If I don't go with journals can I write papers using monographs and commentaries?

[Unix]

I aim at taking at least a Bachelor's degree - it's difficult to estimate how many Credits but about close to 20, i.e. much more than the required classes, also some of it won't count for the degree as I will be at several not all fully compatible universities.

 

I get less points for including commentaries in the bibliography than very well chosen monographs, but I already have some and might buy the new Edition of NIB if I get tempted.

I will deal with Original Languages and some Textual Criticism.

I'm building up a library purchasing individual volumes. I have items for about a thousand $ in my Wishlist and that includes just the ones I was knowledgeable enough to find (not yet to use), I will find more in a few years from now when I progress with studies.

But would journals still be a good idea? For $150 I could get around 1,300 issues, many of them old. I'm leaning towards not getting it as I'm unsure about the amount of new ideas in the bundle or forthcoming upgrades to it and because it's a lot of (mostly Southern) Baptist journals, and the oldest issues are Reformed. I have the portion with the newer ones (that will be upgradable) in my Accordance cart. I would see myself as close to Anglican (ACNA).

 

This might be a question about what I can afford and how much I'd pay for quality. Specific, relevant monographs with excellent reviews would boost the points I would get for the bibliography when I cite them, but these are also both somewhat time-consuming to track down (the reviews, just accessing the reviews might cost as many times reviews are in journals that are in databases that basically require that You study at certain universities to access them) and expensive to eventually buy. The benefit with monographs is that I wouldn't need to buy them right now. The disadvantage is the difficulty of getting a lower price: sometimes big bundles get the price per volume down quite a bit though but those bundles might also contain lots of slightly dated monographs.

 

What I don't understand yet is how to track down new ideas and original research.

 

Early this Week I've tried to search my Accordance library for occurrences of the journals but I'm doing something wrong as I'm not getting a useful full list of the search-results due to my inability to use the search in the right way.

 

Regarding commentaries I have some of those. The most difficult part is to know the denominations of the reviewers if individual volumes. As commentaries can seem like opinions I suppose I would need to understand the technical matters in order to evaluate the conclusions - at least I'm afraid the professors might ask for that, and it could be a bit time-consuming and demanding.

I'm not saying there should be an easy way. All I need to decide right now is whether to get more than 800 journals in Accordance and then keep upgrading to get the new issues. One of the universities I go to would approve of them when it comes to point of the denominations, but my concern is on a personal level whether I want to utilize and look at controversies and academic fights that settled questions within the Evangelical camp.

Do You have any strategies to recommend and are there any users who read this post who were comfortable with journal issues by authors of other denominations (rather far away from) than their own?

[Daniel R]

It sounds like you should look into a database like JSTOR. If I wasn't able to get JSTOR access with my university, then I'd spend my money on a membership to have full access. 

[Michel Gilbert]

It sounds like you should look into a database like JSTOR

 

. . . and Elenchus of Biblica, need library access,

 

and ATLA (see https://www.atla.com/Pages/default.aspx), need library access,

 

and RAMBI (http://merhav.nli.org.il/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&text=&action=search&dstmp=1439581357848&vid=NLI_Rambi&vid=NLI_Rambi&backFromPreferences=true), available online.

 

Enter your search term(s), pick an article you think sounds the best, it may be available for immediate download, it may be in your library, or you will have to inter-library loan it.

 

When you start reading it, you'll be led to other relevant articles in the footnotes.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

[Unix]

The one I'm usually at has ATLA and Proquest Religion. I was thinking of a subscription to JTS (Journal of Theological Studies, The) from Oxford myself, if feasible. I don't know what the smallest uni I'm at has (a Catholic one), it doesn't seem to be stated at the school homepage - I haven't looked at any materials about what extras they offer yet (the first time I studied there was in the Spring semester 2014 but I didn't request for any access at that time).

 

Would I even be able to track down where (for example author, year and bibliographic reference) ideas and original research originate using a module such as Theological Journals Library 16 from a year back? Would I pay completely in vain for old issues? Do I even actually need to know what year specific details originated or are those dates just historical curiosities not required to know at the level? Any experience about this? I could ask at uni but I don't think they're responding this time of the year and if I buy I can't return and get a refund.

