research guides

This guide is intended to help you with Biblical exegetics. You will find a variety of resources to help you delve deeper into the Bible, its times, particular books and authors, and even individual passages.

Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Dictionaries are a great place to better your understanding of a Biblical term, a book of the Bible, an author or place, or a particular concept. The possibilities are endless.

Encyclopedias, when compared to dictionaries, generally offer a more detailed explanation of a term, concept, person, or place. The benefits of using an encyclopedia are: they can be easily read in a short period of time they provide authoritative information often times written by specialists in the field they often contain valuable bibliographies that point to other more comprehensive works.

Some good places to start are:

The Anchor Bible Dictionary – REF 220.3 A538f

The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible – REF 220.3 C929i

The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible – REF 220.3 T299z

Bibles

The library has a a variety of Bible versions in the Reference collection at 220.5…. If you are searching for a particular version (e.g., NIV, ESV, NRSV, etc.), use the library catalog by searching for the full name of the version (e.g., English Standard Version).

Commentaries

Commentaries are a good way to begin studying a passage of the Bible. Many contain information on the historical setting, the writer’s intent, and the meaning or interpretation of the book and passage.

One way to find commentaries on the Bible is to browse the Reference Collection at 220.7. There are also commentaries in the Main Collection for check out. You can search for these using the library catalog. Search using the term “commentaries” combined with the name of the book of the Bible in which you are interested.

Examples include:

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary – REF 220.71 G127e

The New International Commentary on the Old/New Testament – REF 220.71 H321n

The New Interpreter’s Bible – REF 220.71 K25n

The Tyndale Old/New Testament Commentaries – REF 220.71 T987

RELIGION CALL NUMBERS

Theological Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Dictionaries are a great place to better your understanding of a Biblical term, a book of the Bible, an author or place, or a particular concept. The possibilities are endless.

Encyclopedias, when compared to dictionaries, generally offer a more detailed explanation of a term, concept, person, or place. The benefits of using an encyclopedia are: they can be easily read in a short period of time they provide authoritative information often times written by specialists in the field they often contain valuable bibliographies that point to other more comprehensive works.

Some good places to start are:

New Dictionary of Biblical Theology – REF 230.041 A378n

Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible – REF 230.3 V256d

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology – REF 220.3 E52e

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

BestCommentaries.com combines reviews and ratings from journals, books, and users to create an aggregate ranking for Biblical commentaries.

Here is a list of Bible commentaries with their viewpoints (moderate, liberal, or conservative), publishers, and intended academic levels. NOTE: The viewpoints listed are not indicative of every volume in the series. Rather viewpoints of each volume in a series may vary from author to author.

Conservative vs liberal commentaries has to do with the theological assumptions that are present in the commentary. Most commentaries make an effort to state the theological direction in which they lean. Conservative commentaries take for granted the truth of orthodox Christian doctrines such as the divinity of Christ, the inspiration of the Bible, the personal attributes of God, etc. A liberal commentary starts with few or none of these assumptions and attempts to let the text of the Bible “speak for itself” in a sort of theological vacuum. Both approaches are valid and are useful for different purposes.

Level: UG = undergraduate; Grad = graduate; Pop = popular

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Find background articles on Bible terms and topics.

Bible Dictionaries

Anchor Bible Dictionary (REF 220.3 A538f) 

Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (REF 220.3 i61d)              

Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (REF 226.03 G796d) 

Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (REF 227 H399d) 

Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments (REF 225.3 i61d)

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (REF 220.3 F853e)

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (REF 220.3 B817h) 

The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (REF 220.3 C929i)

New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words (REF 220.3 R516n) 

New Bible Dictionary (REF 220.3 N352d)

Bible Encyclopedias

Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (REF 220.3 E52b) 

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (REF 220.3 o75i)

The Zondervan encyclopedia of the Bible (REF 220.3 T299z)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Study the themes in the Bible.

