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“The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha. Revised Standard Edition. Edited by Herbert May and Bruce Metzger. Finished reading 13 June 2008.
It is impossible to for me to review a 1900 page book that has influenced cultures, nations and individuals, a book which has ruined kingdoms, created nations, a book by which people have found reverential meaning and have committed genocide, a book which practically defined the last 2000 years of culture.
With that said…
The 66 canonical and 18 apocryphal books in this edition of the Bible vary from the transcendent to the simple, the uplifting to the horrid - love, hate, wisdom, violence, history, poetry, prophecy, cultures, lost beliefs and ancient myth. Some parts make gripping reading, others are dull beyond belief. Profound and striking imagery mixed with redundant genealogies. The RSV version is a literal yet readable translation. It is more lucid than the somewhat stiff NASB yet more literal than the sometimes loose NIV. The RSV is not gender inclusive, and that is a bonus in understanding the intent of the authors.
The essays in this edition are uniformly excellent, and of the type not found in most study Bibles. In an effort to be ecumenical, pious articles are replaced by articles on literary forms in the Gospels, characteristics of Hebrew poetry, the history of English translations, surveys of Biblical lands and peoples, and many, many more. My favorite was the long introduction to the little read or understood Apocrypha.
The footnotes are a mixed bag. The Old Testament tends to be more useful in explaining how the various sources were combined in the early books (yes folks – J,E,P and D), and even showing source material into Samuel and Kings - and how scholars know the sources. The New Testament annotations become more tame – some merely summarize pretty straightforward verses. Some passages which are particularly troublesome to modern Christian orthodoxy are either spun to avoid blatant heresy (e.g. Phil 2:9), or ignored all-together (e.g. Romans 9:22-23).
This edition is not faultless – no edition is. Yet The New Oxford Annotated is by far the most useful and educational user-friendly edition of the Bible that I have yet come across. The Bible is bit of an effort (it took me about 3 months to read from first page to last) – but an absolute must-read for anyone who cares about where we, and our cultures and beliefs, come from.”
HeIsSailing wrote this review Wednesday, June 18 2008.
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