Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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203 of 207 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Study Bible To Foster Adult Education, December 2, 1999
The Catholic Study Bible (Personal Study Edition) is an excellent resource for use with adults looking to move beyond conventional devotional or fundamentalist bible study methods. The approach here fosters understanding of how the bible actually came to be and how it may be read for meaning rather than for mere certainty.
I am in the second year of use with a small group of adults at a parish in Pennsylvania and it is proving to be very helpful, especially with so much recent news about the Bible and related trends, issues and initiatives concerning spirituality, education, and social values. The Bible text itself is presented in an easy-to-read format, with excellent footnotes and cross-references.
But the real value, at least in our group where a great deal of Biblical background is all so new, is in the reading Guide and associated study aids. All of this is presented in a way that non-Catholics will also find to be useful. The Reading Guide material is presented with a minimum of jargon and technical discussion, allowing first-time students to quickly acquire a basic familiarity with the essentials of Bible study from a critical perspective. Clearly designed charts, diagrams and maps also assist students in the goal of appreciating the historical development of the Bible, a process which is too often neglected (or even demonized) in many popular forms of Bible study.
The Catholic Study Bible takes an eyes-wide-open approach to Biblical studies while maintaining an appreciation of the text as the word of God within particular human events and experiences. Discussion-generating questions are also provided along the way to support the small-group experience. Sprinkled throughout, yet associated with specific books of the Bible presented in the Reading Guide, users will find book-by-book commentary and insightful essays and entries on a wide array of related topics, including:
The Four Sources Theory of the Pentateuch; Characteristics of Apocalyptic Literature; Myth; Did Moses Write the Pentateuch?; How the Bible Has Been Read in History; Are Some Genesis Stories Just Rewrites of Ancient Myths?; The Process of Transforming Life Experience Into a Text and Beyond; MSL: Metaphor as a Second Language; Determining the Full Meaning of a Text; The Importance of Story.
Perhaps unique to this study Bible is the inclusion of an in-depth (but very readable) Glossary which is very strong on explanation of Jewish Biblical and religious terms. This learning tool is a real plus for those who want to understand how Christianity developed within a Jewish setting. Brief entries are quickly located to provide understanding of many ideas essential to a contemporary appreciation of the Bible, including: canonical criticism; fundamentalist; historical-critical method; literary criticism; paleography; redaction criticism; source criticism; textual criticism; transmission history; For the Catholic reader a guide to the Sunday Readings and the major feasts of the year is also provided.
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93 of 98 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
so-so commentary, September 29, 1999
By A Customer
It's tough to combine both the Bible and a commentary without the whole book being a million pages long, but I've found the commentary in this edition to be too superficial; too many topics that seem important are given sparse attention or are passed over entirely. Further, the insights the reader's guide does offer are sometimes bland, are often written on too basic of a level, and sometimes don't feel especially Catholic. On the other hand, for a first-time Bible study, it's not bad; it provides a background of each text, includes some helpful diagrams and charts, and gives a readable, non-dry commentary that gives a framwork to think about the passages you've read. I'd say it's good as a starting point, and you can go to other commentaries for more in depth discussion of topics you're interested in. Another good thing, and to me it's not irrelevant, is the physical presentation of the book; it's print is a reasonable size, the pages are nice and white (instead of dull tan like the other Bible sitting on my shelf), and the footnotes are right there at the bottom of the page. It's aesthetically pleasing!
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rates excellent in readability and annotation., April 12, 1999
By A Customer
I am in the process of becoming a Catholic, and I want to read, and study, the Bible - particularly the Catholic version, which includes more books in the Old Testament than the Protestant versions. I appreciate that this is a translation from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, rather than a paraphrase or modernization of previous translations. It includes a fair amount of clear commentary by theologians and biblical scholars, including reading guides for each book. I find the comments on history and culture help make the text understandable. Footnotes are included at the page bottoms, eliminating the distraction of constantly flipping back and forth. For those, like me, in bifocals, the typeface is slightly larger than many editions I've seen, adding to readability. I recommend this version to any serious bible student.
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