The Orthodox Study Bible New Testament & psalms

by Peter E. Gillquist

English (translation)

Genres: Religion, Christianity, Christian, Reference, Scripture, Nonfiction, Philosophy

Library Binding

First published April 1, 1993

Reviews

[Jacob Aitken]

On a Futurama episode Fry is watching a commercial about some Robot product and it says, "Made by a robot, for a robot." I have always been interested in how different publishers do their study bibles. I've read almost every kind: hyperliberal to moderately postliberal to dispensational to Reformed. You see the same patterns after a while.

I also know what to look for in study bibles. So what about this one? Back to my Futurama quote, this study bible was "Made by former evangelicals, for former evangelicals." Is it good or bad? It is certainly not "good," but it is quite useful.

I think the committee who made this bible failed miserably in what they *could have* done. These Orthodox guys like the Church Fathers, right? Wouldn't it be swell if they had a Bible consisting mainly (or at least heavily) of quotes from the Fathers? It would be the first of its kind. Unfortunately, most of the footnotes are fairly self-explanatory. They do little than summarize what the verse is saying. If you have a 5th grade education you could have figured out that anyway. Every now and then they throw out some reference to St John Chrysostom or St Hilary of Poitiers.

However, the topical excerpts (all study bibles have these--they are about a page long) are fairly sound. They have articles at the end of the bible explaining how the Orthodox view Tradition, the Bible, Liturgy, Icons, Saints, etc. These are mostly good. In the section on how the Orthodox read the Bible, I think they overreact to American Dispensationalism on a few points and make some non sequiturs, but that can be ignored.

There are about ten full color icons throughout the Bible. I am not an iconographer, but they appear to be well-done. Quite frankly, the most useful part of the Bible are the daily prayers and calendar readings at the end.

[Stacey Suarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important book in my life, and my personal favorite. A daily guide for living. Lives can and will be transformed by this book through regular reading. Especially helpful are the guides for the Morning and Evening Prayers on pgs. 755-761. These ancient texts are universal and are like peeling layers of an onion. Although you may have read the same phrase a dozen or more times, new meaning and light can be shed on it with the next reading.

[Georges Berbary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strive to read everyday...

[Mario Navarrete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great bible with beautiful icons

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a book i read on an ongoing basis.

[Jonathan]

None

[Kimberly Aikens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Use daily