Biblical Theology – Old Testament

A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament (230.041 B617t)

An Old Testament theology : a canonical and thematic approach (230.041 W237o)

Old Testament theology : basic issues in the current debate (230.041 H347o)

Old Testament theology (230.041 H842o)

Old Testament theology in a canonical context (221.6 C537o)

Biblical Theology – New Testament

A theology of the New Testament (230.042 L154a) 

New Testament Theology (REF 230.042 G984n)

New Testament Theology : magnifying God in Christ (230.042 S378n)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Find charts and tables to illustrate the order of biblical events and topics.

Chronology – Old Testament

Chronological and background charts of the Old Testament (REF 221.02 W238c)

Handbook of biblical chronology : principles of time reckoning in the ancient world and problems of chronology in the Bible(REF 220.9 F495h)

The mysterious numbers of the Hebrew kings (221.95 T376m)

The chronology of the kings of Israel and Judah (222.5095 G158c)

The reconstructed chronology of the Divided Kingdom (OVRSIZ 222.5095 T347r)

Rose book of Bible charts, maps, and time lines (REF 220.022 R795r)

Chronology – New Testament

Chronological and background charts of the New Testament (REF 225.61 H842c) 

Handbook of biblical chronology : principles of time reckoning in the ancient world and problems of chronology in the Bible(REF 220.9 F495h)

Rose book of Bible charts, maps, and time lines (REF 220.022 R795r)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Find information on daily life and customs in Bible times.

Pre-Christian Era

Ancient Israel: its life and institutions (220.96 D488a)

Civilizations of the ancient Near East (REF 939.4 S252c)

Handbook of life in Bible times (220.96 T473h)

Life in biblical Israel (221.95 K54L)

Life in the ancient Near East, 3100-332 B.C.E. (939.4 S671L)

Manners and customs in the Bible (220.95 M442)

Social World of ancient Israel, 1250-587 BCE (220.96 M429s)

The IVP Bible background commentary : Old Testament (REF 221.7 W239i)

The land of the Bible (220.91 A285L)

The New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology (REF 220.93 N532n)

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East (REF 939.4 o98o)

The Christian Era

Palestine in the time of Jesus : social structures and social conflicts (225.8 H251p)

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (REF 220.7 K26b)

Roman society and Roman law in the New Testament. (225.8 W582r)

Myth and Mystery : an introduction to the pagan religions of the Biblical world (REF 291.093 F495m)

Honor, Patronage, Kinship and Purity : unlocking New Testament culture (225.8 D457h)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Find the historical background of Bible times.

Old Testament History

A history of Israel (221.95 B855h)

A Biblical History of Israel (221.95 P969b)

The Oxford History of the Biblical World (220.95 C769o)

What did the biblical writers know, and when did they know it? (220.95 D491w)

The origins of biblical monotheism (296.311 S655o)

Ancient World History and Near Eastern History

A history of the ancient Near East, c. 3000-323 BC (939.4 V226h)

The Oxford classical dictionary (REF 938.003 H814o)

The Ancient Orient (939.4 S679a)

Ancient Near Eastern and Classical Literature

Readings from the ancient Near East : primary sources for Old Testament study (221.95 A752r)

Old Testament parallels (REF 221.95 M442o)

Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament (REF 221.93 P961a)

Ancient texts for the study of the Hebrew Bible : a guide to the background literature (221.95 S736a)

History of Intertestamental Times

An Introduction to Early Judaism (296.09 V234i)

Customs and controversies : intertestamental Jewish backgrounds of the New Testament (296.09 S427c)

In the shadow of the temple : Jewish influences on early Christianity (270.1 S626i)

Jewish literature between the Bible and the Mishnah : a historical and literary introduction (296.1 N632j)

History of New Testament Times

Backgrounds of early Christianity (225.8 F325b)

Dictionary of New Testament background (REF 225.803 E92d)

The Greco-Roman world of the New Testament era (225.96 J45g)

Jesus and the rise of early Christianity : a history of New Testament times (225.95 B261j)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Find background information and content summaries of Bible books.

