A Dictionary of the Bible - Hardcover

Browning, W. R. F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199543992 ISBN 13: 9780199543991

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Hailed in the TLS as "lively, original, and thought-provoking," this is the most authoritative, accessible, and up-to-date dictionary of its kind available. Containing over 2,000 A-Z entries, it provides clear and concise information about the important places, people, themes, and doctrines of the Bible. Entries new to this edition include Zionism, Old Testament and New Testament Theology, Hannukah, Luther, Calvin, Jesus in the Koran, and much more. This dictionary features a detailed bibliography, biographies of Bible scholars, a conversion table of measures, weights, and values, a chronology of important dates in Biblical history, and historical maps. In addition, entries on the books of the Bible have been grouped in alphabetical order and conveniently located in a tinted center section for quick reference. Recommended web links--accessed and kept up to date via the Dictionary of the Bible companion website--provide valuable extra information. Lively and informative, this dictionary is essential for students and teachers of theology and religious education, and it is an absorbing reference work for all readers of the Bible.

About this title

About the Author

W. R. F. Browning has been a Canon Residentiary of Blackburn Cathedral and of Christ Church Cathedral Oxford. He is now an honorary canon and an honorary priest in West Oxford. He was for thirteen years a lecturer in New Testament Studies at Cuddesdon College, Oxford, and at the Oxford University Department of Continuing Education. His books include Commentary on St Luke's Gospel (1960; 6th edition 1981), Meet the New Testament (1965), The Anglican Synthesis (1965), and Handbook of the Ministry (1985). In 2008 he was awarded the Cross of St Augustine of Canterbury for work in theological education.

Reviews

More than 2,000 alphabetically arranged entries make up this dictionary, whose “aim is to expound the main ideas of the Bible and to give information about the principal people and places that readers encounter.” The definitions of Family, Joy, and Marriage, for example, demonstrate that their biblical meaning may not correspond to our twenty-first century understanding of these words. Entries such as Form Criticism and Redaction Criticism introduce the ways scholars approach the biblical texts, while those for Archaeology and Sociology present some of the tools they use in their exegesis. A short paragraph or two is the average length for definitions, although some, such as Exodus, the; Jesus; and Prophets, require and receive far more extensive treatment. In this new edition, entries for the individual books of the Christian Bible, including the Apocrypha, have been gathered together in the middle of the volume for easy access. Scholarly apparatus is kept to a minimum. Entries do not include bibliographic references, though a very select bibliography follows the A–Z section of definitions along with a chronology of important dates in biblical history, maps of the biblical world, a listing of biblical weights and measures and their metric (not U.S.) equivalents, and a few Web resources accessible from links on Oxford's Web site. Perhaps best served by this work, owing to its low cost, straightforward presentation, and scholarly reliability, will be libraries with little in the way of reference material on the Bible. Libraries that subscribe to Oxford Biblical Studies Online should note that the earlier edition of A Dictionary of the Bible is included in that resource, suggesting this second edition will likely be added as well. --Christopher McConnell

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199543992
• ISBN 13: 9780199543991
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 432