Best Books for the Background of the Bible | Historical-Cultural Context

Ever wished for a tool that could unlock the deep cultural context of the Bible for you? 
In order to read the Bible well and not import our own ideas into Scripture, we need to know about the world of the Bible or the historical-cultural context. In this episode, I share some of the best resources and tools to help us better understand the background to the Bible. 

0:00 Introduction
0:58 Study Bibles
2:08 Background Commentaries
3:59 Overviews
6:50 Primary Source Reader
7:23 Atlas
8:11 Conclusion

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
When we're reading the Bible we can go between two
extremes.
On the one hand, there are alot of foreign, confusing things
in the Bible, what.
Or, on the other hand, we don'tknow there even are cultural
differences and what ends uphappening is we unknowingly
import our own views and cultureinto the text.

(00:22):
So Paul is saying the fivesteps to financial growth are
the best cure, for both of theseis to become better acquainted
with the world of the Bible orthe historical cultural context.
But how do we do this?
What tools do we use to readthe Bible better?

(00:43):
In this way, I'm going to sharesome of my favorite books to
help us enter into the world ofthe Bible.
I'm going to break these downinto five categories and give a
few books for each of them.
I'm JC Schroeder and this isBite Size Seminary.
The first category is StudyBibles.
This, I think, is a reallyhelpful and easy entry point

(01:05):
into the world of the Biblebecause they're relatively
inexpensive.
They cover the whole Bible andthe commentary sits right next
to the text of Scripture, so youdon't have to go hunting around
for another book.
My favorite is the CulturalBackground Study Bible.
It comes in a variety oftranslations so you can choose

(01:27):
the one that you already use orthe one that you just want.
Not only does it have helpfulnotes that are tied to the
passage that you're looking at,there are also higher level
articles that relate to a topicfrom that text, such as, say,
ancient Cosmology.
The Study Bible is also a kindof super abridged version of

(01:49):
some of the books in thecommentaries category that we'll
look at in a minute.
Another helpful Study Bible isthe ESV Archaeology Study Bible.
I have less familiarity withthis one personally, but from
what I have seen and somefriends' comments as well, it's
really good and really helpful.
The second category isBackground Commentaries.

(02:11):
These are different than atraditional commentary, which I
think sometimes undervalues theculture of the text or the
culture from the Bible, becausethey are geared more toward the
overall message or the verse byverse, textual and linguistic
analysis, which is great, but itcreates a hole.

(02:33):
So background commentaries seekto fill in that gap.
I've got a shorter and cheaperoption and a fuller and more
expensive option for you thanwhat your budget is.
The shorter and cheaper optionis the IVP Bible Backgrounds
commentary edited by WaltonMatthews, chevalis and Keener.

(02:54):
This is in two volumes,obviously one for the Old
Testament and one for the NewTestament.
The longer, more expensiveoption is the Zondervan
Illustrated Bible Backgroundcommentary, also edited by John
Walton as well as Clinton Arnold.
There are five volumes for theOld Testament and four for the

(03:15):
New Testament.
So you can see much, much morelength here, much more breadth.
Besides its breadth, one of theunique features of the Bible
Backgrounds commentary is thethis one, the Zandervan
Illustrated commentary, is theinclusion of many pictures,
which helps shape our perceptionof the ancient world.
You get to see it, not justread it.

(03:36):
Both commentaries work throughthe text, making notes about key
verses and their historical,cultural significance.
As you're working through apassage, these commentaries can
be a helpful guide into thehistory and culture of the text.
They are, I think, justessentials for reading and

(03:57):
especially for preaching andteaching.
The third category is overviews.
These books are a bit moreproactive in understanding the
world of the Bible, while thestudy Bibles and background
commentaries that we just talkedabout these, are a bit more
reactive.
With these study Bibles andbackground commentaries, you

(04:17):
read a verse and then you lookat the note in the commentary
right next to it.
With the overview books, on theother hand, you're getting a
high-level introduction into keytopics and concepts in the
social and thought world of theBible.
It's presented as a whole, notjust on a case-by-case basis.

(04:37):
John Walton's ancient NearEastern thought and the Old
Testament is a wonderful andinsightful introduction to Old
Testament backgrounds.
The New Testament kind ofequivalent to this is David De
Silva's Honor, patronage,kinship and Purity.
It's kind of mouthful but it'sa great book.
This book for me has beentremendously helpful to me,

(05:02):
especially with the topic ofhonor and shame.
Both are recently updated andserve to prepare you to read
both Testaments really, reallywell and with greater
sensitivity to the biblicalworld.
I also want to add what mightbe the easiest to read
introduction to the world in theNew Testament in Long and
Neckars, the Lost Letters ofPergamum.

(05:24):
This is a work of historicalfiction, so it's highly readable
and a good story.
It's a novel right, it's ahistorical fiction novel, but it
also serves as a kind of easyand sly way to absorb your New
Testament world and enjoy it.
I use this one as a textbookfor some of my classes and many

(05:46):
of my students have told me thatthey've really enjoyed reading
this book.
Two other books I want to pointout in this category are
collections of short essaysserving as introductions to many
topics such as the function ofthe family, what reading and
writing looked like or who thevarious Jewish groups were in
the New Testament.
The Old Testament book isBehind the Scenes of the Old

(06:10):
Testament, edited by Greer,hilber and Walton.
I personally had the privilegetotal privilege of studying with
both Drs Greer and Hilber andthey have done a fantastic job
with this book.
The New Testament volume is theWorld of the New Testament,
edited by Green and McDonald.
Both of these collectionsprobably serve best as more of a

(06:33):
resource to go to for anintroduction about a specific
topic or issue.
The real aid with both of theseis their breadth and scope and
ease of use Nice, bite-sizeintroduction to lots of
different topics.
The fourth category is PrimarySource Reader.

(06:53):
Here I think it's helpful tonot just read about the ancient
world but the texts themselveswhere we get a lot of the
information and that haveresonances with the Bible.
I really like exploringbiblical backgrounds.
Edited by Dodson and Smith, ithas a lot of readings that go

(07:13):
with the Old Testament and NewTestament.
They also have short andhelpful introductions to each
reading to highlight thebiblical connections and
significance.
The fifth category is an Atlas.
You need a good book of mapsthat helps show number one,
spatial relationships, but alsonumber two has some discussion

(07:34):
of the importance ofgeographical features for how
these influence the events andthe text.
At the risk of boring you withmore names and more books, I'm
going to give you this one Ireally like.
I really do like the New MoodyAtlas Bible by Batesle I hope
I'm pronouncing these namesright as well as the Zondervan

(07:55):
Atlas of the Bible by Rasmussen.
Personally, I think the maps area little bit easier to read in
the Moody Atlas, but theZondervan Atlas has some unique
discussions and charts,especially in comparison with
other regions and topographies.
Both are really, really greatresources to have on your shelf.
There are many more books thatare super, super helpful, but
these are just my favorite onesthat I enjoy.

(08:18):
If you want to give a commentbelow with your favorite, or if
I forgot any, I'd love to justhear your input.
As you look at these resources,you'll find that they'll also
point you to other, morespecific resources if you need
something more specific or moredetailed.
These books definitely aregifts to the church that help us

(08:38):
to not be confused and helpkeep us from importing our own
culture and expectations intothe text.
So that's all I got.
If you're interested in otherbook reviews and recommendations
, you can check out the playliston the screen.
Thanks so much for your timeand may the Lord bless you.