The thing that makes me hesitate is not the price itself but that I don't necessarily want to support the (tagging) work behind what can't be utilized for my purposes anyway.

 

 

 

That's what's bothersome over here in this country, I haven't yet heard of any possibilities to loan in advance long before before the period actually set aside for writing the major paper to get a Bachelor's degree starts! The libraries are too small to have sufficient amounts of print journals - they do have online but I don't yet know how to evaluate whether they have ones I'd like, and none of the universities let me do useful inter-library loans at this point. Then there's the general library, it does have some books but I really doubt they are going to get a lot of Christian academic journals: http://www.kb.se - some (I don't know how much but should be the most important parts) of the site is translated into English. Kungliga Biblioteket has Encyclopaedia Judaica and Encyclopedia of religion. It's very nice to sit in that library though:

 it may be in your library, or you will have to inter-library loan it.

[sfarson]

Unix, Just focusing on your question... "If I don't go with journals can I write papers using monographs and commentaries?"

 

The answer is basically yes.  Hopefully you will have access to useful monographs and commentaries for your research.  Take advantage of the school library.  Take advantage of ATLA as noted.  Take advantage of scholarly blogs written/owned by scholars (These can be referenced in papers - check your Turabian, APA, MLA, etc. guidelines).

 

Some journals have a place on the web where the volumes can be freely accessed...  Examples:

 

From a Baptist perspective... http://www.baptistcenter.net/journals_page.html

From an Evangelical perspective... http://themelios.thegospelcoalition.org/archive

 

Consider excellent systematic theology books as an alternative to commentaries.  Some of your research may be better served by examining what different theologians/traditions have to say about a topic or a Bible passage versus a commentary.  There are some excellent theology books available for Accordance.

 

If you can fund journals for your Accordance library, do so.  They will deliver dividends for a long time... in school, in ministry, in deepening your knowledge of the things of God.  A tremendous amount of scholarly wisdom and research are found in journals, and being able to search many of them in seconds opens doors to all kinds of insight valuable for papers.

 

A couple of years ago I came across an observation from a professor who mentioned giving his students extra consideration for a higher grade when seeing scholarly journals referenced for a paper.  It sent the professor a message that the student did extra work for a well-rounded, well-researched paper.

[Brian K. Mitchell]

Hello Unix,

 

 

I will deal with Original Languages and some Textual Criticism.

 

In that case I think that you would most like enjoy and benefit the most from JBL (199.00 USD) and Semeia (69.90 USD). Most of the articles in these Journal collects will focus on original language issues and you are not likely to run into an particular denomination biases very often if at all. I do not own these in Accordance, (YET) but I do have access to these elsewhere and I can tell it has been worth it. 

 

 

The Journal of Biblical Studies

http://www.accordancebible.com/store/details/?pid=JBL

By the way if you are a studnet then you could probably get a discount membership to the SBL in which case you would automatical have access to the SBL archives and their most lastest issues. 

 

Semeia An Experimental Journal for Biblical Criticism

http://www.accordancebible.com/store/details/?pid=Semeia

 

 

 

 

If, you are interested in the Hebrew Bible then I highly recommend the free The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures (JHS)

http://www.jhsonline.org/

 

Also if you are willing and have the time to do a little work you can make a personal Accordance User Tool from these.

Edited August 15, 2015 by bkMitchell

[Unix]

OK, thanks, Dan! Having NIB in Accordance and seeing there is no new (digital) Edition to speak of means I'll have more left for other purchases:

This is basically giving you the commentary without the 2.2 translations (NRSV NIV1984/NAB Apoch) of the Bible... There may have been a very practical reason for this. Zondervan may have not wanted reprints to include the 1984 which would have made for a complete reworking of the texts, the NAB too has been revised since its release. While I am sure errata will have been fully incorporated from reading the above discription I am not sure that there is any other changes at all...

 

-Dan

PS:The errata had been fully incorporated into the original final digital edition, and are reflected in the current editions offered by Accordance and FL.

