User Guide

Commentaries

Primary Sources and Related Works

Textual Criticism

Lexicons

Theological Dictionaries and Word Studies

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Atlases, Geography, and Topography

OT Introductions

Old Testament Background, History, and Archaeology

Old Testament Theology

Biblical Theology

The Greek NT

Greek Grammar

NT Introductions

NT Background Studies

New Testament Theology

Gospels Studies

Studies on Acts

Pauline Studies

Studies on the General Epistles, Hebrews, and Revelation

Hermeneutics and Exegesis

Homiletics

Primary Sources and Related Works

Barrett, C. K. The New Testament Background: Writings from Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire That Illuminate Christian Origins. San Francisco: Harper, 1998. Selections from writings from the Greco-Roman world that help illuminate the New Testament context.

Charlesworth, James H. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. 2 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1983, 1985. 

DeSilva, David A. Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018. The best introduction to and overview of the OT apocryphal books.

Elwell, Walter A. Readings from the First-Century World: Primary Sources for New Testament Study. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998. A very accessible introduction to the relevant literature of the NT era.

*Evans, Craig A. Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies: A Guide to the Background Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012. Introduces the vast body of literature that is cognate to the NT. Contains excellent summaries and bibliographies.

Jobes, Karen H., and Moisés Silva. Invitation to the Septuagint. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015. An up-to-date, user-friendly introduction to the LXX and its use in biblical studies. An important read for an incredibly important, but often misunderstood and misused, work.

Martínez, Florentino García. The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English. Leiden, MI: Eerdmans, 1996.

Nickelsburg, George. Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2011. An updated, standard survey of the Jewish literature that is not part of the Bible or standard rabbinic works.

Penner, Ken M., Rick Brannan, and Israel Loken. The Lexham English Septuagint: A New Translation. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2019. A new English translation of the LXX.

Rahlfs, Alfred, and Robert Hanhart. Septuaginta. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2007. The standard, complete critical edition of the LXX.

*Sparks, Kenton L. Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017. Sparks does for the ANE setting of the OT what Evans does for the Greco-Roman setting of the NT. A shorter and far less expensive work than James Pritchard’s standard Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969).

VanderKam, James C. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012. A clear and up-to-date introduction to the DSS by one of the world’s foremost authorities.

———. Dead Sea Scrolls Today. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010. Slightly older than the book listed above, but a bit more accessible to the pastor acclimating himself to these works (includes pictures).