' represents a major work of reference useful in any biblical endeavour. 'Interpretation of the Bible has of course not been consistent, and throughout history the Bible has been used to support contradictory positions on such issues as slavery, the role of women, war and peace, forms of government, and finance. The Companion reflects this diversity: it is consciously pluralistic, and its more than 250 contributors, as well as its editors and editorial advisory board, encompass a wide spectrum of intellectual and confessional perspectives.'

In keeping with the diversity of authorship, the Companion is meant to be useful to a diverse range of Bible readers and religious. The Companion includes systematic treatment of the use, development, and role of the Bible in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, as well as the influence and significance of the Bible in thematic areas such as the arts, literature, politics, law, history, and culture.

This is not a simple Bible dictionary -- it has encyclopedic entries with in-depth analyses that go beyond mere definition, and contains more than 700 articles, each with authorship noted (so that the perspective can be known from whence the essay's asssertions come). Broad topics include:

- Formation of the Bible as a text
- Context and the Biblical World
- Concepts in the Bible (in the various interpretations)
- Uses and Influences of the Bible

While the Companion is arranged alphabetically, it is extensively cross-referenced by keywords, topically, and 'blind entries' (i.e., words that have meanings not expressly covered as separate entries, but are contained in more detail within other entries).

From Aaron to Zion, this is a book which, when pulled from the shelf, rarely remains closed for long -- I often use it to search for a particular theme, and find myself an hour later still perusing the Companion, having been tempted to follow the various strands through the book. While it is a reference book, and thus not one to be read simply by sitting and starting with the first entry, it nonetheless has an interesting, readable character that draws the seeker in. Treasures lie on each page.

From the possible influence of the ancient Gilgamesh Epic to the current practice of possessing and passing on a Family Bible, this reference is second to none in usefulness and comprehensive scope.

If I had known how much information was in this, I could have skipped all those books I bought on specific bible topics. This is much more than single paragraph summaries of people, places and things in the bible. There are many long, detailed articles on Israeli history, ancient Jewish and early Christian beliefs, all the different sects of Judaism and early Christianity. Most useful are the related articles on different subjects: what does the bible say about death, heaven, hell, women, homosexuality, capitol punishment? Next time you hear someone quoting the bible to support their politcal agenda, you can, in a minute, see what the bible REALLY says about that subject. Objective, thorough, invaluable!

Of all the "companions" to the Bible available, this is the most comprehensive. The editors have done a fine job compiling most topics referenced in the Bible into a concise single-volume tome. Each book of the Bible is covered, as well as books of the apochrypha; the list of characters covered is nearly complete; and the many themes of modern religious scholarship is, at least to the novice, very comprehensive. There are a number of maps at the end to rival Biblical atlases.

There are at least two omissions that perhaps should not have been left out. There is no individual entry on Caesar Augustus (though he is mentioned within the context of the Roman Empire). Augustus dominated his world, in fact Herod and Pilate were mere role players within the greater Roman imperial framework. The fact that Herod and Pilate gain more attention in both the Oxford Companion and the Bible, reflects the regionality of the Bible, but for comparison purposes, a specific entry on Augustus would have helped gain perspective. The other omission is the town of Emmaus. In itself this is insignificant, but considering the resurrected Jesus chose this town to first appear is no small matter.

Omissions aside, this book lives up to its name. This is indeed a fine companion to the Bible that any interested person should consider purchasing.

You'd expect a 'companion' to the Bible to be something that you would read or use alongside the bible, perhaps as a guide with background data, some commentary, and other pertinent, salient or supplementary information. That is, however, not at all so with The Oxford Companion to the Bible, which is more a dictionary than anything else, with wide and varied entries concerning biblical topics and other issues laid out in a -- you guessed it -- dictionary format (alphabetically arranged).

Having said that, The Oxford Companion to the Bible is a great referential source of considerable scholastic weight. Articles range from half-page biographies on biblical characters and multi-page synopses of biblical books to a 3-page precise on 'Jung and the Bible' and a massive 21-page entry on 'Literature and the Bible'. Nonetheless, I have no regret buying this title even though it was a misconceived purchase.

As a dictionary, The Oxford Companion to the Bible would have received a 4-star rating, but I must subtract a star for the misleading title -- something you wouldn't expect a reputable and respectable publisher like OUP to err on. I'd recommend The Cambridge Companion to the Bible (Howard Kee, Eric Myers, John Rogerson, Anthony Saldarini; ISBN 0521343690) to anyone who, like me, expects a 'companion' to keep up with a trek through the Bible in a sequentially logical, systematic and unobstrusive manner.

This is the required text at my college and when I bought it I imediately went to my room and read. I must say I disagreed with most of the positions I read, but nevertheless, it was very emlightening and gave me a different perspective in the book. The theological position of the book varies: ranging from liberal to evangelically conservative. However, overall it adapts a mainline, critical, slightly evangelical appraoch to the bible. That is important to know before one reads the book, this is not an objective work. These writers, like all, have their own presuppositions (several of them outdated) and naturally, like you or I would, they put them into the text. This should not discourage the reader, a different perpsective is always needed. I would say that one should consult a book with a differnt approach at the same time one studies this. A book I would recommend would be The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.

Oxford University Press has a reputation second to none in the production of scholarly reference works, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. It has certainly upheld that fine reputation for scholarship, objectivity, and authoritative research with its latest 'Oxford Companion to the Bible', edited by Bruce Metzger and Michael Coogan.