PPS:I find it somewhat disturbing that they have moved all deuterocanonical works to a single volume. But I suppose there might be those wishing to purchase only that volume or not having that volume. I am also a bit disturbed that volume 10 does lot list it having the index which is the 13th original volume and did have a lot of value to it:

 

 

 

 

I recently wrote in a post on the FL forums how what I have (in Bible Study softwares and print) compares to the university seminary library I can access for free here in the capital - in most cases what I have beats the library considering that I also have features and more up-to-date works and because I've chosen my books to suit me. There is a bigger library as well and it's not that far away (it's also an hour with commuter traffic), it's just that the train ticket to go there is expensive and I might not have a commuter ticket for very long periods of time.
I might very well buy JBL in Accordance at some point later on when it's on a sale again.
A few Semeia and Themelios issues came without extra charge in a bundle of very various things. In addition to that I've bought two Semeia issues cheap, and a few free Themelios issues. I haven't opted for all the free Themelios issues I could have got when I glanced the TOCs and didn't find them worthwhile. I can get individual Semeia issues very cheap in a Bible Study software until Jan 8. 2016.

Unix, Just focusing on your question... "If I don't go with journals can I write papers using monographs and commentaries?"

 

The answer is basically yes.  Hopefully you will have access to useful monographs and commentaries for your research.  Take advantage of the school library.  Take advantage of ATLA as noted.  Take advantage of scholarly blogs written/owned by scholars (These can be referenced in papers - check your Turabian, APA, MLA, etc. guidelines).

 

Some journals have a place on the web where the volumes can be freely accessed...  Examples:

 

From a Baptist perspective... http://www.baptistcenter.net/journals_page.html

From an Evangelical perspective... http://themelios.thegospelcoalition.org/archive

 

Consider excellent systematic theology books as an alternative to commentaries.  Some of your research may be better served by examining what different theologians/traditions have to say about a topic or a Bible passage versus a commentary.  There are some excellent theology books available for Accordance.

 

If you can fund journals for your Accordance library, do so.  They will deliver dividends for a long time... in school, in ministry, in deepening your knowledge of the things of God.  A tremendous amount of scholarly wisdom and research are found in journals, and being able to search many of them in seconds opens doors to all kinds of insight valuable for papers.

 

A couple of years ago I came across an observation from a professor who mentioned giving his students extra consideration for a higher grade when seeing scholarly journals referenced for a paper.  It sent the professor a message that the student did extra work for a well-rounded, well-researched paper.

 

JHS sounds good - what kind of orientation does it have, is it textual matters only?:

In that case I think that you would most like enjoy and benefit the most from JBL (199.00 USD) and Semeia (69.90 USD). Most of the articles in these Journal collects will focus on original language issues and you are not likely to run into an particular denomination biases very often if at all. I do not own these in Accordance, (YET) but I do have access to these elsewhere and I can tell it has been worth it. 

 

 

The Journal of Biblical Studies

http://www.accordancebible.com/store/details/?pid=JBL

By the way if you are a studnet then you could probably get a discount membership to the SBL in which case you would automatical have access to the SBL archives and their most lastest issues. 

 

Semeia An Experimental Journal for Biblical Criticism

http://www.accordancebible.com/store/details/?pid=Semeia

 

 

 

 

If, you are interested in the Hebrew Bible then I highly recommend the free The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures (JHS)

http://www.jhsonline.org/

 

Also if you are willing and have the time to do a little work you can make a personal Accordance User Tool from these.

[Brian K. Mitchell]

 

JHS sounds good - what kind of orientation does it have, is it textual matters only?:

 

They have a very healthy review section, but the mainly the type of articles you will come a cross focus on literary analysis, grammatical/syntactical issues, text critical issues, a touch of higher criticism, and the like. One, of Accordance Staff members has submitted a few articles for JHS, I believe.