Old Testament

A Survey of the Old Testament (221.61 H645s)

Encountering the Old Testament (221.61 A752e)

An introduction to the Old Testament (221.61 D578i)

Understanding the Old Testament (221.93 A545u)

Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (221.61 C537i)

New Testament

Exploring the New Testament (225.61 W474e)

New Testament introduction (225.1 G984n)

Introducing the New Testament (225.61 A179i)

An introduction to the New Testament (225.61 C321i)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Find Greek and Hebrew vocabulary.

Old Testament Hebrew/Aramaic

A concise Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (REF 492.43 H733c)

The new Brown – Driver – Briggs – Gesenius hebrew and english lexicon (REF 492.43 G389h)

Theological lexicon of the Old Testament (REF 221.447 J54t)

Old Testament Greek

Greek-English lexicon of the Septuagint (REF 487.4 L972g)

New Testament Greek

A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (REF 487.43 A747g)

A Greek-English lexicon (REF 483.2 L712g)

Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament (REF 487.43 T371g)

The vocabulary of the Greek Testament (REF 487.4 M927v)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Study the Bible by literary genres.

The act of Bible reading : a multidisciplinary approach to biblical interpretation  (220.601 F295a)

A Complete literary guide to the Bible (220.66 R995c)

The Bible as literature : an introduction (220.66 G112b)

The art of Biblical narrative (220.66 A466a)

The art of Biblical poetry (220.66 A466a)

Literary forms in the New Testament : a handbook (225.66 B154L)

The poems and psalms of the Hebrew Bible (892.411 G481p)

The literary guide to the Bible (220.85 A466L)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Learn exegetical strategies.

Entire Bible

How to read the Bible for all its worth (220.61 F295ho)

The hermeneutical spiral : a comprehensive introduction to biblical interpretation (220.601 o81n)

Biblical exegesis : a beginner’s handbook (220.601 H417b)

Elements of biblical exegesis : a basic guide for students and ministers (220.601 G671e)

Introduction to biblical interpretation (220.601 K64i)

An introduction to biblical hermeneutics : the search for meaning (220.601 K13i)

Old Testament

Old Testament exegesis : a handbook for students and pastors (221.6 S929o)

A guide to Old Testament theology and exegesis (221.601 V253g)

Hearing the Old Testament : listening for God’s address (221.6 B287h)

New Testament

New Testament exegesis : a handbook for students and pastors (225.601 F295n)

Hearing the New Testament : strategies for interpretation (225.601 G796h)

Introducing New Testament interpretation (225.6 i61)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

Find Bible words and their meanings.

Old Testament

Theological wordbook of the Old Testament (221.3 T391h)

New international dictionary of Old Testament theology and exegesis (REF 221.3 V253n)

Theological lexicon of the Old Testament (REF 221.447 J54t)

Theological dictionary of the Old Testament (REF 221.3 B748t)

New Testament

The NIV theological dictionary of New Testament words (REF 225.3 V479n)

Theological dictionary of the New Testament (REF 225.3 K62t)

Exegetical dictionary of the New Testament (REF 225.3 E96e)

The New International Dictionary of New Testament theology (REF 225.3 B877n)

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer

New Testament Word Study

1. Find the verse and word in a 1984 NIV tranlsation.
2. Look up the word/verse in the Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance (REF 220.2528 G655e).
3. Find the G-K (Goodrick-Kohlenberger) number on the right side of the word/verse.
4. Look up the G-K number in the NIV Theological Dictionary of New Testament Words (REF 225.3 V479n). This will give you a longer definition and etymology.

Old Testament Word Study

1. Find the verse and word in a 1984 NIV tranlsation.
2. Look up the word/verse in the Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance (REF 220.2528 G655e).
3. Find the G-K (Goodrick-Kohlenberger) number on the right side of the word/verse.
4. Look up the G-K number in the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (REF 221.3 V253n). This will give you a longer definition and etymology.

Content created by UNW Librarian Greg Rosauer