![]() ![]() The exception would be if a particular topic just really excites you/someone you know and you use it to jump into deeper study. It is better to have a broader understanding. Almost all the articles and the majority of the focus of the study notes are going to be on the topic.įor that reason, I wouldn’t recommend this as your first/only study Bible. The pros and cons for these types of studies are the same – they are narrowly focused. This was the first (well, co-first) study Bible I bought for myself when I first started trying to read/understand the Bible better and started look into translations. That is my Apologetics Bible in the picture. This is an interesting category, as it is obviously varied, and is probably the smallest. ![]() Topical – Archeology/Bible Backgrounds, Apologetics, Complete Jewish So, let’s jump in to some broad categories in which the studies can be grouped, pros/cons, and some recommendations. Also, some listed as such are not really true study Bibles, more on that below. All told, I would venture a guess of over 100 individual study Bibles, I can think of about 30-40, and I own about a dozen (with hopes of only buying two or three more). Now, this doesn’t actually mean there are over two thousand study Bibles, there is certainly an amount of duplication, due to ‘studies’ being offered in different translations (if you haven’t thought much about the different translations or have questions/want recommendations, read my post on it here or listen to the Pod for more information), different bindings (hardcover, fake/real leather, etc.), and font sizes (compact, ‘comfort’ – which is just standard, large, and for Nana – giant). I just pulled up, went to Bibles, then to the Study Bibles category. ![]() Similarly, book intros can be a paragraph or two to multiple pages, and the range for articles seems to be about 20 to 100, with length varying wildly depending on the study. The biggest impact to the size/depth is going to be those notes, which can range from a few sentences at the bottom of the page that might only cover a section or chapter to verse by verse exposition that can take up more than half the page. – or testaments), maps, photos, reconstruction/drawings, articles, reading plans, and, of course, study notes. Study Bibles will range from 1,500 to almost 3,000 pages and will include cross references, intros to books (or categories – wisdom, gospels, etc. A plain ‘reader’ or ‘thinline’ Bible is going to be about 1,000 pages and have nothing else other than a few translation notes. Of course, most people couldn’t read or afford any books, so they really didn’t take off in the post WW2 era. Study Bibles are technically nothing new, arguably the Geneva Bible, published in 1560, was the first of what we’d consider a study Bible. So, in wanting to get a better understanding of some of the intricacies of the writings, there is probably no better first step than reading the Bible with good study notes. However, the Bible was written thousands of years ago across more than thousand years of time, to different cultures in different languages. Not the basics – our sinfulness, the death & resurrection of Christ, and God’s redemptive plan for humanity – those are clear. Simply put, the Bible can be difficult to understand. I think that having a study Bible (or two) is crucial for someone wanting to take the next step in Bible reading. Almost six year ago, I wrote a post called, Why You Need A Study Bible, which was much shorter than anything I write now, but the point still stands.
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