6a - More about Bible dictionaries

THERE wasn’t room for a more detailed review of available material in the magazine, so here is some more information if you are looking for a good Bible Dictionary, together with some information about availability and formats.

Some of the older ones are only available in print, and then only second-hand, but you can get them without too much searching and usually they are very good value for money in terms of the amount of useful reference material they contain. In order of usefulness (bearing in mind that this is a personal view and that individual preference varies):

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

The three-volume edition has small print and should not be relied upon for archaeological or textual findings after the mid-nineteenth century (it was published in 1863, remember), but it’s crammed full of good Biblical comment. For example, there are eight pages of tightly-packed text on Elijah and another eight on Elisha (both by George Grove) and both containing a careful analysis of the Biblical text.

The one-volume edition selects and condenses this material but is still worth having and is available in printed and in electronic format. It is bundled with the Online Bible, can be purchased from Libronix and can be accessed online. But if you look at the articles on Elijah or Elisha, for example, you will soon see how condensed they are by comparison with the full edition.

Fausset’s Bible Dictionary

This has only ever been a one-volume production, but it was originally entitled “Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia”. This takes a conservative and evangelical approach to Bible exposition and is also available electronically. If you use e-sword then it is available as a free download; or it can be purchased with, for example, Biblesoft software.

New Bible Dictionary

Inter-Varsity Publications (IVP, who were originally IVF) can be relied upon to produce material from a conservative, if evangelical, viewpoint and this Bible Dictionary is no exception. Its contributors are almost entirely British evangelicals and it has been in existence since 1962; it is now in its Third Edition (available new from The Christadelphian Office). Earlier editions are often available second-hand, the condition sometimes showing how much use has been made of them. And it’s available for purchase electronically, from Libronix or from IVP as a stand-alone (but Libronix-compatible) product. Expect to pay as much for it electronically as you would for the book.

IVP also produced a three-volume Illustrated Bible Dictionary which contained the text of the one-volume publication now fully illustrated with photographs, mostly in colour, and excellent coloured maps. This is now out of print, but can be got second-hand, and is a first class source of reference material for Sunday School or if you are wanting visuals for some other purpose - though there are many other sources now available.

If illustrations are really important to you, perhaps because you’re buying for a younger person or for use predominantly with teaching in mind, you might want to think about The Lion Illustrated Encyclopaedia of the Bible which is very nicely produced (like all Lion Books) and has a good way of conveying a lot of information without appearing ‘heavy’ or ‘stodgy’. This is the sort of book you browse through more than you consult as the material is in categories rather than an alphabetical indexing system (Land of the Bible; Religion & Worship in the Bible; Work and Society in the Bible, and suchlike).

IVP Specialist Dictionaries

These are the volumes published to date: Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels; Dictionary of Paul and His Letters; Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments; Dictionary of New Testament Background; Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch; Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books.

There are more to follow on the Old Testament, each of these volumes being in the region of 1,000 pages. They take a conservative approach to Bible studies and have a range of well-qualified contributors, but they are expensive (each volume costs in the region of £25-30). The New Testament ones are already available electronically (see The Essential IVP Reference Collection Version 2 on the Libronix site). The software package includes other specialist dictionaries, including The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery and two theological dictionaries, but these are outside the scope of this appendix.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (ISBE)

This multi-volume dictionary/encyclopaedia has been published in two different editions, both of which are available in print and electronic format. The 1915 edition was edited by James Orr and comprises four volumes totalling 3,100 pages. It is now in the public domain and can be accessed online, or as part of the Online Bible, Biblesoft or Bibleworks. It contains some useful material, as ever, but as it is ninety years old you need to use it with care.

The updated version (first published in 1972 with an additional volume in 1976) is based on the RSV, and comes in four volumes, this time with a total of 4,451 pages. It is illustrated, mainly with black and white photographs, maps and diagrams and those are also included in the electronic version which can be purchased from Libronix. It retains some of the material from the earlier edition but updates it as necessary.

Hastings’ Bible Dictionary

As mentioned in the article, this four-volume dictionary takes a slightly more critical approach to Biblical studies, although it contains some useful articles even so. An Extra Volume was also produced (making this a five-volume set), this one containing thirty-seven specialist articles on subjects like the Code of Hammurabi, the Didache and Roads and Travel; contributors include W. H. Bennett, Rendel Harris and W. M. Ramsay. Published in 1904, all five volumes have to be treated with caution as some things have moved on over the last 100 years, for example with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other findings.

The four volumes have been abridged into a one-volume edition (which was first published in 1963), so much of the useful material is available in a more accessible format.

As with the IVP Dictionaries, there are four specialist volumes which were also edited by James Hastings and these can often be found second-hand. They are two-volume productions: A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels (1901) and A Dictionary of the Apostolic Church (1916). Hastings was also the editor of a selection of sermons and general homilies, which he published under the general heading of Great Texts of the Bible covering every book in the Bible. If you have a huge amount of shelf space you want to fill with impressive volumes, these are just the job!

