Interpreter's Bible series
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The Interpreter's Bible series is a scholarly and commercial co-venture published by Abingdon/Cokesbury that has been setting a high standard since the 1950s, when individual volumes of the series began publication. Each volume covers one or more books of the Old Testament, the New Testament or the Apocrypha. The volumes contain in-depth introductions and commentaries, complemented by original translations, with full critical notes that include alternate readings and alternative translations. Synopses of informed discussion of the historical origins and the manuscripts' traditions are also provided. These volumes are not designed for the casual Bible reader, but for the educated layman who is already prepared with a general understanding of and interest in modern Biblical scholarship or members of the clergy who are already familiar with basic Biblical criticism. The original series utilized the King James Version and the Revised Standard Version.
The series, though often criticized for its somewhat uninspired format, drew an enthusiastic reception by mainline scholars and pastors.
Non-Christians and non-Protestants are not catered to or acknowledged in the Exegesis and Exposition of the texts, especially in the Old Testament volumes. The commentators' assumption throughout is that the Jewish scriptures must be understood as pre-figuring the Christian revelation and "Christian values," a concept that must have had a greater level of undoubted coherence in 1952 than it has now (writing in 2005). The Exegesis and Expositions vary from book to book in terms of their scholarly depth, separation of fact from conjecture, and degree of mawkishness.
An updated series beginning in the 1990s, the New Interpreter's Bible series, utilized the New International Version and the New Revised Standard Version.
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