Ep. 44 - Best Books for the Background of the Bible | Historical-Cultural Context

Ever wished for a tool that could unlock the deep cultural context of the Bible for you? In order to read the Bible well and not import our own ideas into Scripture, we need to know about the world of the Bible or the historical-cultural context. In this episode, I share some of the best resources and tools to help us better understand the background to the Bible.

0:00 Introduction

0:58 Study Bibles

2:08 Background Commentaries

3:59 Overviews

6:50 Primary Source Reader

7:23 Atlas

8:11 Conclusion

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Best Books for the Background of the Bible | Historical-Cultural Context

When we're reading the Bible we can go between two extremes. On the one hand, there are a lot of foreign, confusing things in the Bible, what. Or, on the other hand, we don't know there even are cultural differences and what ends up happening is we unknowingly import our own views and culture into the text. So Paul is saying the five steps to financial growth are the best cure, for both of these is to become better acquainted with the world of the Bible or the historical cultural context. But how do we do this? What tools do we use to read the Bible better? In this way, I'm going to share some of my favorite books to help us enter into the world of the Bible. I'm going to break these down into five categories and give a few books for each of them. I'm JC Schroeder and this is Bite Size Seminary. The first category is Study Bibles. This, I think, is a really helpful and easy entry point into the world of the Bible because they're relatively inexpensive. They cover the whole Bible and the commentary sits right next to the text of Scripture, so you don't have to go hunting around for another book. My favorite is the Cultural Background Study Bible. It comes in a variety of translations so you can choose the one that you already use or the one that you just want. Not only does it have helpful notes that are tied to the passage that you're looking at, there are also higher level articles that relate to a topic from that text, such as, say, ancient Cosmology. The Study Bible is also a kind of super abridged version of some of the books in the commentaries category that we'll look at in a minute. Another helpful Study Bible is the ESV Archaeology Study Bible. I have less familiarity with this one personally, but from what I have seen and some friends' comments as well, it's really good and really helpful. The second category is Background Commentaries. These are different than a traditional commentary, which I think sometimes undervalues the culture of the text or the culture from the Bible, because they are geared more toward the overall message or the verse by verse, textual and linguistic analysis, which is great, but it creates a hole. So background commentaries seek to fill in that gap. I've got a shorter and cheaper option and a fuller and more expensive option for you than what your budget is. The shorter and cheaper option is the IVP Bible Backgrounds commentary edited by Walton Matthews, chevalis and Keener. This is in two volumes, obviously one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament. The longer, more expensive option is the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background commentary, also edited by John Walton as well as Clinton Arnold. There are five volumes for the Old Testament and four for the New Testament. So you can see much, much more length here, much more breadth. Besides its breadth, one of the unique features of the Bible Backgrounds commentary is the this one, the Zandervan Illustrated commentary, is the inclusion of many pictures, which helps shape our perception of the ancient world. You get to see it, not just read it. Both commentaries work through the text, making notes about key verses and their historical, cultural significance. As you're working through a passage, these commentaries can be a helpful guide into the history and culture of the text. They are, I think, just essentials for reading and especially for preaching and teaching. The third category is overviews. These books are a bit more proactive in understanding the world of the Bible, while the study Bibles and background commentaries that we just talked about these, are a bit more reactive. With these study Bibles and background commentaries, you read a verse and then you look at the note in the commentary right next to it. With the overview books, on the other hand, you're getting a high-level introduction into key topics and concepts in the social and thought world of the Bible. It's presented as a whole, not just on a case-by-case basis. John Walton's ancient Near Eastern thought and the Old Testament is a wonderful and insightful introduction to Old Testament backgrounds. The New Testament kind of equivalent to this is David De Silva's Honor, patronage, kinship and Purity. It's kind of mouthful but it's a great book. This book for me has been tremendously helpful to me, especially with the topic of honor and shame. Both are recently updated and serve to prepare you to read both Testaments really, really well and with greater sensitivity to the biblical world. I also want to add what might be the easiest to read introduction to the world in the New Testament in Long and Neckars, the Lost Letters of Pergamum. This is a work of historical fiction, so it's highly readable and a good story. It's a novel right, it's a historical fiction novel, but it also serves as a kind of easy and sly way to absorb your New Testament world and enjoy it. I use this one as a textbook for some of my classes and many of my students have told me that they've really enjoyed reading this book. Two other books I want to point out in this category are collections of short essays serving as introductions to many topics such as the function of the family, what reading and writing looked like or who the various Jewish groups were in the New Testament. The Old Testament book is Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament, edited by Greer, hilber and Walton. I personally had the privilege total privilege of studying with both Drs Greer and Hilber and they have done a fantastic job with this book. The New Testament volume is the World of the New Testament, edited by Green and McDonald. Both of these collections probably serve best as more of a resource to go to for an introduction about a specific topic or issue. The real aid with both of these is their breadth and scope and ease of use Nice, bite-size introduction to lots of different topics. The fourth category is Primary Source Reader. Here I think it's helpful to not just read about the ancient world but the texts themselves where we get a lot of the information and that have resonances with the Bible. I really like exploring biblical backgrounds. Edited by Dodson and Smith, it has a lot of readings that go with the Old Testament and New Testament. They also have short and helpful introductions to each reading to highlight the biblical connections and significance. The fifth category is an Atlas. You need a good book of maps that helps show number one, spatial relationships, but also number two has some discussion of the importance of geographical features for how these influence the events and the text. At the risk of boring you with more names and more books, I'm going to give you this one I really like. I really do like the New Moody Atlas Bible by Batesle I hope I'm pronouncing these names right as well as the Zondervan Atlas of the Bible by Rasmussen. Personally, I think the maps are a little bit easier to read in the Moody Atlas, but the Zondervan Atlas has some unique discussions and charts, especially in comparison with other regions and topographies. Both are really, really great resources to have on your shelf. There are many more books that are super, super helpful, but these are just my favorite ones that I enjoy. If you want to give a comment below with your favorite, or if I forgot any, I'd love to just hear your input. As you look at these resources, you'll find that they'll also point you to other, more specific resources if you need something more specific or more detailed. These books definitely are gifts to the church that help us to not be confused and help keep us from importing our own culture and expectations into the text. So that's all I got. If you're interested in other book reviews and recommendations, you can check out the playlist on the screen. Thanks so much for your time and may the Lord bless you.