Bible Study for Amateurs #66 – An Amateur’s Toolbox – ‘The SBL Study Bible’

Some of you may recall that episodes 11 to 20 of this podcast were all about my amateur toolbox, that collection of resources that I tend to go to first when studying a biblical text. Included in that toolbox are works like The New Oxford Annotated Bible, The Jewish Annotated New Testament, and more. The reasons why they are part of my “toolbox” are manifold, but rather than rehearse those reasons, I’ll just recommend you give those episodes a listen. 

Today, I want to add another tool to that toolbox: The SBL Study Bible. The acronym “SBL” stands for the Society of Biblical Literature, a scholarly organization that, per its website, “is the oldest and largest learned society devoted to critical investigation of the Bible from a variety of academic disciplines.”¹ The SBL had its hand in the creation of The HarperCollins Study Bible, the subject of episode 11 of this podcast. That volume has been my go-to for quite some time and is getting worn out. It’s most recent iteration was an edition from 2006 for which acclaimed scholar Harold Attridge served as general editor. But 2006 was a long time ago (just ask my kids) and the volume was in dire need of an update. Well, that update has arrived in the form of The SBL Study Bible. 

But why produce a study Bible at all? As noted in the section entitled “Guide to The SBL Study Bible,” The HarperCollins Study Bible was intended to offer readers – particularly college and seminary students – to academic approaches to the Bible. Study Bibles that treat biblical texts as inspired and inspiring are a dime a dozen. Just peruse the shelves at any Christian bookstore. Rather than take this approach, The HarperCollins Study Bible, and its successor in The SBL Study Bible, offered readers a glimpse into the world of historical criticism. Additionally, whereas many study Bibles are from the vantage point of white, evangelicals (often men), The HarperCollins Study Bible brought in other voices. This is even more the case with The SBL Study Bible. A look at the list of contributors to The HarperCollins Study Bible yields about eighty scholars, mostly men. By comparison, The SBL Study Bible has many more and a good deal of them are women and people of color. Like the biblical text itself, its diversity is its strength. 

The second edition of The HarperCollins Study Bible was rather light on essays, especially when compared to volumes like The New Oxford Annotated Bible or The Jewish Annotated New Testament. This isn’t to say they weren’t of excellent quality. John Barton’s “Strategies for Reading Scripture” is a helpful introduction to critical readings of the Bible and Ronald Hendel’s essay on Israelite religion is perhaps one of the best introductions there is to the subject. But the five essays comprised only a few dozen pages. By contrast, the essays in The SBL Study Bible cover more material and pack a lot more information. For example, Eric Barreto’s essay on the Roman Empire covers the history, geography, religions, and social structures of the people within it. And Chris Keith’s essay on the historical Jesus looks at the various “quests” to find him as well as the sources and methods involved. The inclusion of these essays only adds to the value of the study Bible, providing readers with the latest findings in biblical scholarship. 

But it is not only the essays that have been expanded. Unlike what you find in The HarperCollins Study Bible, each major block of biblical text in The SBL Study Bible is prefaced with an introduction to the material that follows. So, for example, before you read Genesis through Deuteronomy, you will find not only an introduction to the Hebrew Bible written by Katharine Dell but also an introduction to the Pentateuch by Dexter Callender. The same is true for the so-called Historical Books (i.e., Joshua – Esther), the Poetic and Wisdom Books (i.e., Job – Song of Songs), the Prophetic Books (i.e., Isaiah – Malachi), the Deuterocanonical Books (e.g., Tobit, Judith, Maccabean literature, and more), the New Testament, the Gospels and Acts, and, finally, the letters of the New Testament and Revelation. All of these introductions provide critical background that is key for appreciating them in their historical and literary contexts.

But these sectional introductions are no substitute for introductions to specific books of the Bible, and The SBL Study Bible features revised and update intros to each book. For example, the introduction to Genesis, written by Naomi Steinberg, is almost six pages in length. That is nearly three times longer than the intro featured in The HarperCollins Study Bible. Each intro covers the following: name and canonical context of the book, its authorship and date, the ancient and cultural context, the literary genre and context (including a brief outline of the book), and, finally, distinctive features. 

Another promising feature of The SBL Study Bible are brief sidebars that appear periodically to provide readers with more information about things found in the biblical text. For example, in 1 John readers will find a paragraph by Jamie Davies about the historical context of the term “Antichrist,” noting that it is used only in 1 and 2 John despite the fact that it has become associated with a purported end times figure. Sidebars such as this are largely taken from the fantastic website bibleodyssey.org. 

Last but not least are the notes that appear at the bottom of the biblical text. Like those found in The HarperCollins Study Bible, they offer clarification of language, cross references, and historical and literary context. 

The SBL Study Bible is a reference work I look forward to reading more of and employing in my research as an amateur exegete. I hope that you find it useful too. 

That’s all the time we’ve got this week. See you next time! And remember, in the words of Richard Elliot Friedman, “One does not need to deny what is troubling [about the Bible] in order to pay respect to what is heartening.” Thanks for stopping by.

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1. See sbl-site.org. ↩︎