Saturday, April 12, 2008

The ESV Study Bible: A Sneak Preview

Mark Driscoll
, pastor of Mars Hill Church Seattle, gives a sneak preview of the ESV Study Bible. It sounds amazing and I think that it will end up replacing the famous NIV Study Bible. Here is some of what he shares:

The ESV Study Bible is the result of extensive work from 93 evangelical Bible scholars from 9 countries representing nearly 20 denominations and over 50 seminaries and Bible colleges. To the best of my knowledge, none of the theological contributors owns a prayer labyrinth or has ever finger painted their doctrinal statement, which is very comforting. Heading up the team are Lane Dennis (Executive Editor), Wayne Grudem (General Editor), J. I. Packer (Theological Editor), C. John Collins (Old Testament Editor), Thomas R. Schreiner (New Testament Editor), and my buddy Justin Taylor (Managing Editor).

The ESV Study Bible includes the 757,000 words of the Bible along with an additional 1.1 million words of theological resources, which is the equivalent of a 20-volume resource library. Those resources include 25,000 notes, over 50 articles, 200 full-color maps, 200 charts, 80,000 cross-references, and some 40 color illustrations that are far cooler than the typical Bible pictures that look like a kindergartner tried to draw the Temple with their left hand.
As a geek who always reads the footnotes, I am particularly excited about Clinton Arnold’s work in Colossians and Philemon, Andreas J. Kostenberger’s work in John, Raymond Ortlund’s work in Isaiah, Grant Osborne’s work in James, Simon Gathercole’s work in Galatians, Thomas Schreiner’s work in Romans, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude, and Frank Thielman’s work in 1 Corinthians.

The theological article lineup is nastier than the heart of the Red Sox order. Here are just some of the titles:

  • “The Authority and Truthfulness of the Bible” by Wayne Grudem
  • “How to Interpret the Bible” by Daniel Doriani
  • “Overview of the Bible” by Vern Poythress
  • “Reading the Bible Theologically” by J. I. Packer
  • “Reading the Bible as Literature” by Leland Ryken
  • “Reading the Bible for Application” by David Powlison
  • “Reading the Bible, Prayer, and Communion with God” by John Piper
  • “Reading the Bible with the Church” by John Hannah
  • “The Bible’s Use in Preaching and Public Worship” by Kent Hughes
  • “God’s Plan for Salvation” by Mark Dever
  • “The Theology of the New Testament” by Thomas Schreiner
  • “Reading the Gospels and Acts” by Darrell Bock
  • “Reading the Epistles” by Thomas Schreiner
  • “The Canon of the Old Testament” by Roger Beckwith
  • “The Old Testament and Critical Scholarship” by Walter Kaiser
  • “The New Testament and Critical Scholarship” by Darrell Bock
HT: Justin Taylor

2 comments:

Tom Gee said...

Wow, that sounds great, Nick! Quite a collection. I like seeing Powlinson on application; he isn't the most obvious choice, but I've greatly appreciated his counseling materials and seen how he applies Scripture to daily problems. Truly a man who lives out the truth that it is through the Scripture (alone!) that "the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

It was fun using the ESV to check my Greek translations. In second year, we were encouraged to make our translations even less literal and "wooden" than the ESV, showing how close that translation sticks to the original.

Gotta get me one!

Paul Pettit said...

Sounds like a tremendous new resource. Look forward to investigating further.
- Paul Pettit
www.dynamicdads.com