rokas Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) Hallo everyone, upon this week's sale I've been reminded of studying the Bible from Jewish perspective, and now it's a nice chance to begin with it. However, I feel lost among the options, and maybe you could help me decide. I am 23, a chemistry student, evangelical-pentecostal, learn original languages (Hebrew and Greek), get to preach and teach from time to time, deeply interested in the Bible (my hobby). What would be for me the value of purchasing and studying the following resources: this Complete Jewish Bible with Notes with Jewish New Testament Commentary, then this JPS Tanakh with Jewish Study Bible, and finaly this Jewish Annotated New Testament ? Would they contribute much to my understanding of the Bible, or are out there more important things to study first, and these would be sort of marginal? Do they overlap a lot in their content, or do they offer quite different perspectives, and if so, do I need all of them, or only some? Finally, please forgive me my ignorance. I would be very grateful for those who would take a bit of time to help me out EDIT: and what about "Bible's Many Voices" ? Edited May 19, 2015 by rokas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukfraser Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) Hi I would strongly recommend you go for the tagged tanakh with study bible notes and jewish annotated notes. I always buy tagged copies as they are useful to see the original. The study bible and annotated nt are very useful but also have a wealth of essays, so yes they are good. I have them both hard copy and now in accordance and wouldnt want to be without the three of them ( and i use the nt with a tagged nrsv as published). I Have also bought the many voices, it looks interesting and i got the opening chapter on kindle, liked his style and then got accordance volume. I would always reccomend accordance copies where available and this looks very good (though i also have brettler's how to read the jewish bible published by oup). I also have the jewish nt commentary but dont find it that useful that i couldnt find in other texts i have. I decided against getting his nt translation as i have barnstone's restored nt published by norton but am findining i am not using hard copies very much these days. It does depend on budget and i have bought mine over the years but i would take advantage now if you can. Certainly the two study text published by oup would be my first as they can be used with any translation but the tagged tanakh is something that should be near the top. Hope this helps. Edited May 19, 2015 by ukfraser 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Jenney Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Hi! If you are like most Christians, your greatest knowledge is probably of the NT. With that in mind, I'd suggest getting the Jewish Annotated NT and the Jewish NT Commentary first. Reading both on familiar passages will give you insights into the Jewish perspective of the NT. It's an easy entry into that perspective. Remember though, the Judaisms of today are very different from those of the NT period. The destruction of Jerusalem, the Bar-Khokba revolt, Masada, the Medieval Kabbalah, the Holocaust, the return of Israel to the land (and many others)—each of these events shaped Judaism into what it is today. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokas Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) @ukfraser What was so good about Tanakh+Notes and Annotated NT? And you said that NT Jewish commentary isn't very helpful, because you can find similar information in other resources you have - what are they? I mean, I probably don't have them and thus maybe NT Jewish commentary would still be helpful? It does help! @Timmothy I am actually equally in love with both OT and NT. As a young guy looking for leadership examples, love and wisdom I got historical and wisdom books quite well (for my age, anyway) covered Only prophetic material and law is still somewhat a less known territory. Do you suggestions still stand? Concerning the difference in Judaism between now and then, that's a really interesting point. Would you say that the value of these resources lies mainly in understanding today's Jews and their view of the Bible, and not so much in understanding the Bible itself? Because I am not very interested in the former, as of now. Edited May 19, 2015 by rokas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Jenney Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I've found it worthwhile to read the original, historical documents outside of the Bible to gain perspective: the Pseudipigrapha, the Targums, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gedalya Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 The ancient rabbis commented that their are seventy faces to Torah. Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote that Judaism consists of a minimum of revelation and a maximum of interpretation. In essence, Judaism is the rabbinic understanding and interpretation of Torah in its broadest sense. Of all the modules offered by Accordance, I think you will gain the most comprehensive appreciation of the development of Judaism and its understanding of the Hebrew Bible from the Essays contained in Marc Brettler's Jewish Study Bible. Reading these essays will give you a window into Judaism past and present and how Jews approached and approach today the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokas Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) @Timothy So would you say that for understanding the Bible itself reading the original historical documents is the way to go, and that Jewish resources posted above are rather marginal for that purpose and wouldn't much enrich my understanding of the Bible (but mostly of today's Jews)? @Gordon Judaism past is good (and given that, present for comparison is good then too)! What about the rest, do they contribute to Judaism past? Edited May 19, 2015 by rokas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gedalya Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I would suggest beginning with the NJPS Tanakh, HMT-W4 Hebrew text, together with the Jewish Study Bible and its Essays as a good place to start. And I would also add that the Torah: a Modern Commentary is excellent as well. The essays in this volume are insightful and the commentary is based on modern scholarship and traditional Jewish commentaries as well so you will get a comprehensive view of various Jewish approaches to Scripture. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Jenney Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Hmmm..., I certainly agree with what Gordon just wrote about rabbinic Judaism, from which modern Judaism is descended. I certainly don't want to marginalize it, nor the sources that illuminate it: Mishnah, Tosephta, Talmud, even our newest resource(!), The Commentator's Bible, with its medieval rabbinic commentaries. On the other hand, there were many other kinds of Judaism in the past: Sadducean, Essene, Zealotry, Gnostic, Christian, etc. Then there was the "regular" Judaism of the Jews who belonged to none of these formal associations, about which E. P. Sanders wrote in Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE-66 CE. Diving into these kinds of resources will be a huge benefit in understanding just how complex the tapestry of Judaism has been through the centuries—and why, at the outset, the followers of Jesus felt so free to consider themselves just another sect of Judaism. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokas Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 @Gordon Thank you, Gordon! @Timothy So, to sum up, I should go for the resources mentioned in the initial post and supplement it with readings in Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo as well as in Mishnah, Talmud, Commentators's Bible, etc, right? Sounds like a good undertaking! Thanks, Timothy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Jenney Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Sounds like a GREAT plan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokas Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 Indeed, should be done in 10 years, more or less. Got to begin NOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gedalya Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 For an historical perspective, you should also check out Eerdman's Dictionary of Early Judaism. I doubt that reading through plain texts will be of benefit unless the texts are accompanied with comprehensive commentaries or a teacher and ever then this is a sea in which it is hard to swim... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokas Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 That dictionary is already under my radar! Ok, so how would you suggest to tackle this? What commentaries would you suggest? And is it actually worth it for a layman like me, to swim through all this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukfraser Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Totally agree with what has been suggested and it is great to have accordance with the links and tools which i find is pushing my study. One other tool i use is beale's use of ot in nt which hasnt been mentioned. ;o) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gedalya Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 See my comment above at 4:17pm. Begin there for a comprehensive survey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokas Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 @ukfraser totally agree with you as well! @Gordon Ok, I got those, except for Modern Torah Commentary. I've read it's liberal. What does "liberal" exactly mean in this context? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gedalya Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Torah: A modern commentary was published by the Reform branch of Judaism (Judaism has four major branches--Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist). Perhaps google Reform Judaism to get a comprehensive view. In terms of Biblical studies, Reform and Conservative Judaism are more open to the critical study of the Biblical text and a more historical view of the development of Judaism. Reform is also open to more changes in Jewish law and practice in deference to modernity, ie more liberal in their interpretation of Jewish Law and practice. It's too long a discussion to have here. The Jewish Study Bible is open to this approach as well. The advantage of the Torah: A modern commentary is that it will also give you a sampling of rabbinic commentaries juxtaposed to the modern critical approach as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokas Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 ok, this will suffice for some time now - thanks a lot for shedding some light on it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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