kata ta biblia

a blog exploring Christian origins, biblical studies, social/cultural history, method, education and the journey through academia

Review: The HarperCollins Study Bible (Part 1: Contributors)

HarperCollins Study BibleHarperCollins Study Bible: Fully Revised and Updated – Student Edition
Editors: Harold W. Attridge (General Editor, Revised); Wayne A. Meeks (General Editor, Original)
Hardcover: 2128 pages
Publisher: HarperOne
Year: 2006
ISBN:9780060786830

Buy: HarperCollins; Amazon

Many thanks to Kayleigh at Harper Academic for forwarding this review copy! Reviewing the premier study Bible on the market is a bit of a daunting task. It seems fitting to begin simply with a list of the contributors (given in canonical order of the books they have worked on, rather than alphabetical). I provided the best links I could find for each contributor. This is the dream team of biblical scholarship and it pretty much speaks for itself.

That said, this “dream team” is generally of a certain persuasion. Generally speaking, this is not the dream team that, say, conservative Evangelicals might hope for. You won’t find Carson, Moo, Bock, Blomberg, Schreiner, Grudem, Wenham, Wallace, or even N. T. Wright or James D. G. Dunn. Of the contributor’s affiliated institutions at the time of publication, most are either research universities or seminaries/divinity schools in the “mainline” or Catholic (Boston College is well represented) traditions. This is the sort of collection of scholars that you might expect in a project like this. The hope is that the study notes are used more for unfettered historical-critical work, rather than for doctrinal apologetics. Most of those other folks can be found as contributors to the ESV Study Bible. [I'm not making any qualitative judgments at this point; just saying, if you're looking for Evangelical scholarship, don't come knocking at the HarperCollins Study Bible--but you already knew that.]

All scholars have their biases, however, and I appreciate where the editors have assigned two scholars to the same biblical book. If there are any weaknesses that I would point out in this post on contributors, it would be my desire that all books receive double coverage (though I can understand how that might be an editorial nightmare). I suppose when two scholars are listed for one book, it could mean that one wrote the notes for the original edition while the other wrote for the revised edition. I am uncertain of this, but it actually seems likely upon observing that many of the folks in this list are retired (and some of those retired quite some time ago).

In a second post, I will go into the format and features of the edition.

Update: I have discovered that the books that name two scholars are those that have been revised. It makes me wonder why some books were chosen for revision and others not. The back cover boasts “over 25 percent new or revised material.” For a study Bible, that actually seems on the low end to me.

List of Contributors in the Canonical Order found in the Study Bible:
General Editors: Wayne Meeks (Original); Harold Attridge (Revised)
Consulting Editor: James Luther Mays
Editorial Assistants: John Leinenweber; Lindsay A. Lingo
Consultant for Maps: Roger S. Boraas

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (Editors: Werner E. Lemke; Susan Niditch)
Genesis: Ronald Hendel; Joel W. Rosenberg [first edition]
Exodus: Edward L. Greenstein
Leviticus: Jacob Milgrom
Numbers: Jo Ann Hackett
Deuteronomy: S. Dean McBride Jr.
Joshua: Robert G. Boling [died in a car accident in 1995, taught at McCormick Theological Seminary]; Richard D. Nelson
Judges: Robert G. Boling [died in a car accident in 1995, taught at McCormick Theological Seminary]; Richard D. Nelson
Ruth: Adele Berlin
1 Samuel: P. Kyle McCarter Jr.
2 Samuel: P. Kyle McCarter Jr.
1 Kings: Robert R. Wilson
2 Kings: Robert R. Wilson
1 Chronicles: Ralph W. Klein
2 Chronicles: Ralph W. Klein
Ezra: David J. A. Clines
Nehemiah: David J. A. Clines
Esther: Sidnie White Crawford; W. Lee Humphreys
Job: James L. Crenshaw
Psalms: Patrick D. Miller
Proverbs: Claudia V. Camp; Carole R. Fontaine
Ecclesiastes: Kent Harold Richards; Raymond C. Van Leeuwen
Song of Solomon: Michael V. Fox
Isaiah: J. J. M. Roberts
Jeremiah: Leo G. Perdue; Robert R. Wilson
Lamentations: Werner E. Lemke; Kathleen O’Connor
Ezekiel: David L. Peterson
Daniel: John J. Collins; Pamela J. Milne
Hosea: Stephen L. Cook; James Luther Mays
Joel: Richard A. Henshaw; Marvin A. Sweeney
Amos: J. Andrew Dearman; Gene M. Tucker
Obadiah: Ehud Ben Zvi; Richard A. Henshaw
Jonah: James S. Ackerman
Micah: Carol J. Dempsey; Philip J. King
Nahum: Kent Harold Richards
Habakkuk: Kent Harold Richards
Zephaniah: Kent Harold Richards
Haggai: W. Sibley Towner
Zechariah: W. Sibley Towner
Malachi: W. Sibley Towner

Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books (Associate Editor: Eileen M. Schuller)
Tobit: George W. E. Nickelsburg
Judith: John J. Collins; Toni Craven
Additions to Esther: Sidnie White Crawford; W. Lee Humphreys
Wisdom of Solomon: Thomas H. Tobin; David Winston
Sirach: Burton L. Mack; Benjamin G. Wright III
Baruch: Carol A. Newsom
Letter of Jeremiah: Richard J. Clifford; Jeffrey C. Geoghegan
Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews: Lawrence Wills
Susanna: Lawrence Wills
Bel and the Dragon: Lawrence Wills
1 Maccabees: Daniel J. Harrington
2 Maccabees: Daniel J. Harrington
1 Esdras: David J. A. Clines
Prayer of Manasseh: James A. Sanders
Psalm 151: James A. Sanders
3 Maccabees: John J. Collins
2 Esdras: Michael E. Stone
4 Maccabees: Thomas H. Tobin

New Testament (Associate Editor: Jouette Bassler)
Matthew: Dennis C. Duling
Mark: C. Clifton Black; Adela Yarbro Collins
Luke: Christopher R. Matthews; David L. Tiede
John: Harold W. Attridge; David K. Rensberger
Acts: Beverly Roberts Gaventa
Romans: Leander E. Keck
1 Corinthians: Victor Paul Furnish
2 Corinthians: John T. Fitzgerald
Galatians: Richard B. Hays
Ephesians: J. Paul Sampley
Philippians: Ronald F. Hock
Colossians: J. Paul Sampley
1 Thessalonians: Edgar M. Krentz
2 Thessalonians: Jouette M. Bassler
1 Timothy: Jouette M. Bassler
2 Timothy: Jouette M. Bassler
Titus: Jouette M. Bassler
Philemon: Harold W. Attridge; Ronald F. Hock
Hebrews: Harold W. Attridge
James: Sophie Laws; Walter T. Wilson
1 Peter: Paul J. Achtemeier; David L. Balch
2 Peter: Richard J. Bauckham
1 John: Harold W. Attridge; David K. Rensberger
2 John: Harold W. Attridge; David K. Rensberger
3 John: Harold W. Attridge; David K. Rensberger
Jude: Richard J. Bauckham
Revelation: David E. Aune

Articles
Strategies for Reading Scripture: John Barton
Israelite Religion: Ronald Hendel
The Greco-Roman Context of the New Testament: David E. Aune
The Bible and Archaeology: Eric M. Meyers
Archaeology and the New Testament: Jürgen Zangenberg

Post to Facebook Post to Twitter Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Google Buzz Post to LinkedIn Post to StumbleUpon

2 Comments by Patrick George McCullough  /  July 12, 2009  /  Posted in: bible, biblical studies, book reviews, study bibles
« Previous post
Next post »
  • http://www.echoofeden.com slaveofone

    That list of scholars makes me salivate. Surely this bible must be incredibly strong in terms of critical study supplementing the text. And yet I have to wonder how useful it is in terms of the text itself. I have not spent much time with the NRSV translation, but what little time I have, in referencing it to see how it dealt with one or another parts of the Hebrew, I have either been unimpressed or disappointed, which has further alienated me from interaction with that translation. If I can remember some of my complaints, I seem to recall thinking it was smoothing out the Hebrew too much so that the details and intricacies of the language were either barely visible or hidden, and that it veered away from the Hebrew at many points serving either to give a false impression of what the Hebrew said or to confound the one looking at the Hebrew. The few areas where I have seen the NRSV getting it right (such as its gender inclusiveness) are done just as well in other translations (like the ISV). Furthermore, I believe it uses as its base text for the Deutercanonicals the antiquated Ralfs edition, which has been superseded by the Gottingen Septuagint, and its translation has been updated and replaced by the New English Translation of the Septuagint (based on Gottingen and revised from the NRSV). My ignorance of New Testament, however, leaves me unaware of how well the NT translation holds up in the NRSV. I wonder if you will be doing a review of the translation itself (particularly how well it translates the NT since that is your area of expertise) at any point in your multi-part review. For excellent critical, historical, linguistic, AND theological study notes, I have been very pleased with the NET Bible, although its conservative slant is sometimes annoying and unhelpful.

  • http://patmccullough.com/2009/07/20/review-harpercollins-study-bible-part-2/ Review: HarperCollins Study Bible (Part 2) « kata ta biblia

    [...] The only books that we know for certain have been revised are those with two authors assigned (see my previous post on HCSB contributors). Here is a list of those books that have apparently been revised–to some extent–by a [...]