Reference Sources



How to Read the Bible

By Steven L. McKenzie

McKenzie argues that to comprehend the Bible we must grasp the intentions of the biblical authors themselves—what sort of texts they thought they were writing and how they would have been understood by their intended audience. In short, we must recognize the genres to which these texts belong. McKenzie examines several genres that are typically misunderstood, offering careful readings of specific texts to show how the confusion arises, and how knowing the genre produces a correct reading.

Published by Oxford University Press, 2005.


The Oxford Companion to the Bible

Edited by Bruce M. Metzger and Michael David Coogan

Written by more than 250 scholars from some 20 nations and embracing a wide variety of perspectives, the Companion offers over seven hundred entries on the people, places, events, books, institutions, religious belief, and secular influence of the Bible.

Ranging far beyond the scope of a traditional Bible dictionary, the content features an abundance of in-depth interpretive essays on topics ranging from religious concepts such as immortality, sin, and grace, to baptism, ethics, and the Holy Spirit. It also explores the Bible in relation to modern issues such as homosexuality, marriage, and anti-Semitism, and the impact of the Bible on the arts.

The Companion also serves as a first place to turn to find factual information on all the books of the Bible—including the Apocrypha and many other ancient texts, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha, and the Mishrah-as well as entries on daily life in ancient Israel and the earliest Christian communities, feasts and festivals, clothing, medicine, units of time, houses, and furniture.

Published by Oxford University Press, 1993.


The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies

Edited by J. W. Rogerson and Judith M. Lieu

Biblical Studies is a highly technical and diverse field. This authoritative and state-of-the-art survey of original research is designed for scholars and students who need to command linguistic, historical, literary, and philosophical skills. Forty-five original contributions by leading figures in the discipline review and analyze current thinking and work and give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates.

Preface

Published by Oxford University Press, 2008.


The Oxford History of the Biblical World

Edited by Michael D. Coogan

For more than a century, archaeologists have been unearthing the tombs, temples, texts, and artifacts of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world. Using new approaches, contemporary scholars have begun to synthesize this material with the biblical traditions.

The Oxford History of the Biblical World incorporates the best of this scholarship, and in chronologically ordered chapters presents the reader with a clear and integrated study of the history, art, architecture, languages, literatures, and religion of biblical Israel and early Judaism and Christianity in their larger cultural contexts. The contributing authors also examine such issues as the roles of women, the tensions between urban and rural settings, royal and kinship social structures, and official and popular religions of the region.

Preface

Published by Oxford University Press, 2001.


The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible

Edited by John Rogerson

Based on the latest research, this Oxford history brings together a distinguished team of seventeen scholars to present an authoritative account of the story behind the Bible, accompanied by an extensive collection of over 150 color and black and white photos.

Readers will learn how a collection of writings in Semitic languages and in Greek—writings that we now call the Books of the Bible—developed over a period of about 800 years and how—even before the Bible existed as one volume—its constituent parts were interpreted and subjected to a scrutiny that no other writing has had to endure. The contributors trace the routes by which the canon of Scripture was determined, the controversies over which writings should be regarded as authoritative, and which should be considered Apocrypha and hidden from public use. Other chapters describe how the writings were copied, translated, and printed over the centuries, and how they were interpreted in Judaism and in the churches in the East and West, and the final essays examine how the Bible is used today, from feminist criticism to the theological liberation movements in Latin America, Africa, and Europe.

Introduction

Published by Oxford University Press, 2001.


Oxford Bible Atlas, Fourth Edition

Edited by Adrian Curtis

The Oxford Bible Atlas provides a guide to the lands in which the Bible's stories are set, from Genesis to Revelation. This new edition, with 27 maps and numerous full-color illustrations, has been thoroughly revised to reflect the latest biblical, archaeological and topographical scholarship.

The latest edition of this authoritative Atlas combines text, maps and images that place the content of the Bible in detailed geographical and historical context. Coverage includes the biblical world and its wider ancient Near Eastern and east Mediterranean settings, the successive historical periods and the major civilizations with which Israelites, Jews, and early Christians came into contact.

Published by Oxford University Press, 2007.


The Oxford Dictionary of the Bible

Edited by W. R. F. Browning

This authoritative, accessible, and up-to-date dictionary of the Bible provides helpful information about important places and personalities. It is particularly concerned to expound the themes and doctrines of the Bible and to indicate their status in the light of modern scholarship.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Bible's broad coverage includes the books of the Bible, people and places, customs, religions and worship, history, and theology.  Over 2,000 entries cover topics ranging from earthquakes and mice to feminism and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Written with clear explanations of technical terms, methods of interpretation, and critical analysis, as well as notes on leading biblical scholars and their contributions, the dictionary is a lively and absorbing reference work for all readers of the Bible.

Published by Oxford University Press, 2004.


The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books of the Bible

Editor in Chief: Michael D. Coogan

The field of Biblical studies is dynamic, with new discoveries, new methodologies, and new perspectives continually enhancing the interpretation of the Bible. There is thus a need for an up-to-date, comprehensive, authoritative, and balanced series of reference works for biblical scholars and students. The forthcoming Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books of the Bible will be the first in this series of specialized reference works, each addressing a specific subfield within biblical studies. The series aims to produce high-level scholarly reference works that are accessible and in-depth, going beyond the basics to provide more specialized coverage.

The first entries from the series were published on Oxford Biblical Studies Online in October 2009, and entries from each title will continue to appear online in advance of print publication. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books of the Bible, forthcoming in print in 2011, contains almost 150 in-depth entries, ranging in length from 500 to 10,000 words, on each of the canonical books of the Bible, major apocryphal books of the New and Old Testaments, important noncanonical texts, and thematic essays on topics such as canonicity, textual criticism, and translation.

Accessible to scholars and readers of the Bible at all levels, the encyclopedia provides a single source for authoritative reference overviews of scholarship on some of the most important topics of study in the field of biblical studies.


Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Edited by Lawrence H. Schiffman

Featuring 450 articles by an international community of 100 scholars, this renowned Encyclopedia is regarded by many as the definitive scholarly resource on what we know about the Dead Sea Scrolls—their history, relevance and meaning—as well as the controversies that surround them.

Discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd, the Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 800 manuscripts nearly one thousand years older than any other writings of the Hebrew Scriptures. Ever since, these mysterious documents have raised questions about the people who wrote them, early Christianity and Second Temple Judaism, and how they confirm or contradict the texts of the Bible.

Representing diverse traditions and fields of learning, this is the most comprehensive critical synthesis of current knowledge about the Dead Sea Scrolls. It covers the works in their historical, archaeological, linguistic, and religious contexts, explores the archaeological evidence, and explains the methods used to date, document, and preserve the manuscripts.

Published by Oxford University Press, 2000.


The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East

Editor in Chief: Eric M. Meyers

A joint effort between Oxford University Press and the renowned American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East was designed to provide the most comprehensive current reference to this growing area of study. While offering extensive coverage of the archaeology of the biblical world, the entries also pay particular attention to the overlapping of the fields of archaeology and biblical studies, including the investigation of over 450 archaeological sites.

With 1,100 entries written by 560 contributors from more than two dozen countries, the scope of the encyclopedia is wide and provides a full range of perspectives and approaches to archaeological endeavors. Articles span from Bahrain to Libraries and Archives to Ziggurats and offer cultural, historical, and religious perspectives to a wide range of topics of interest to both scholars and lay people.

Published by Oxford University Press, 1996.

Oxford University Press

© 2012. All Rights Reserved. Privacy policy and legal notice