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SOCW351 (Child Welfare): Bible Commentaries

This guide includes print and electronic resources and instruction that will aid students in child welfare policy research. This guide was originally created by Michelle Spomer.

Commentaries from a Particular Perspective

You will find several commentaries below that come from particular perspectives (feminist, African-American, etc). The commentaries that cover the entire Bible were included because of their unique viewpoints - usually, you would want to use commentaries that cover one book of the Bible (or maybe a few books), rather than those that try to cover all books of the Bible in one volume.

Exegetical Commentary Sets

The commentary sets listed here are much more academic in their approaches, and are appropriate for in-depth word studies and Bible verse analysis. It can be a useful practice to use one exegetical commentary and one non-exegetical commentary to prepare for sermons or Bible studies.

What Are Commentaries?

Bible commentaries go through a particular book of the Bible in order by verse, and the author (usually a Bibical Studies scholar) "comments" on the verses. Commentaries provide analysis of the Biblical text, though some are more detailed than others. Below, you'll see an excerpt from the Word Biblical Commentary (one of the more analytical commentaries) on a passage in Exodus.

exodus

Where Are Commentaries?

Most commentaries are going to be located in the Stamps Theological Library on West Campus. Commentaries can be found in both the reference collection and the stacks - some commentaries can even be found in both sections. You can find commentaries in the following call number sections:

BS 490 - BS 511
(Old & New Testament Sets)

NOTE: One exception to this is the Anchor Bible Commentary set - this is located in the section for Bibles since it includes an original translation.

BS 1150.2 - BS 1151.3
(Old Testament Sets)

BS 1221 - BS 1615.53
(Pentateuch & Individual Old Testament Books)

BS 2333.2 - BS 2341.3
(New Testament Sets)

BS 2574 - BS 2826
(Individual New Testament Books)

Find More Commentaries

You can find all of the commentaries for any given book of the Bible by performing searches similar to the one you see in the image below. Go to the basic search in the classic version of the library catalog. Choose 'Subject' from the drop-down menu on the left. Type in the name of the Bible book followed by the word 'commentaries.' Click 'Submit.'

commentary search

Below, you will see some links that will perform commentary searches in the catalog for a select few books of the Bible. For commentaries on other books of the Bible, follow the instructions above.

Non-Exegetical Commentary Sets

The commentaries listed here are not usually the kind of commentaries that your professors want you to use for exegetical papers. However, if you are looking for some more application-oriented commentaries to use alongside the more exegetical ones found in this guide, these have excellent scholarship behind them, and can be helpful in preparing sermons or Bible studies.