Bible commentary

As Bible Commentary notes and time-historical explanations are on individual books of the Bible or on specific Bible translations referred. In addition to the biblical text, they often also contain cross-references to similar biblical passages (see concordance ) as well as content-related interpretations based on scientific exegesis .

In addition to theological purposes, Bible commentaries are also used for personal Bible study or as an introduction to the various books of the Holy Scriptures. They range in scope from paperbacks to multi-volume works. As a rule, they only deal with the scriptures contained in the canon of the Bible (46 or 39 in the Old Testament, 22 in the New Testament), but sometimes also refer to the Apocrypha .

Time-related interpretations

Since the time of the creation of the Bible extends over several centuries ( Old Testament around 8th to 2nd century BC, New Testament 1st and early 2nd century), insights from the respective time-related Bible exegesis flow into most of the comments as well as language and history . Therefore, Bible commentaries by scholars from different epochs can differ significantly and also contradict one another.

Some of these interpretive differences are related to the prevailing doctrines in the various denominations . Those between the Catholic and the Protestant Church have been largely overcome in recent years, which is continuously published in the volumes of the Evangelical-Catholic Commentary . It is now available for almost all books of the New Testament .

Bible commentaries in Judaism

In Judaism , the first commentaries on the Old Testament (Tanach) were written as early as the 6th and 5th centuries BC. In the 11th century some of these methods of interpretation were summarized by the authorities Rashi (1040–1105), Ibn Esra and Rashbam , who are still recognized today .

The four essential levels of meaning in the interpretation of texts of the Torah are summarized under the acronym PaRDeS . They range from Paschat ( literal meaning ) to Remes (allusion, allegory ) and Drasch (homiletic) to Sod , the mystical meaning.

In a school constitution of the 13th century for the Jewish elementary school it says: “The teachers should not teach the children by heart but from books, and they should teach them to translate the script into the national language [...] In two years they will learn Five books of Moses, the prophets and the scriptures in two years, ”followed by parts of the traditional interpretation ( Talmud ). This Bible study was only supplemented by profane knowledge if this led to a better understanding of the Bible.

literature

Joachim Gnilka u. a .: EKK - Evangelical-Catholic Commentary on the NT
Bible comments at Bibelwissenschaft.de
Instructions for Bible Study in the "Church of Jesus Christ" (Mormons)
Bible commentaries by the EKK published by Patmos
Biblical commentary on the Old Testament
Critical-exegetical commentary on the New Testament , oldest German commentary series on the New Testament

Web links

Collection of free Bible commentaries

Individual evidence

↑ Europe's Jews in the Middle Ages (p.24) ( Memento from January 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), exhibition in the historical Museum Speyer

[1] Europe's Jews in the Middle Ages (p.24) ( Memento from January 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), exhibition in the historical Museum Speyer