Product Description: For the student, minister, and layperson alike, Old Testament Commentary Survey makes finding the best Old Testament commentaries easy. In this fourth edition, Longman focuses on the best of established commentaries and commentaries published in recent years. He lists a number of works available for each book of the Old Testament, gives a brief indication of their emphases and viewpoints, and evaluates them. Longman also indicates who would most benefit from the commentary under consideration (scholar, minister, layperson). Finally, he summarizes his top recommendations for those trying to build a library that covers every book of the Old Testament. The result is a balanced, sensible guide for those who preach and teach the Old Testament and need help in choosing the best tools.
A Great Resource and Money Saver! Tremper Longman has done a wonderful job with this book. Search online, or just go to your local Christian bookstore and to see all the available commentaries is just mind numbing. They are also so expensive. But in this book Longman reviews most of the commentaries out and tells you what is good, and what you should avoid. A awesome resource to save you money and to build a awesome library.
This will pay for itself many times over I'm thankful that I bought only a few commentaries on the OT before finding this book by Longman. It's guided me to the commentaries that are worth having. I have the 2nd edition and now the 4th. For some reason, the 4th edition does not have the 2 chapters on OT Reference Works and on Hebrew Helps that were in the 2nd ed. The chapter on OT Reference works has been nearly as helpful to me as the section on the commentaries themselves. I'd strongly encourage the author to put these back in the 5th edition.
Longman is himself a fine and knowledgeable commentator. He reviews his own commentaries in this book, but modestly does not rate them, so I'll rate one for him. His commentary on Proverbs in the series by Baker Proverbs (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms) is the best commentary on Proverbs I've seen, and I'll give it 5 stars.
On Target & Excellent Coverage This little book is an excellent resource when used correctly. It comes from an Evangelical viewpoint, one that affirms that the Bible is an inspired text- "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2Tim. 3:16).
To get the most out of the book be sure to look over the 'Abbreviations' and read the Introduction before moving on.
Longman rates each book using a scale of 1 to 5 stars, 5 stars indicating a excellent book. In addition to the stars he indicates the targeted audience of each commentary. "L" for the Layperson. "M" for Ministers/Pastors. And "S" for Scholars.
He does include commentaries from a wide range of viewpoints, but he usually indicates the bias of the authors if they diverge from his stated viewpoint- evangelical.
I have been using this book for 15 years- buying each revision as they become available- and have found it to be a very reliable guide.
D. A. Carson has witten a companion vol., "New Testament Commentary Survey" that is just as useful as Longman's. Highly recommended.
Good Tool If you want a quick way to pick a commentary this is the way to do it.
Does the job without wasting words This is one of the most clean, organized, and easy to use commentary surveys I have seen. It doesn't try to take on too much, and does a great job at selecting the best commentaries. The notes and 5 star ranking system are also very helpful.
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Trevor
