I have owned the hardcover edition since it first came out, when my in-laws gave it to me for my birthday. Being a Lutheran pastor, I've used it virtually every day since. The Bible can be a pretty challenging volume to approach, even to people who have some acquaintance with it. It is, in fact, multiple volumes compiled between just two covers. That's where the helps in this study edition come in. The work of the New Revised Standard Version translation team, paired with that of the annotations of the members of the Society of Biblical Literature, make this a much more accessible Bible. The comments and annotations help the reader make sense of the ancient texts. This is no dumbed down version, however. The translators, annotators and commentators have done an excellent job of presenting to the reader many of the textual and theological difficulties. You will find no easy answers to these complicated texts in this volume. Rather, the compilers present the text straightforwardly, warts and all, leaving it to you to come to your own conclusions about the texts. This is a volume worth having in one's library.
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HarperCollins Study Bible-NRSV by Nrsv Harpercollins
Wendell, August 8, 2007
I have owned the hardcover edition since it first came out, when my in-laws gave it to me for my birthday. Being a Lutheran pastor, I've used it virtually every day since. The Bible can be a pretty challenging volume to approach, even to people who have some acquaintance with it. It is, in fact, multiple volumes compiled between just two covers. That's where the helps in this study edition come in. The work of the New Revised Standard Version translation team, paired with that of the annotations of the members of the Society of Biblical Literature, make this a much more accessible Bible. The comments and annotations help the reader make sense of the ancient texts. This is no dumbed down version, however. The translators, annotators and commentators have done an excellent job of presenting to the reader many of the textual and theological difficulties. You will find no easy answers to these complicated texts in this volume. Rather, the compilers present the text straightforwardly, warts and all, leaving it to you to come to your own conclusions about the texts. This is a volume worth having in one's library.(8 of 13 readers found this comment helpful)