# academic Bible study: suggestions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2007, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994 "2007-12-06T03:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994/22 "2012-12-03T13:25:14Z")
Oh,and we _adored_ the Book of Tobit. Just because it was so damn weird. Not Revelations-weird, but pretty strange. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994/23 "2012-12-03T15:29:09Z")
> [@baronsabato](#): > > As far as a good book or guide, I haven’t read Asimov’s Guide to the Bible, but wasn’t that published in the 1960’s? It might be a little outdated by now. \*Asimov’s Guide to the Bible \*is very readable, at least to this atheist, but it is extremely outdated. Its approach was to consider the Bible as a history book, btw, and talk about the history and archeology available to flesh out the account. Since its publication Biblical Archeology has moved 'way ahead. Unfortunately I don’t know of any comparable but up-to-date book; I would be interested to find one. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994/24 "2012-12-03T16:53:37Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > \*Asimov’s Guide to the Bible \*is very readable, at least to this atheist, but it is extremely outdated. Its approach was to consider the Bible as a history book, btw, and talk about the history and archeology available to flesh out the account. Since its publication Biblical Archeology has moved 'way ahead. Unfortunately I don’t know of any comparable but up-to-date book; I would be interested to find one. I’ve been looking for exactly that book for years. Something like Asimov’s guide but completely updated with modern archaeological discoveries! Someone has to have written something like this recently no? To the OP: _The Bible Unearthed_ might be a good introduction on what we know about the area, the peoples, and the times from an archaeological perspective. Would provide a nice context for your biblical studies. Contradictions, errors, myths, legends, etc start to make a lot of sense when you understand the motivations of the people, and the circumstances of the time when the Bible was being written. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994/25 "2012-12-03T22:42:56Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > What’s the best edition of the bible for academics? Including say, footnotes on version differences and word translation controversies. That sort of thing. As mentioned above, you want the New Revised Standard Version, ideally the new Oxford Annotated Version. It’s the same NRSV translation, but the footnoting is some of the best you can get. Very scholarly, it’s perfect for an academic or historical approach. That said, one KJV and one NIV might be nice for the group to share. Sometimes the OAB can be a bit dry, and you might want a less-dry take on things at times. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994/26 "2012-12-04T12:55:36Z")
A group of friends and I did a study of the first part of Exodus where everyone brought their own edition, and we compared translations. Of course, we also had a Hebrew version and people knowledgable in Hebrew, so that we could do that kind of comparison as well. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994/27 "2012-12-04T12:59:57Z")
Just wanted to drop by and say thanks for all the suggestions, even if they are a bit late 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994/28 "2012-12-04T17:32:35Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Just wanted to drop by and say thanks for all the suggestions, even if they are a bit late 😉 Had you not mentioned this, I wouldn’t have realized this tread was 5 years old! Proving that it’s still an interesting question, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994/29 "2012-12-04T18:21:53Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Just wanted to drop by and say thanks for all the suggestions, even if they are a bit late 😉 So, how was the group. (Maybe this can be the Doper version of Stump the Chumps from CarTalk.) BTW, I read Asimov’s Guide, and was disappointed. I sensed that he was trying way to hard not to be offensive to believers who picked up the book - not in the sense of actual insults to. religion, but in the sense of mentioning uncomfortable historical facts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/academic-bible-study-suggestions/428994.md?page=1)