The Classic Bible Dictionary: Jay P. Green Sr., (Ed)

If you like the sound of several of these dictionaries but don’t have the space for them, and don’t want to access the material by computer, this compilation could be what you’re looking for. This is what the publisher’s blurb says, but I have never seen the finished product:

“The best of the Bible dictionary articles now all in one volume, with articles by many famous authors, including B. B. Warfield, Franz Delitzsch, Patrick Fairbairn, E. W. Hengstenberg, W. H. Griffith Thomas, John Eadie, George Bush, Robert Girdlestone, Horatius Bonar, Robert Young, John Kitto, A. R. Fausset, James Orr, A. T. Robertson, Thomas Scott, A. S. Geden, W. L. Alexander, John Davis, William Smith, George L. Robinson, Robert Dick Wilson, Geerhardus Vos, John Brown, F. F. Bruce, Gordon Clark, John Murray, E. J. Young, Allan A. MacRae, Charles Pfeffer, R. Rushdoony, Leon Wood, Leon Morris, Colin Brown, R. L. Harris, J. G. Aalders, J. D. Douglas, and 130 others.

“You will find here outstanding articles on such important subjects as Inspiration (B. B. Warfield); The Trinity (James Orr, Morton Smith); etc. Yet, also here are those articles needing the latest scholarly information, such as the extensive articles on Animals and Birds of the Bible (B. L. Goddard), and Biblical Archaeology (Allan A. MacRae) – both of booklet length. The object is to furnish a one-volume source of reliable, true-to-the-Bible information for those studying the Bible.

“Articles in this volume have been extracted from The Imperial Bible Dictionary; The International Standard Bible Dictionary (1915); Smith’s Bible Dictionary; Fausset’s Bible Dictionary; Davis’ Bible Dictionary; Kitto’s Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature; Brown’s Bible Dictionary; Young’s Analytical Concordance; and for those subjects requiring up-to-date treatment, from The Encyclopedia of Christianity (1968-1972).”

Anchor Bible Dictionary

Edited by D. N. Freedman, this six-volume set is very scholarly in its approach and sometimes critical in its coverage. It was published by Anchor in 1992 and if you are familiar with that imprint you will know not to expect a conservative or evangelical production. As ever, however, there is some good and useful reference material that can stimulate thought. To get an impression of the approach of this dictionary, here is part of the article on ANNA, which contrasts with the extracts given above, from the NBD and Fausset’s.

“2. An elderly and especially devout Jewish widow portrayed in Luke 2:36–38 who should not be confused with the Anna of Tobit, a deuterocanonical book. Strikingly, Anna is the only woman in NT called a prophetess (using the Greek noun form of the word). Thus, she is to be understood in the light of such OT figures as Deborah and Huldah. Comparisons should also be made with the intertestamental figure of Judith who, like Anna, was devout, lived to about the same age (105), and did not remarry after her husband died (Judith 16:23). The Lukan material raises the question of whether or not there was some sort of Jewish order of widows who had specific functions in the temple, for example, to pray (Witherington 1988: 140–41). This might explain her apparently constant presence in the temple. It should also be noted that, according to Luke’s portrait of Anna, she, unlike Simeon, goes forth to proclaim the good news about the Messiah (Plummer Luke ICC, 71). This foreshadows one of the roles assumed by female believers in Luke’s 2-vol work (cf. Priscilla in Acts 18). It is also possible that Luke intends for the reader to see parallels between Luke 1–2 and Acts 1–2, in which case Anna anticipates what will happen when the spirit is poured out on all flesh, and both sons and daughters prophesy (Stahlin TDNT 9:451). There may also be some truth in the suggestion that Anna is portrayed by Luke as one of the anawim, i.e., the pious Jewish poor (Brown 1977: 446). Luke does seem to have a special interest in such people, and in view of his theme of reversal of fortunes (cf. Luke 4:17–19), he seems to promote women like Anna as examples of how the gospel affects human lives. Anna may also be seen as a model of faith in action, one who responds positively and properly to the coming of the Messiah.

Bibliography
Brown, R. 1977. The Birth of the Messiah. Garden City, NY.
Witherington, B. 1988. Women in the Earliest Churches. Cambridge.
Ben Witherington III

Imperial Bible Dictionary

Edited by James Fairbairn, who wrote The Typology of Scripture, among other things, this six-volume dictionary was first published in 1889 so it is now well out of date and the illustrations are very dated. But it is regarded as particularly good at Biblical biography. Often available second-hand, and usually quite cheap, the real bonus here is the frontispiece to Volume 1, for C. H. Waller’s work The Authoritative Inspiration of Holy Scripture is published there in full.

