How This Site Can Help with Biblical Research ^*

	Locate biblical texts, language helps, dictionaries and commentaries most frequently used for scholarship.  The Reference area holdings as well as relevant online sources can be easily surveyed with this site.
	Use the categories to chart a course of research.  Call numbers and titles can be CUT and PASTEd onto Word™, WordPad™ or NotePad™ to track a course of study from home computers or on campus.
	Browse the Reference holdings, especially from home. Save steps and time.  Find new resources.
	Gain an overview of the basic steps of research that correspond with the stated mission of the faculty in the Biblical Studies area: to engage--the biblical text itself, in its own environment and original languages, with  appropriate trajectories  for praxis/preaching.

The Reference Area contains only the basic and most common resources.  Students are encouraged to explore the corresponding Call Number sections, principally in the Mid-Range stacks, for a greater breadth of studies.  Also, use subject headings and/or authors' name to pursue an expanded research on a topic beyond the holdings of JCBL through Galileo and ATLA databases. Periodicals, both online (ejournals) and paper holdings at JBCL, should also be consulted for a thorough coverage of an exegetical topic.

For further help with biblical and other reference materials, please contact the Reference Librarians at John Bulow Campbell Library: ref-desk@CTSnet.edu or 404/687-4620.

First Step: THE BIBLE ITSELF

or Go to Bible Reference Guide   

I. BIBLES

You should carefully study the text(s) you are working on in several different versions and languages as a way to begin your own critical reflection.

A collection of English-language versions of the Bible from the Tyndale version and the King James to contemporary translations, and foreign language scriptures, is available in the Reference Room at John Bulow Campbell Library (Ref. BS135 - Ref. BS391). 

"Original language" Bibles should also be consulted as able along with the necessary helps--lexicons, word lists, analytic guides, interlinears, etc.:  New Testament Greek BS1965, and Old Testament Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek BS701-895

Full-text Bibles are also available via the World Wide Web on the Internet. Not all modern English-language versions are available. However, you might want to look at sites such as the following:

The Bible Gateway offers several translations (KJV, RSV, NIV, NASB) which can be searched by passage and by search word(s).

The Bible, Revised Standard Edition offers side-by-side comparison with the KJV.

Hebrew Bible: choices between pointed/unpointed (no vowels) Masoretic text in printable and browseable format by Chapter/Verse.

Greek Bible:  an interactive Greek parsing guide--without translation--also full text by Chapter/Verse & browseable.

Bible.crosswalk.com  offers an assortment of language helps.

Next Steps: Concordances & language helps,

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II. ABOUT CONCORDANCES & LANGUAGE HELPS ^*

Words gain meaning from the context of their usage--especially their original linguistic/social setting.  Seminary Bible research should build on rudimentary knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, but will, more often than not, rely on translations to locate key terminology in a text.

Concordances are useful in several different ways. The most obvious is to locate a scriptural passage if you can remember one or more key words or phrases. For example, you can find the Parable of the Sower by looking under "seeds" or "soil."

Note: It is important to remember to select a concordance that is keyed to the version of the Bible you are using, since different versions can vary significantly in wording. If you want to use the word "tares" to find the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds, you must use a concordance keyed to an older translation such as the King James Version.

A concordance can also help you perform sophisticated analysis of terminology and text. For example, you can study a chosen topic or term or concept. If you are interested in the subject of poverty, you can check to see where in the Bible the words "poor" and "poverty" appear, and compare the similarities and differences of how they are used in various parts of Scripture.

Any standard English-language concordance will help you locate selected terms in English Bible translations, but for serious exegetical work you will need one that gets you back to the words in their original languages. A concordance of this kind is called an analytical concordance.

An analytical concordance provides, in addition to each occurrence in the Bible of a given word in English, the original Hebrew or Greek term that was translated into that word in that particular instance.

For a pathfinder about Concordance use, Click here.

For the full Bible Reference Tools Tutorial at Yale's web site, click here.

In addition to the concordances available in print, there are several Bible programs in computer format which will enable you to perform very powerful searches on biblical texts. These electronic concordances make it possible to work with both the original languages and several English translations, and in some cases, translations into Latin and several other languages. Programs available on CD-ROM for use at JBC Library include Bible Works for Windows (version 4.0). This includes the NRSV among the English versions available for searching.  

See also:

Hebrew Bible: the unpointed (no vowels) Masoretic text in printable and browseable format by Chapter/Verse.

Greek Bible:  an interactive Greek parsing guide--without translation--also full text by Chapter/Verse & browseable.

Next Steps: DICTIONARIES and COMMENTARIES 

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III. DICTIONARIES

If you need to do in-depth research on a particular topic, the good place to begin is to look it up in a good dictionary of the Bible. The following multi-volume works are especially recommended:

The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992, 6 vols.)
Ref. BS 440 .A54 1992  

The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (1962, 4 vols.; suppl. vol. 1976)
Ref. BS 440 .I63  

Let’s say that you are working on a passage that involves the city of Jerusalem. When you look up "Jerusalem" in one of these two sources, you find a long article giving you a good overview of the subject, plus an extensive bibliography which you can use as the basis of further research on your own.

When using a dictionary or encyclopedia for this kind of research, it is important to be aware of the date of publication. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, for example, is an excellent source of information, but the main body of it was published 30 years before the Anchor Bible Dictionary; therefore, the bibliographies as well as the content are necessarily much less up-to-date. To the extent that you need more recent information for your research, you should supplement sources such as The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible with other works.

For advanced word study, learn to use (but be judicious with etymologies as the end-all of word study--context also counts):

Theological dictionary of the Old Testament [Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Alten Testament]/ edited by G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren; translated by John T. Willis. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974-     7 VOLUMES TO DATE

REF BS440 .B5713

 

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. (Gerhard Kittel, Trans. and ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964-1976.)

 REF PA 881 K5713   

(Index volume is especially helpful, even for finding discussions on Hebrew words)

 

Or, if challenged by the Hebrew and Greek, use:

 

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. (R. Laird Harris, editor, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., associate editor, Bruce K. Waltke, associate editor. Chicago: Moody Press, c1980.)

REF BS440 T49

Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. (Eds. Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, c1990-1993.)

REF BS2312 E913 1990

 

Or, simply, 

 

A Theological word book of the Bible/ edited by Alan Richardson. London: SCM Press, 1950, c1957

REF BS440 .R53  

Next Step: COMMENTARIES  

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IV. COMMENTARIES

Commentaries should be consulted only after you have studied the selected passage(s) thoroughly yourself and developed your own ideas about them. At that point, you can look in the commentaries and the other secondary sources found in the Reference Guide to see what other scholars have written about the scriptural texts. Use their comments as points of dialogue or challenges for further study.

There are a great many commentaries on the various books of the Bible; sound scholarship necessitates that you use only the most scholarly resources for your exegetical research. At JBC Library, these are found in the Reference Room, shelved in whole sets OR in biblical order (Ref. BS1233 - BS1665.3 for Old Testament and Ref. BS2341 - BS2825.5 for New Testament). See the Reference Guide which will list the most pertinent and less dated materials first.

You can use the bibliographies found in the commentaries for your own further research and also consult bibliographies on specific books of the Bible.

For further insight into NT exegesis, visit the Vanderbilt library New Testament web page.

For further insight into OT exegesis, visit the Vanderbilt library Hebrew Bible web page.

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*(adapted from Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, SMU)