 

Check out some of their articles here: http://www.jhsonline.org/jhs-article.html

And their reviews here: http://www.jhsonline.org/reviews_vol.html

 

POST SCRIPT

Robert D. Holmstedt the master mind and crafts man behind the Hebrew Syntatical Databases wrote the following article:

 

http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_202.pdf

Edited August 15, 2015 by bkMitchell

[Unix]

OK, so JHS can definitely be cited when that day comes, and it seems to be free online and will perhaps stay so, I don't know.
Then the trickier question remains about the paid journals (some which of course may be free online) - I prefer what I can get for example bundled or on a sale at a fair price in Bible Study software, especially Accordance, over online content. I don't mind paying some. The question is just about whether there is any point whatsoever in paying for example for the Theological Journal Library 1-16 - can they be used for writing papers? Does anyone have any experience with the general level of bias and general academic standards/amount of original ideas and original research in some of the journals such as:
Ashland Theological Journal (Volumes 1-37) (1969-2005) I would cite this one when deemed academic enough or if I can find enough reviews of it, since it's Mennonite.
Bibliotheca Sacra (Volumes 1-169) (1844-2012)

Conspectus (Volumes 1-13) (2006-2012)

Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society (Volumes 1-25) (1988-2012) which I confuse with Grace Journal (Vols 1-14) (1960-73), Grace Theological Journal (Vols 1-12) (1980-91) .,.. I don't know which one is usually referred to and the better one which should the one to use!?

Priscilla Papers (Volumes 1-26) (1987-2012) What abbreviation (should) be/is used for this one?
Review and Expositor (Volumes 59-106) (1962-2009) RevExp

Trinity Journal (Volumes 1-30) (1980-2009)

Tyndale Bulletin (Volumes 1-61) (1956-2010) TynBul or TynBull
Westminster Theological Journal (Volumes 1-74) (1938-2012) WTJ
... unless I may be mistaken and there would be some additional good volume in the bundle which I should also occasionally use or some of the ones I mentioned above which is not good? So with the exception that I may very well be mistaken of some in the bundle, I suppose I wouldn't use the rest at all and when I get Accordance 12 I would not even download them in order to unclutter my library.
And a small question: (does anyone know of what abbreviations to search for in for example commentary sets such as Hermeneia OT, Anchor NT, NIB?) (I will look what abbreviations they do use myself.) Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised but there were some of these journals I couldn't find with a search - but there can also be something wrong with the way I'm searching - could someone instruct me how to search and get a proper list of all search results - what comes up is a Search Graph and also a list with just a number (usually "1") connected to a module which doesn't seem to correspond to the number I get first. I'm using version 10. (I might also search across my entire library or a custom collection but that isn't as necessary, within just one module at a time is fine.) So considering all this (if I asked the right questions) what would You say about purchasing the Theological Journal Library - would it be worth the low price I would get and would I be able to use them and would they sometimes be either better or quicker to use than monographs?

And anyone more want to chime in about the JBL which I'm not in a hurry to buy as I would buy it some time when it's one a sale if several have recommended it? I've also wished I would set the money aside to buy Biblical Archaeology Review - does anyone have an opinion on the value of it and whether there will be any value left in it years from now to justify paying for it for example next year if it's on a sale or else the year after that? I have a couple of old print issues of it which I haven't looked at yet which I cherry-picked. It's not must-have but sometimes I'm intrigued by it being footnoted.

 

I may occasionally be interested to track down historical theology, but am really unsure whether I would be allowed to do any of that to any larger extent that would justify buying any of these journals, and if needing to read through a lot of articles in order to use journals for that I might prefer other ways.

The order I have in FL is: https://www.logos.com/product/17817/princeton-theological-review ... for which I had bid a successful bid of $50 - (now that I'm able to compare I wouldn't have paid much more - it's barely worth $50, I was in at $125 which at the end of the collection's life in community pricing was above the bidding graph which by then had a maximum bid of $90, what affected my bid was the fact that for years this collection didn't seem to make it, then it got included in larger bundles which some ordered on pre-pub which boosted this item while it was on community pricing). As it's mainly Reformed the same question remains: whether I should beware of bias. I don't expect anyone to have experience with these journals and I'm asking at the wrong forum if I'd require a good answer, but I'd be very interested to hear what is Your general take on journals that may show some bias? I know that I've occasionally seen people stating something a bit diffuse about "Reformed Anglican" which as I don't know what it stands for is just confusing for me - I really should find out more about that term. I'd take into account the age of these journals and understand I'd very rarely if ever be allowed to cite them but do You think there would even be any point whatsoever to cite them once or twice when I would author a book in the future? (Undecided about what all topics I would include in the book.):

They have a very healthy review section, but the mainly the type of articles you will come a cross focus on literary analysis, grammatical/syntactical issues, text critical issues, a touch of higher criticism, and the like. One, of Accordance Staff members has submitted a few articles for JHS, I believe.