Pulling together a worthy group of researchers and scholars (the directory of contributors spans seven pages of rather small typeset print), the 'Oxford Companion to the Bible' represents a major work of reference useful in any biblical endeavour. 'Interpretation of the Bible has of course not been consistent, and throughout history the Bible has been used to support contradictory positions on such issues as slavery, the role of women, war and peace, forms of government, and finance. The Companion reflects this diversity: it is consciously pluralistic, and its more than 250 contributors, as well as its editors and editorial advisory board, encompass a wide spectrum of intellectual and confessional perspectives.'

In keeping with the diversity of authorship, the Companion is meant to be useful to a diverse range of Bible readers and religious. The Companion includes systematic treatment of the use, development, and role of the Bible in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, as well as the influence and significance of the Bible in thematic areas such as the arts, literature, politics, law, history, and culture.

This is not a simple Bible dictionary -- it has encyclopedic entries with in-depth analyses that go beyond mere definition, and contains more than 700 articles, each with authorship noted (so that the perspective can be known from whence the essay's asssertions come). Broad topics include:

- Formation of the Bible as a text
- Context and the Biblical World
- Concepts in the Bible (in the various interpretations)
- Uses and Influences of the Bible

While the Companion is arranged alphabetically, it is extensively cross-referenced by keywords, topically, and 'blind entries' (i.e., words that have meanings not expressly covered as separate entries, but are contained in more detail within other entries).

From Aaron to Zion, this is a book which, when pulled from the shelf, rarely remains closed for long -- I often use it to search for a particular theme, and find myself an hour later still perusing the Companion, having been tempted to follow the various strands through the book. While it is a reference book, and thus not one to be read simply by sitting and starting with the first entry, it nonetheless has an interesting, readable character that draws the seeker in. Treasures lie on each page.

From the possible influence of the ancient Gilgamesh Epic to the current practice of possessing and passing on a Family Bible, this reference is second to none in usefulness and comprehensive scope.

This particular electronic version is keyed to the New Annotated Oxford Bible (which includes standard and up-to-date translation of the biblical text) and the New Oxford Bible Maps, so that cross-references and linkages can be used for minimal effort in research and study.

In a world of tele-evangelists who preach the word of God without having a clue in most cases of what they are preaching, I'm so elated that the editorial staff at Oxford Publications decided to release this thorough, insightful, and conventional way to learn more of what the Bible really says.

Divided in a dictionary-format, with topics in alphabetical order, "The Oxford Companion to the Bible" by editors Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, explore the topics of religion as discussed in the Bible. While many zealots and fanatics might disagree with several definitions/discussions such as the topics of homosexuality, prostitution, and any other acts that they feel go against God's words, the editors take a non-biased, neutral approach.

Topics such as Jesus' brothers and sisters (more conservative churches such as the Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches claim that these were children Joseph had from a previous marriage), lesbianism (it was never demoralized in the Old Testament, but was considered immoral in one of Paul's letters after the New Testament was written) and numerology (many dispute that only 144,000 are going to enter the Kingdom of God according as many Protestant groups proclaim in their teachings) can all be of items of major discussion to Bible students or critics, but with this book it somewhat makes more sense.

I also enjoyed the historical chapters added by the editors that discuss the printing of Bibles throughout Europe and the New World. For example, the first Bible to be published in Spain was written in Catalan, and not in Castilian. The publication of Bibles in Native American languages also interested me, seeing that most of them are extinct today.

The discussion of the symbolism of numbers also captured my attention. Whether it is the most perfect number, 7, or the most incomplete, 6, the divinity of numbers in the Bible's scriptures are all discussed here.

Overall, "The Oxford Companion to the Bible" is an excellent book to delve into the importance of matters in the spiritual realm. Whether you are a believer or not, critic or student, liberalist or zealot, this book will open many minds with thoughts of what the Bible really means in our world.

I shudder to use the word "Truth"...but all religions claim to hold the "Truth". Well, if you want to research the "Truth", you must read this book.

Everything you wanted to know about the books of the Bible is listed and explained here. The characters, the events, the interpretations...are all here.

I've taken college courses on religion and the Old Testament, and let me tell you- the Oxford Companion coincides with my teachings.

History is a key factor in the Companion. And it should be.

If you were raised a Jew or Christian, it is imperative you read this book to clear up some question I know you have.

The Companion offers insights in WHEN the books were written, WHO wrote them, and WHY they did. It offers objective, non-slanted commentary about the stories.

If you are still not convinced to pick up his book, let me wet your appetite. The Oxford Companion explains what "666" means- and has satisfactory evidence. The "truth" may suprise you. The Companion discusses Jesus' brothers and sisters, how did Judas REALLY die, who REALLY slew Goliath, how exactly WAS the Reed Sea parted (that's right REED Sea).

If you want to reseach the Bible from a historical and literally standpoint- you must read this.

Perhaps the most in-depth companion to the bible written to date. While several other tomes, such as the Oxford Dictionary of Christanity(another fine work) give a thorough detailed look at the bible, the OCB instead chooses a myriad of topics and names of importance and gives concise, detailed, bibliographed information on them. A must have for those doing serious biblical research.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. So much of what one finds written about the Bible is innacurate and slanted by religious prejudice. Here is an objective account of everything from the Bible's position (or lack thereof) on abortion to the relationship between scriptire and science. Also included are excellent articles on the history and scholarship of all books of the Bible. This is just the place to learn the truth about the book that has been so badly distortrd by the Christian right.--Greg Klebanof