World Famous Comics: The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today's World
The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today's World
By: Thomas Nelson Publisher: Thomas Nelson Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Thomas Nelson Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 1824 Publication Date: June 17, 2008
The FIRST EVER Orthodox Study Bible presents the Bible of the early church and the church of the early Bible.
Orthodox Christianity is the face of ancient Christianity to the modern world and embraces the second largest body of Christians in the world. In this first-of-its-kind study Bible, the Bible is presented with commentary from the ancient Christian perspective that speaks to those Christians who seek a deeper experience of the roots of their faith.
Features Include:
Old Testament newly translated from the Greek text of the Septuagint, including the Deuterocanon
A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (Mark 13:31)
The New King James Version is not A King James Bible. The King James Version is a faithful and accurate translation of the Hebrew and Greek text of the Scripture. It is the Word of God. The NKJV is a deception - a wolf in sheep's clothing with:
+ Thousands of unnecessary changes, + Many erroneous departures from the KJV, + The deletion of the important distinctions between the second person pronoun singular and plural (thee, thou, thy, thine vs ye, you), + A form of brainwashing that has been intentionally designed by the publisher to be a bridge to the unreliable modern versions.
Please do a simple Google search on the NKJV to see detailed criticism about this unfortunate choice by the copyright owners, Thomas Nelson Publishing. Clearly, this is not an Orthodox Bible regardless of the many icons and study notes included.
Jim Giatas www.myspace.com/jimgiatas
Lack of commentaries I bought the orthodox study bible. It is a beautiful book. I believe the translation is good but the commentaries are so few (and in much of the time, not so deep). There aren`t many differences in translation among serious Bibles (as is this one) and the Jerusalem Bible describes much of the differences between the different originals (Greek, Hebrew, etc). So what I care the most is the commentaries, where I can learn the different approaches of the scriptures among the different churches/religions. Unfortunatedly, this part was not very explored in this edition (I just read parts of the OT. Maybe in the NT things are different).
Not the LXX Contrary to what the advertising says, the OT is *not* the Septuagint (LXX). Allow me to explain: It is an attempt to revise the NKJV OT to conform to the LXX. They had shoddy production standards, however, and did not complete the task. Fairly frequently throughout, the NKJV remains where it deviates fromt he LXX. Sadly, the editorial committe should have caught these.
Here are a few examples:
In Genesis 3:15, the OSB says "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall be on guard for His heel." This verse can exemplify how shoddy the production standards were. "He shall bruise your head" comes straight from the NKJV. The LXX has "He shall guard against your head", while the second half of the prophecy is from the LXX. Why is the text mixed? What kind of oversight is it to modify half a sentance when the same variation occurs in both halves? This is very telling.
In the LXX, in the next chapter, Cain says to his brother, "Let us go out to the field" (the NRSV inserted this from the LXX, and I am using it). The NKJV lacks this verse, and consequently, it is omitted from the translation.
Habbakuk opens with God commanding Habbakuk to name his children "Not Pitied" and "Not My People". The LXX translates these, and thus, any translation of the LXX would do so as well. The NKJV transliterates the Hebrew. So does the OSB.
I selected these pretty much at random, and I stuck to the openings of books, because it is easier and sufficient for my purposes. I can't say these things happened on purpose. It occurred because the OSB was not held to professional standards. That does not bode well even where they did translate it.
The poor standards are rather easily seen throughout the book. The binding is poor, and because of the small margins, the words often run off into the gutter. They say they cite the fathers of the first millennium, but they include St. Seraphim of Sarov (a nintenth century saint) and Theodore of Mopsuestia (a heretic, not a father). I cannot find, however, where either were cited, if they were. The paper is thin, but to its credit, there isn't much bleed through.
Further, in the translation, they took no pains at all to make it conform to the same numbering scheme as standard English Bibles. Consequently, if someone cites chapter and verse for something from *any* other Bible, the reader cannot follow. This means that a group studying the OT from the Orthodox Study Bible is stuck either having all its members buy the OSB, not using it, or suffering from terrible confusion. A little more elbow grease would solve the problem: NETS did it, Brenton did it, and so on. There really is no excuse for it.
The notes are useful in places, and while the binding is terrible and not worth the price put on it (Zondervan has to recoup its cost for this overly expensive albatross somehow), one can live with it. The real problem is the translation, since it is not truly an LXX. The haphazard way that they followed their translation standard means this Bible will cause more harm than good.
So, English-speaking Orthodox Christians are stuck either using a Roman Catholic Bible or carrying two volumes to get close to a complete Bible (I carry NETS and the EOB NT). It's sad, but people really should stay away from the OSB until they release a new edition that meets a decent level of production standards.
A Valuable Resource for Any Christian The Orthodox Study Bible, published by Thomas Nelson, is a new study Bible with two interesting features. First, all of its notes and articles are written from an Eastern Orthodox perspective. Second, the Old Testament is translated from the Septuagint (LXX), which the Eastern Orthodox use, rather than the Masoretic Text (MT). These two features make it a valuable resource for most students of the Bible, Eastern Orthodox or not. For this review, it will be important to note that I am not an Eastern Orthodox, so my thoughts will be those of an outsider.
