Every so often there are those individuals who are so enamored with the Bible that they embark on a journey to unearth its meaning and message in fresh new ways for the church as a whole. This describes Timothy and Jerry Clontz, the editors of The Comprehensive New Testament, who spent over a decade translating the New Testament and mapping out 40,000 cross references from the Bible to a vast array of secondary literature.

The stated goal of the editors in their Cross Reference Index is summarized as follows:

To better understand how the New Testament answers questions for us today, it is helpful to see how the New Testament answered questions in its ancient setting. That ancient world still exists in whole libraries of documents which are cross referenced in an extensive index. The cross references are arranged by topic, passage, and verse. The cross reference index is designed to be used with the topical reference index to facilitate locating references for common New Testament topics. The cross reference index includes over 40,000 references for:

Old and New Testaments

Old Testament Apocrypha

Apostolic and Patristic Writings

Dead Sea Scrolls

Dhammapada

Epic of Gilgamesh

Golden Verses of Pythagoras

Greek Literature

Nag Hammadi Library

New Testament Apocrypha

Pseudepigrapha

Rabbinic Writings

Tacitus

The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Works of Josephus

Works of Philo

Works of Plato

The Accordance edition is interlinked with all texts currently available in our Library, and contains separate modules that index the cross references from the Bible to secondary literature. In addition we created separate modules that go from Josephus, Philo, Apostolic Fathers, and Qumran to the Bible and other works. Finally, we have the English translation and Notes.

If you're interested in understanding the Bible in its broader context, then the Comprehensive Crossreferences modules are a must have — and a steal at only $49.99.

For a closer look at these modules in action, check out this short screencast and see why this release was an instant favorite for scholars and pastors alike at the recent ETS/SBL meetings.