Contributors to this dictionary include Horatius Bonar, Henry Constable, A. B. Davidson, J. Eadie and James Smith (who wrote A Treatise on the Voyage and Shipwreck of St Paul), but Fairbairn wrote a fair amount of it himself. Here, for the purpose of comparison, is the Imperial Bible Dictionary entry about Anna, written by Fairbairn:

ANNA. daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, and, at the period when she is mentioned in the gospel narrative, a widow of the advanced age of eighty-four. She is described as a prophetess, not probably from any regular or stated manifestation of prophetic gifts, but because she was one of those whose hearts were more steadfastly set on the expectation of Messiah’s advent, and, by the superior grace conferred on her, was enabled to announce his presence when he actually appeared in the temple, and broke forth on the occasion in words of thanksgiving and praise, Lu. ii. 36, 37. That she should have been enabled at such a time to take this part, indicated the possession of a certain measure of the prophetic spirit. The more peculiar notice, however, which is given of this pious woman, is contained in the words, “She was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity, and departed not from the temple, but served (God) with fastings and prayers night and day.” The meaning of this statement plainly is, that Anna had lived but seven years in the married state; that having then lost her husband, instead of marrying again, or taking up with other things, she devoted herself to a life of fasting and prayer, continually attending upon the ministrations of the sanctuary. Not that she actually had apartments in the temple buildings—for there is no reason to suppose that any females had such—but that she statedly presented herself there among the worshippers, and took part in the services which were proceeding. Even from the earliest times there seem to have been pious females dedicating themselves thus to a sort of priest-like consecration and constant service; for at Ex. xxxviii. 8 the laver of brass is said to have been made out of the mirrors of the women who daily assembled at the door of the tabernacle; it is, literally, the serving-women who served. Anna, in her latter years, joined herself to this class; and in answer to her faithful and devoted service, had the high honour conferred on her of becoming one of the immediate heralds of the Saviour of the world.

Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible

This is a five-volume set (now including a supplementary volume) which was published by the UK-based Abingdon Press in 1967, and which is still in print. Edited by George A. Buttrick and Keith R. Crim, this dictionary has a list of contributors that reads like a “Who’s Who” of Biblical scholarship. It declares itself to be an illustrated Encyclopedia identifying and explaining all proper names and significant terms and subjects in the Holy Scriptures, including the Apocrypha, with attention to archaeological discoveries and researches into the life and faith of ancient times.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so here is the article on Anna, and you will notice that this time the coverage is rather wider, including the Apocrypha.

ANNA

Anna or hnj grace.

. The wife of TOBIT. During his blindness she supported him. The picture of her watching for and welcoming her absent son is not unlike that of the father in the parable of the prodigal son.

2. An aged prophetess, long a widow, mentioned in Luke 2:36-38 as witnessing the presentation in the temple of the infant Jesus. She is apparently presented as a counterpart to Simeon; no record of her words of thanksgiving is offered.

3. The mother of Mary and the grandmother of Jesus. Unmentioned in the NT, she is prominent in the Protevangelium of James (see JAMES, PROTEVANGELIUM OF) and in subsequent legends of the birth of the Virgin. Anna and her husband, Joachim, have long been childless, and this fact has brought sorrow and humiliation to both. Angels appear to both parents independently, announcing that their prayers have been answered. In joy Anna promises to dedicate the child to lifelong service to God. Mary is born. Anna gives thanks, rears the child until she is three, then takes her to the temple. The story is strongly reminiscent of that of Hannah—even the name is the same—the mother of Samuel.

According to a late legend (quoted in Migne, Dictionnaire des Légendes, vol. II, col. 105, and found in one MS of the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew [see PSEUDO-MATTHEW, GOSPEL OF]), after the death of Joachim she was married two more times, by angelic direction, first to Cleophas, to whom she bore a second Mary, subsequently the wife of Alphaeus; then to Salome (Salomas?), to whom she bore a third Mary, subsequently married to Zebedee. The legend may reflect the tendency in certain Coptic accounts to identify Mary the Virgin with all the Marys of the gospels.
M. S. ENSLIN

This Bible Dictionary is currently being revised (to become The New Interpreter’s Dictionary, again in five volumes of which Volume 1 has been published so far (in 2006). Abingdon Press says: The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (in five volumes) provides the best quality in contemporary biblical scholarship on a comprehensive range of topics from the Old and New Testaments, the Deuterocanonical books, and from contextual studies of the ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman worlds and their literatures. The dictionary contains maps, charts, and illustrations to clarify further the written material. Volume 5 will include a CD with full-colour illustrations and the entire text of the volume, fully searchable. The biblical text used is the NRSV translation.

A diverse group of 900 scholars from 40 countries have contributed fresh new articles on 7500 topics including persons, places, things, theological concepts, and much more. These contributors were selected by the editorial board for their expertise in their field and for the quality of their scholarship in publication. Special care was taken to select authors who could provide a variety of perspectives from different theological traditions (Protestant, Catholic, Jewish), diverse theological trajectory (conservative and liberal), and from the social locations of gender, ethnicity, and race.

The impending publication of the New Dictionary means that the older one can now be purchased electronically. It has recently been bundled with The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, which is a NRSV compilation, and can be obtained from Abingdon Software or elsewhere. This setup uses the Folio View search engine, which not everyone likes.