Books For Effective Bible Study

Books For Effective Bible Study

A friend recently asked that I share with him the titles of those religious volumes which have been most helpful to me. The following is my response with personal items deleted.

From my earliest childhood I have been a lover of books and reading. Among my earliest memories are evenings when my mother read to me. Upon becoming a Christian, I immediately began to acquire and read books relating to the Bible and the church. First, I read Leroy Brownlow's Why I Am a Member of the Church of Christ; then The Model Church by G.C. Brewer; The Memoirs of Alexander Campbell and the Hardeman Boswell Debate.

Over the years I have accumulated a personal library of some (21,000) volumes. For upwards of fifty years my goal has been to read a book per week in addition to my regular studies. I have been able to equal or better this most of the time. That would be some 2500 volumes read plus hundreds more used for research purposes. Also, I receive virtually all of the brotherhood papers which I scan and selectively read on a regular basis along with newspapers and magazines.

In order to do all my studying, teaching, preaching, and writing I try to plan and coordinate my reading so as to get maximum results and usefulness therefrom. Thus, when I am preparing to teach a new class, I will read on that subject for several months prior. My writing and preaching will be in the same area of interest during this time. If I have a special lecture or article to write, I do the same. This qualifies me for that assignment and allows me to grow in my general knowledge as well.

My favorite areas of reading are Restoration history and biography, biblical backgrounds, and ancient history.

Among the brotherhood books that have been especially helpful to me are McGarvey's Commentaries, Moses Lard on Romans and Robert Milligan on Hebrews, Guy N. Woods' and H. Leo Boles' volumes in the Gospel Advocate Series. I have found most valuable, Homer Haley's Commentaries on Isaiah, the Minor Prophets and Revelation. Bro. Burton Coffman's Commentaries are exceptionally good. I especially value the great books of sermons and doctrinal studies by our brethren such as N.B. Hardeman, T.W. Brents, Benjamin Franklin, G.C. Brewer, F.D. Srygley, J.W. McGarvey, C.C. Crawford, and A. Campbell. I buy all the debates our brethren publish.

I value word studies. Among those most helpful have been Vine's Expository Dictionary of the New Testament Words, New Testament Words by Wm. Barclay; A Theological Word Book of the Bible by A. Richardson and Vital Words of the Bible by Furness. Standard works in the field are Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament and a Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament by Botterweck and Ringgren.

For a Bible encyclopedia, one cannot afford to be without McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia of Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. Also, one would do well to have Davis' Dictionary of the Bible and The Imperial Bible Dictionary by Patrick Fairbairne.

As for sets of commentaries, I rely heavily on Lenski's Interpretation of the New Testament, William Barclay's Daily Bible Study Bible, Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible; The Pulpit Commentary and the Preacher's Homiletic Commentary. The older edition of the Cambridge Bible Commentary is extremely good as is Keil and Delitzsch on the Old Testament. The New International Commentary is valuable. On the Psalms, nothing surpasses C.H. Spurgeon's Treasury of David. J.B. Lightfoot's New Testament Commentaries and those of B.F. Westcott are priceless. MacKnight on the Epistles is very useful.

Systematic Theologies by Charles Hodge, A.H. Strong, Lorraine Boettner, and W.N. Clarke are very helpful.

Lockyer's series on the men and women of the Bible are useful for sermons on Bible characters. William Ramsey's volumes on New Testament backgrounds are wonderful.

I collect every useful volume of surveys, introductions, and background studies on the biblical text. Gromacki's New Testament Survey and New Testament Times, Gleason Archer's Survey of Old Testament Introduction and Edward Young's Old Testament Introduction are all useful.

For church history, Philip Schaff's set is one of the best. The older sets of Mosheim and Neander are still valuable. Brother F.W. Maddox's the Eternal Kingdom is useful for a brotherhood perspective on church history. Everyone should read Earl West's Search for the Ancient Order to know the history of the American Restoration Movement.

These are only a sprinkling of the great books that every preacher should own and read. They have blessed me and my work and will benefit any and all who use them.

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