Thursday, June 21, 2007

Commentaries I Recommend

These are commentaries I personally recommend, which means I have used them quite a bit and really like them. I have plenty of other commentaries, some of which I expect I will like just as much when I use them a bit more, but I haven't yet used them in enough detail to be able to recommend them publically. There are even probably some I can't remember at the moment, but I'll put them up here when I do remember them.

In my earlier series of review on commentaries, I categorised them as paperback / hardback / heavy. Here, I think I prefer to distinguish by purpose. So the first commentary listed is something I've found helpful devotionally. The second is something I find helpful for getting to grips with the passage at a deeper level. Before I started at theological college, I'd have found one from the first column fine for work on preparing a sermon. Now I'd tend to use more...

It's worth adding that I find this site useful, but often over 10 years old so misses the best of the new. This page does a similar thing to what I am doing, but more years down the line.

Commentaries in square brackets are ones I haven't used enough to recommend properly, but which look excellent.

Genesis: / [Waltke]
Exodus: A Motyer (BST) /
Leviticus: /
Numbers: [G Wenham] /
Deuteronomy: C Wright (NIBC) / G McConville (Apollos)
Joshua: DR Davis (Focus) /
Judges: DR Davis (Focus) / Block (NAC)
Ruth: I Duguid (REC)/ [Block (NAC)]
1 Samuel: DR Davis (Focus) /
2 Samuel: DR Davis (Focus) /
1 Kings: DR Davis (Focus, but see this) / I Provan (NIBC) but light
2 Kings: DR Davis (Focus) / I Provan (NIBC) but light
1 Chronicles: Wilcock (BST) /
2 Chronicles: Wilcock (BST) /
Ezra: / [Williamson]
Nehemiah: Brown (BST) / [Williamson]
Esther: I Duguid (REC) / [Jobes (NIVAC)]
Job: C Ash ("Out of the Storm") / [Clines (Word)]
Psalms: see here
Proverbs: / [Longman (Baker)]
Ecclesiastes: I Provan (NIVAC) / Provan (NIVAC)
Song of Songs: [Gledhill (BST)] /
Isaiah: Webb (BST) / A Motyer (IVP), [Oswalt (NIC)]
Jeremiah: / Holladay (Heremneia)
Lamentations: / [Berlin (OTL)]
Ezekiel: C Wright (BST) / [Block (NIC)]
Daniel: /
Hosea: / McComiskey (Baker)
Joel: /
Amos: Roy Clements (When God's Patience Runs Out) /
Obadiah: /
Jonah: RT Kendal (paternoster classics) /
Micah: DR Davis / [Waltke (Eerdmans)]
Nahum: /
Habakkuk: J Lamb (Keswick) /
Zephaniah: JL Mackay (Focus) /
Haggai: /
Zechariah: B Webb (BST) /
Malachi: /
Matthew: / D Carson (EBC)
Mark: / RT France (NIGTC)
Luke: / [Bock (Baker)]
John: / D Carson (Pillar)
Acts: J Stott (BST) / [Bock (Baker)]
Romans: J Stott (BST) / T Schreiner (Baker)
1 Corinthians: / [Thiselton (NIGTC)]
2 Corinthians: R Clements, (the Strength of Weakness) /
Galatians: R Clements (no longer slaves) or Stott (BST) /
Ephesians: J Stott (BST) / [O'Brien]
Philippians: / [O'Brien]
Colossians: / [O'Brien]
1 Thessalonians: [Stott] /
2 Thessalonians: [Stott] /
1 Timothy: [Stott] /
2 Timothy: [Stott] /
Titus: [Stott] /
Philemon: / [O'Brien]
Hebrews: /
James: D Moo (Pillar) / D Moo (Pillar)
1 Peter: W Grudem (Tyndale) /
2 Peter: /
1 John: J Stott (Tyndale) /
2 John: J Stott (Tyndale) /
3 John: J Stott (Tyndale) /
Jude: /
Revelation: Richardson (Revelation Unwrapped) /

2 comments:

Ginger said...

'Heavy' as in physically hefty or theologically weighty?

Either way I'm small and considerably less educated than you in all things theological, so perhaps I best avoid that category!

John said...

In this context, ones where knowing the original languages is needed for getting the most out of the commentary.

That or over 1000 pages...