I’m very pleased to announce the release of the Hermeneia commentary series for Accordance. This 43-volume set includes commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and even extrabiblical works like 1 Enoch, Fourth Ezra, the letters of Ignatius, the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Apostolic Tradition. Hermeneia is a “critical and historical commentary” which strives to “lay bare the ancient meaning” of the text without imposing any particular “systematic-theological perspective.” As such, it adds theological breadth to our commentary offerings. And as a highly technical commentary focused on the original languages and the historical context in which the texts were written, Hermeneia adds a great deal of depth as well.
The Hermeneia CD-ROM contains eight separate Accordance modules, each containing multiple volumes of the commentary. Hermeneia OT and Hermeneia NT contain the bulk of the biblical commentary. There are a few cases where Hermeneia offers multiple volumes covering the same material. A second commentary on the book of Amos is included in a separate Hermeneia OT2 module. Likewise, Hermeneia NT2 includes volumes on the Sermon on the Mount, Acts, and the Johannine Epistles. The advantage of placing these volumes in separate modules is that you can display them in parallel with the corresponding volumes in the main OT and NT modules. (See screenshot below)
Other modules include the aforementioned commentaries on Pseudepigrapha (Hermeneia PS), Apostolic Fathers (Hermeneia AF), and the Apostolic Tradition (Hermeneia AT). Naturally, the Apostolic Fathers and Pseudepigrapha volumes can be viewed in parallel with those Accordance texts.
The last volume which needs to be mentioned is the Critical Edition of Q, which is not a commentary per se, but rather a synopsis showing a reconstructed text of Q in parallel with the text of Matthew, Luke, and various other texts (LXX, Gospel of Thomas, etc.). For those of you who don’t know what Q is, it is a hypothetical collection of Jesus’ “Sayings” which some scholars believe Matthew and Luke used as a source in writing their gospels. Whatever your view of Q and the literary relationship between the synoptic gospels, it is certainly helpful to be able to interact with the reconstruction presented in this Hermeneia volume.
In the screenshot below, you can see the text of the NRSV in parallel with three Hermeneia volumes: the commentary on Matthew by Ulrich Luz (Hermeneia NT), the commentary on the Sermon on the Mount by Hans Dieter Betz (Hermeneia NT2), and the Critical Edition of Q (Hermeneia Q).
To purchase all 43 volumes of Hermeneia in print would set you back $2650, but the Accordance edition is just $1200. You can find out more about the Accordance edition of this highly acclaimed commentary here.