Multi-volume Bible Dictionaries
Anchor Bible dictionary by Call Number: Jones Info Desk BS440 .A54 1992 ; Moody General Collection BS440 .A54 1992ISBN: 0385193513Publication Date: 1992Scholarly in scope and target audience, this six volume series covers exhaustively topics within its purview.
Best for researching critical background to canonical and non-canonical books, cognate topics in ancient near eastern studies.
The New Interpreter's dictionary of the BibleCall Number: Jones Ref BS440 .N445 2006ISBN: 0687054273Publication Date: 2006Intended for more of a professional/general readership, articles in this series cover many of the same topics as Anchor Bible Dictionary. But not to the same scholarly depth of analysis nor length of treatment.
Good for over-viewing a topic (where covered) but not a one-stop scholarly resource.
Single volume Bible Dictionaries
The Oxford companion to the Bible by Call Number: Jones Ref BS440 .M434 1993ISBN: 0195046455Publication Date: 1993
Mercer dictionary of the Bible by Call Number: Jones Ref BS440 .M429 1990ISBN: 978-0865542990Publication Date: 1990
Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible by Call Number: Jones Info Desk BS440 .E44 2000ISBN: 0802824005Publication Date: 2000
Dictionaries of Bible Interpretation and Interpreters
Dictionary of biblical criticism and interpretation by Call Number: Jones Ref BS440 .D496 2007ISBN: 0415201004This dictionary's statement of purpose is equally applicable to the Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation below: "...to provide a dictionary-length guide to major issues, approaches, and people that have been important in the development of biblical criticism and interpretation."1
This is the more current dictionary of biblical interpretation, however.
Entries fall into two categories: biographical and topical.
The biographical entries are circumscribed, with usually no more than a page-worth of text devoted to each exegete, with bibliographies. Treatment is highly selective and generally restricted to those of great historical prominence.
Topical entries are substantial (though treatment is concentrated) and can run to several pages.
Strongest in its explication of concepts and historical description of movements, its biographies are still worth consulting, if the scholar you are researching was a person of international or historical renown.
1. Stanley E. Porter, "Preface," Dictionary of Biblical Criticism and Interpretation (New York: Routledge, 2007) vii.
Dictionary of biblical interpretation by Call Number: Jones Ref BS500 .D5 1999ISBN: 0687055318Entries in this dictionary cover "(1) The history of the interpretation of the canonical and deuterocanonical books.... (2) ...biographies ...of numerous (biblical) interpreters.... (3) ...methods and movements that have influenced..." biblical studies.1
Entries provide short, succinct biographies of biblical scholars and exegetes; brief lists of their works and secondary bibliographies.
Covers a broad historical range of biblical interpreters.
1.John H. Hays, "Preface," Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation (John H. Hayes ed.; Nashville: Abingdon, 1999) 1:xlix.
Dictionary of major biblical interpreters by Call Number: Jones Ref BS501.A1 H57 2007 ; Moody General Collection BS501.A1 H57 20ISBN: 083082927XRetrospective biographical coverage of prominent biblical scholars of the Western and (patristic) Greek Christian tradition.
Best for researching prominent deceased exegetes. Entries are extended and can run to several pages. Bibliographies vary in size but can be quite lengthy with a range of current and dated sources.
