Book Review of Best Bible Books by Glynn and Burer

Best Bible Books: New Testament Resources
by John Glynn
Editor Michael H. Burer
Kregel Ministry
ISBN 978-0-8254-4398-5

Best Bible Books is, simply put, a resource that almost every pastor would love to have on their shelves. Many lay folks that love studying the Bible may like having this fine text as well.

When I first picked up this resource, I was a little unsure if I would like it. As many of my readers know, I am on the conservative side of mainline churches, but compared to many more fundamental/evangelical congregations, my interpretation of Scripture and culture may be a little more progressive. The authors clearly hail from more fundamental institutions, especially the editor Michael Burer.

The authors do rank each commentary and resource into categories of "good", "better" and "best" when they are used in the annotated bibliography. When a traditional bibliography is shared with non-annotated resources, commentaries and books that bear special consideration are highlighted. Each Bible book has a chapter, as to books and commentaries that provide studies over sections of the New Testament (Jesus and the Gospels), and other issues (cultural and historical background). This resource is really quite comprehensive. The scholars clearly share what the commentary is like, but aren't pushy toward selling one over the other. For instance, they not that Craig Keener's study on Matthew has over 12,000 references, including 10,000 primary resource references (p. 53). This lets readers know that the text is going to be quite dense, but also academically sound and well thought out.

Although Burer admits the book is "shooting a moving target" (p. 17), I think it will be helpful for me for years to come.

This book is a great idea, and a wonderful resource for many for years to come.