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Selected Reference Tools
Copyright (C) 1994 by Scot McCallum
The following section contains many books you would not read through, per se. But they represent an important investment in your own library and are very useful for consulting on issues. On the other hand, many have truly enjoyed reading through some of these reference works. A New Testament and Old Testament introduction, for example, are the kind of books a Christian should read through at some point.
Bible Dictionaries/Encyclopedias Textual Criticism Concordances Lexicons Theological Dictionaries Background Studies Introductions Back to Reading List Bible Dictionaries / Encyclopedias
Ellwel, W. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983. Covers both biblical terms and theological terms and ideas. This type of book is a must-have for personal book shelf.
Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Abingdon, 1962 with 1977 supplement.
Written from a more liberal viewpoint. It is at the Study Center, containing many excellent articles on subjects with references.
The New Bible Dictionary. 3rd ed. Wheaton: Tyndale.
Places, people, things and events from the Bible explained in brief articles with references. Some type of Bible Dictionary is a must-have for personal book shelf.
Textual Criticism
Greenlee, J.H. Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964 People ask the question of how various ancient texts are weighted and put together as scholars attempt to re-construct the original autographs. This is a standard work on the subject, still available because it is used as a textbook for schools and seminaries.
Metzger, B.M. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968
Metzger was the foremost American scholar in the area of text criticism, and worked extensively on the UBS text. This book is written in a popular and readable style.
Harrison, R.K.; Waltke, B.M. Guthrie, D.; and Fee, G.D. Biblical Criticism: Historical, Literary and Textual. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978.
This work offers a good conservative approach to these questions.
Concordances (consider also buying a computer concordance)
Original Language Hatch, E., and H.A. Redpath. A Concordance to the Septuagint. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1897-1906 (reprinted by Baker, 1983) Not the kind of books you would buy for your personal library, but good for doing a word study on a NT word and it's background in the LXX.
Moulton, W.F., A.J. Geden and H.F. Moulton. A Concordance to the Greek Testament. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1978
A Greek concordance is a must-have if you are going to do word studies in the original language. This volume is good because the brief context is in the Greek, which is important if you are looking for particular constructions rather than a simple word.
Wikgran, G. The New Englishman's Concordance of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
If your Greek is not so good, this volume offers the brief context of the words in English. This would be a second-best alternative if you are doing word studies in the original language.
Wigram, G.B. The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971.
Similar to the Englishman's for the NT.
Even-Shoshan, A. A New Concordance of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984.
This concordance offers the brief context of each term in the Hebrew, which is important if you are looking for a particular construction instead of a simple word.
English
Thomas, R.L. ed. New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Holman, 1981 Probably the best all-around concordance, especially if you have learned the Bible in the NASB. An English concordance is a must-have for Bible study.
Wigram, G.V. & Winter, R.D. The Word Study Concordance & The Word Study New Testament. Tyndale House, 1978.
These volumes are good because they offer the Strong's Reference Number (SRN) on each word. For example, if you are reading in the Word Study New Testament, above each word is the SRN, which enables you to look up that particular word in the Word Study Concordance and many other original language works, without any knowledge of original languages.
Young, R. Analytical Concordance to the Holy Bible. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975
This is a relatively inexpensive volume, but is in the KJV.
Greek Arndt, W.F., F.W. Gingrich and F.W. Danker. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979 This has been known for a long time as the standard English lexicon for Greek students. A must-have for any Greek student's library.
Moulton, J.S., and G. Milligan. The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated From the Papyri and Other Non-literary Sources. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1930
A good volume to look at for alternative viewpoints and references.
Hebrew
Brown, F.; Driver, S.R.; and Briggs, C.A. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1907, 1974. This is the standard work for Hebrew students. A must-have for Hebrew student's library.
Davidson, B. The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
If you have trouble with a particular word, this volume lists every occurrence of a term in the form it is found in the text. It will then identify the root with a brief definition.
Theological Dictionaries
Brown, C. et al. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975-1979 Done from the "theme study," or "theological study" viewpoint. Does not presume to be an expanded lexicon. Very good for what it does because it lumps word-groups together in one discussion.
Kittel, G. and G. Friedrich. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. 10 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-1975
Seemingly based on a theory of lexical research that assumes words are loaded with meaning. Some real problems if readers share this assumption. However, the research is superb, if it is approached as research into the theology associated with various concepts. Also, hard to equal the background and historical research.
Harris, R.L., Archer, G. and B. Waltke. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody
For O.T. words this is probably the best at the moment. Does for the OT what NIDNTT does for the NT. Also has a key in the 2nd volume which keys all terms to their SRN.
Background Studies
General Aharoni, Y. and M. Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. New York: Macmillan, 1977 Jewish biblical archaeologists; good pictures and research.
Bietzel, B. The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands. Chicago: Moody, 1985
The research, pictures and cartography are superb. Worthwhile to buy just to look at the pictures.
Kitchen, K.A. The Bible in it's World. IVP, 1977.
A conservative viewpoint on ANE context for many Bible stories.
OT Bright, J. A History of Israel. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976. Reads like a story, excellent.
Harrison, R.K. Old Testament Times. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977
Good work, especially from a conservative point of view.
Wiseman, D.J. Peoples of Old Testament Times. Oxford: Clarendon. 1973.
Considered to be a standard on the topic.
NT Bruce, F.F. New Testament History. Nelson, 1969. History is Bruce's strongest point. Combines history with applicable exegetical notes.
Barrett, C.K. The New Testament Background: Selected Documents. New York: Harper, 1957.
This book is still printed regularly because it is a standard for seminaries, etc. Includes extra-biblical documents that apply to biblical texts.
Jeremias, J. Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus. Fortress, 1967.
Very few have equaled Jeremias for thoroughness of background research combined with a knowledge of the Bible.
Goppelt, L. Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times. New York: Harper, 1970
Sherwin-White, A. Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament. London: Oxford, 1969
Tenney, M. New Testament Times. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965
Written at a very popular and readable level.
Introductions cover the background, authorship, date and occasion of every NT or OT book. They also include a brief outline of the book and discussion of important issues.
Guthrie, D. New Testament Introduction. 3rd ed. Downers Grove: IVP, 1970. A must-have for any library.
Martin, R.P. New Testament Foundations. 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976-8.
Quickly becoming a standard in seminary courses on NT survey.
Archer, G. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction. Chicago: Moody, 1974.
Superb apologetic material, written from a conservative point of view.
Childs, B. Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979.
Discusses various methods of biblical criticism. Does an excellent job of presenting the OT in a canonical framework (meaning that he is committed to accepting the canon as we have received it and interpreting the books in light of one another).
Download Exhaustive Research Tools List / Word 6.0 Format
List compiled and comments written by Scot (Buck) McCallum and Matt Everard. Buck holds an M.A. in Religion and Matt an M.A. in New Testament; both graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