First, the edition I have is the hard cover. It comes with a nice, sturdy dust cover with a beautiful icon of Christ on the front. The colors of the cover match that of the icon, red and gold, very pleasing to behold. Removing the dust cover, the Bible looks a lot like many standard pew Bibles (at least for many of us Baptists). It is maroon with the "Orthodox Study Bible" written in gold on the front with the Eastern Orthodox cross also gold. The font of the text is decently sized (big enough to be read without being a large-font Bible), and the font of the notes are as well very readable. Some of my favorite parts of the Bible are the paintings/icons that are placed throughout the text. They are beautiful, and many seemed to be filled with theological depth.
The study Bible contains several articles and resources at the front and back of the book. The introduction explains the differences in numbering at some places (Psalms, Jeremiah, and Malachi) between the LXX and the MT. There is also a list comparing the Old Testament books in the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant traditions. The different books are: 1 Esdras (a variation of Ezra), Tobit, Judith, 1-3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Sirach, Baruch, Epistle of Jeremiah, the Prayer of Manassah, the additions to Esther, and the additions to Daniel. While I do not consider these to be inspired, the church throughout history has found some value in them as well as it has quoted from them. If you do not have some form of the Apocrypha, here is a good place to get them. The study Bible also has a section with a brief overview of all the books of the Bible. This section is very brief and is not really something to write home about. There is also an introduction to the Eastern Orthodox church which is very informative.
In the back of the book, there are a set of articles entitled "For Prayer, Reading, and Study." The first article in this set is "How to Read the Bible" which explains four characteristics of Eastern Orthodox Bible reading: it should be obedient, ecclesial, Christ-centered, and personal. There are a lot of good things in this article that should apply across branches of Christianity, though there are some specifics I disagree with, but they are not necessarily bad (for instance, how the ecclesial characteristic works out, I am not sure liturgy is the best way to interpret through the Church, though it definitely could play in). The next tool provided is a lectionary. It offers reading based on the church calendar. Sadly, due to my Baptist background, I lack much knowledge about this tool, but it does offer some insight into the way the Eastern Orthodox think, how verses apply and the like. It also has a glossary, again useful for the Eastern Orthodox understanding of different topics. After the glossary, there are morning and evening prayers. I have yet to really use written prayers (someday I think I want to), but there are some good things in these prayers. They also contain the Nicene creed (sans the filioque clause) and some Psalms to use in the morning which I have used and I have enjoyed.
Then, there is an index to the notes which not only point out themes but also references to church fathers. This could be extremely useful if you wanted to find what a certain church father said on various things. This seems like a good time to discuss the notes themselves. The notes are not focused on a specific subject. They are generally explanative from the Eastern Orthodox perspective. Because of that, typology and allegory are used more frequently. Also of interest is that many of the notes come from church fathers. This gives a historical perspective that we do not often find in newer commentaries. Plus, if we do get a historical viewpoint on a passage, it is unlikely to come from the church fathers who are an important part of the church and the whole church has much to learn from them (as well as other parts of the church). Another type of note points out verses that are used for different occasions in the church calendar.
After the index of notes, there is the index to the study articles. These articles address many of the important issues. They attempt to address differing interpretations on the issues (but for instance in the article on Justification by Faith, they seem to misinterpret the idea of sola fides), and offer some idea of Eastern Orthodox theology on the big issues.
Overall, this is a very good study Bible even for those not Eastern Orthodox. The Eastern Orthodox, at least for many Protestants I know, are a mystery, and this study Bible clears up some of the theology and mindset. It is helpful in learning to respect this important branch of the Body of Christ. It, however, should not be the primary Bible of Protestants. It seems, though, to offer much for the Eastern Orthodox Christian, and I am glad to see this tool available for them, despite my disagreements in theology.
A solid source for studying Orthodox views and theology... Orthodox Christianity is something I've never much dug into, but having the The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today's World by Thomas Nelson Publishers gives me a chance to see familiar passages interpreted in line with Orthodox theology. This is a beautiful Bible that I expect will challenge some of my existing views and expand others.
In addition to providing the New Testament in the New Kings James Version, it also provides a new translation of the Old Testament from the Greek language using the Septuagint. The commentary provided in the study portions centers on thoughts and writings from the early Christian leaders, so as to provide a bridge between today's culture and the general thoughts of the early Orthodox church. This is admittedly a different angle than most study Bibles I've used that come from a more contemporary viewpoint and commentary. Couple that with explanations and schedules of the liturgy used in the different Orthodox churches, and I have a resource to add more color and history to my Christian experience. It seems to restore some of the awe and reverence that is so easily discarded in today's world.
While I don't plan on switching to the NKJV or this new Greek Old Testament translation as my primary translation of choice, I'm pleased to have The Orthodox Study Bible available as another source to dig out meaning and context from certain passages.
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