 

Check out some of their articles here: http://www.jhsonline.org/jhs-article.html

And their reviews here: http://www.jhsonline.org/reviews_vol.html

 

POST SCRIPT

Robert D. Holmstedt the master mind and crafts man behind the Hebrew Syntatical Databases wrote the following article:

 

http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_202.pdf

[Unix]

Tonight I wrote this pretty brief comment: http://www.christianforums.com/threads/a-mastery-of-theology-now-tricky-questions.7900322/#post-68472857 ... about that I also use some older material. If I'd skip journals I wouldn't buy only the most recent monographs.

Regarding older journal issues, it's difficult to know whether Bibliotheca Sacra or Westminster Theological Journal are cited anywhere in the Moffatt New Testament Commentary Series (16 vols.) as I couldn't find any hits with an amz search (they probably haven't digitized it) with Moffatt and either of the names of these journals (further proved by that I couldn't find any relevant hits by searching on just the two words Journal Moffatt):

Does anyone have any experience with the general level of bias and general academic standards/amount of original ideas and original research in some of the journals such as:
Bibliotheca Sacra (Volumes 1-169) (1844-2012)

Westminster Theological Journal (Volumes 1-74) (1938-2012) WTJ

 

[Unix]

Here is a good example of how I currently make use of and cite academic works: http://www.christianforums.com/threads/can-the-bible-be-trusted.7898696/page-4#post-68475126

... do You think it would be possible for someone like me to develop on that by using journals, and what level of journals: Theological Journal Library, BAR, JBL or JTS? (It seems to me like that is the order in which they can be purchased if going from the easier to the more scholarly.) The reason I haven't used journals is the inaccessibility/not having tested to search them combined with not knowing which journals to choose and so far rarely seeing a reference to a journal issue that I just have to read. The most current question is still: should I skip Theological Journal Library even though I could still get it very cheap in Accordance? I will follow these thread so responses are welcome later on, even a year from now, on JBL, and even later on JTS (the value of it, i.e. how much You'd pay).
JHS seems like the most advanced of these regarding language skills.
Btw, I've noticed that when using LibreOffice Writer on Windows 7 it crashes if pasting too many languages such as Hebrew, Coptic and Greek at the same time. Maybe there are more stable Mac-only word processors? And does Scrivener handle all these three alphabets?

[Ιακοβ]

Older Journals can be useful, especially for getting ideas going. Especially when compared to no journals. 

 

The catch can be where older journals are discussing debates, that have been resolved and are no longer relevant. i.e. Perhaps some older journals are all arguing about a textual issue, that was resolved 10 years later by the find of another manuscript, or perhaps everyone just got bored talking about it

[Unix]

OK, I placed the order $100 for Theological Journal Library 1-16 academic pricing, together with Paideia New Testament Commentaries Series (14 vols.) $319, used my Gift Card which I had bought for myself which was for the sum of $103.84. I was assured that there are scholarly journals in these (even those who didn't know very much specifically about journals said that this library definitely has some scholarly ones even if they weren't necessarily able to name which ones are), and some specific ones were interesting. Little by little I'm getting more and more inspired and motivated to do many searches. I like the idea of focused articles - even though I will have to search for them first (then being able to save the paths to them) rather than organizing my library as I do with monographs, I will be able to get straight to the point of a discussion of a detail. I already have many favourite authors, so I get a good start if I search what each of them have previously said on a topic and then search in both journals, commentaries, monographs and the best Bible Dictionary articles for others quoting them later on (or using them in their bibliographies).

Thanks, I'm very grateful for the good amount of help, now I feel like I know how to continue building my Accordance library besides languages (incl. of course syntax modules), ancient literature, textual criticism!

Also, I'll have to point out that being able to do searches on older scholarship throughout the 20th century, I'll be able to find out how early on scholars had reached far in researching a topic or question, and then with the help of that information I'll be able to build arguments about the use of older works for certain tasks - in some cases that will save me money on buying new modules as I won't be forced to buy the very latest and most expensive books, in other cases it will enable me to use my library more fully or books I have only temporary access to.