Reformation Study Bible
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The Reformation Study Bible is a series of study Bibles published by Ligonier Ministries and now distributed by P&R Publishing. Its latest edition is the February 2005 publication in the English Standard Version. As with its predecessors, the RSB (ESV) remained under the supervision of Dr. R. C. Sproul, its general editor.
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[edit] Apparatus
The main features of the RSB include:
- Thousands of comprehensive study notes interpreting passages, verses, and specific words.
- Ninety-six theological sidebars from J.I. Packer's Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs.
- Introductions to the seven groups of Biblical books, an introduction to the intertestamental period, and book introductions and outlines which explain the background, structure, and intent of the Scriptural text.
- Sixty-one in-text maps.
- Forty-seven charts to enhance reading.
- A center-column cross-reference system adapted from the English Revised Version (RV).
- A concordance to the ESV.
[edit] History
Four years after the Pennsylvania-based Ligonier Valley Study Center moved to Orlando, Florida, its founder and chairman R. C. Sproul met a group of publishers in 1988 who proposed the making of a study Bible in the tradition of the Geneva Bible. As Sproul himself noted during an advertisement for the RSB: "Several years ago, I had some publishers approach me with an idea that I thought was fantastic. They said there's so many study Bibles available in the book stores, but there's none out there that present the understanding of the Scriptures from the viewpoint and perspective of the historic Protestant Reformation." Enthusiastically, Sproul consented to being general editor of the work and was entrusted with assembling a team of contributors and editors to execute this project. Soon, a panel of over fifty international scholars were collected from backgrounds of Reformed theology.
The study Bible's division of labour was as follows: when the contributors of the Old and New Testaments wrote the annotations, outlines, and introductions for the several books of the Bible, these annotations were in turn submitted to the editorial staff and finally to Dr. Sproul for editing and revision. Then, the contributors would adjust to the revisions, a practice which demonstrated not only the cooperation between the two parties, but also the oversight of Sproul.
Originally, the team worked with the New International Version as their translation, but were forced to switch to the New King James Version in 1992 due to problems with Zondervan. Now under contract with Thomas Nelson Publishers, the venture was detained for three more years conforming the annotations to the NKJV. In 1995, the New Geneva Study Bible was delivered to the public. The New Geneva Study Bible was renamed The Reformation Study Bible in 1998, though both of these works still employed the New King James Version in their text. By republishing the title seven years later in the ESV, Ligonier Ministries sought to satisfy their constituency with higher readability and accuracy in Biblical scholarship. Nevertheless, the ministry is devoted to the principle of a literal philosophy of translation while declaring that their choice of the ESV is a continuation of the tradition of Bibles such as the King James Version and the Revised Standard Version which encourage a faithfulness to the original languages. Dr. Sproul has since stated, "I believe that this is the most important project that I have ever been engaged in or involved with in my entire life."
[edit] Committees
[edit] Editorial Committee
R.C. Sproul, Drs., Ph.D. as general editor (Ligonier Ministries); Keith A. Mathison, Ph.D. as associate editor (Ligonier Ministries); Bruce Waltke, Th.D., Ph.D. as Old Testament Editor (Regent College); Moises Silva, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary); James Boice, D.Th. as associate editor (Tenth Presbyterian Church); Edmund Clowney, S.T.M., D.D. as associate editor (Westminster Theological Seminary); Roger Nicole, Ph.D. as associate editor (Reformed Theological Seminary); J.I. Packer, D.Phil. as associate editor (Regent College); William B. Evans, Ph.D. as assistant editor (Erskine College); John Mason, Ph.D. as assistant editor (Nashville Prebytery, Presbyterian Church in America).
[edit] Old Testament Contributors
Carl E. Armerding, Ph.D. (Schloss Mittersill Study Centre); Raymond Dillard, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary); William Dumbrell, Ph.D. (Moore Theological College); Mark Futato, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary in California); Graeme Goldsworthy, Ph.D. (Moore Theological College); J. Alan Groves, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary); R. Laird Harris, Ph.D. (Covenant Theological Seminary); Kenneth J. Howell, Ph.D. (Reformed Theological Seminary); M. M. Kline, Ph.D. (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary); Gary Knoppers, Ph.D. (Penn State University); Donald Leggett, Ph.D. (Ontario Theological Seminary); V. Philips Long, Ph.D. (Covenant Theological Seminary); Tremper Longman III, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary); J. Gordon McConville, Ph.D. (Wycliffe Hall, Oxford); Allan A. MacRae, Ph.D. (Biblical Theological Seminary); Jeffrey Niehaus, Ph.D. (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary); Dirk H. Odendaal, Ph.D. (University of Stellenbosch); Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., Ph.D. (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School); Gary Pratico, Th.D. (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary); Richard L. Pratt, Jr., Th.D. (Reformed Theological Seminary); Elmer Smick, Ph.D. (Reformed Theological Seminary); Marion Ann Taylor, Ph.D. (Wycliffe College); Willem A. Van Gemeren, Ph.D. (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School); J. Robert Vannoy, Th.D. (Biblical Theological Seminary); Bruce Waltke, Th.D., Ph.D. (Regent College); Barry Webb, Ph.D. (Moore Theological College); Gordon Wenham, Ph.D. (Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education); John Woodhouse, Ph.D. (Moore Theological College).
[edit] New Testament Contributors
Knox Chamblin, Th.D. (Reformed Theological Seminary); Karl J. Cooper, Th.M. (Providence, RI); Sinclair B. Ferguson, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary); T. David Gordon, Ph.D. (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary); Wayne Grudem, Ph.D. (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School); Charles Hill, Ph.D. (Reformed Theological Seminary); Kenneth J. Howell, Ph.D. (Reformed Theological Seminary); Dennis Ireland, Ph.D. (Reformed Theological Seminary); Dennis Johnson, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary in California); Peter Jones, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary in California); Reggie M. Kidd, Ph.D. (Reformed Theological Seminary); Simon J. Kistemaker, Th.D. (Reformed Theological Seminary); W. Harold Mare, Ph.D. (Covenant Theological Seminary); Dan McCartney, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary); Leon Morris, Ph.D. (Ridley College); Vern S. Poythress, D.Th. (Westminster Theological Seminary); Moises Silva, Ph.D. (Westminster Theological Seminary); R. C. Sproul, Drs. (Ligonier Ministries); Frank Thielman, Ph.D. (The Beeson Divinity School); Joseph Trafton, Ph.D. (Western Kentucky University).
[edit] Comparison and Contrast
In 2003, Zondervan published a Reformed study Bible entitled the NIV Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible (SRSB) under the general editorship of Richard L. Pratt, Jr., a contributor to the New Geneva Study Bible (NGSB). The notes for the NGSB were origianally created for a study Bible based on the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, but due to licensing difficulties, the editors were forced to adapt the notes to the New King James Version (NKJV) for the original publication of the NGSB and the Reformation Study Bible (RSB). For the SRSB, the original notes taylored for the NIV were re-edited and expanded. The differences between the SRSB and the RSB are highlighted below:
- The NIV translation used in the SRSB seeks dynamic equivalence rather than the formal equivalence sought by ESV and NKJV. Also, compared to the NKJV, the NIV translation uses more recently discovered manuscripts of the Bible in an attempt more accurately to reproduce the originals manuscripts.
- The SRSB has revised and expanded the commentary notes of the NGSB, while the RSB has retained virtually identical annotations.
- The introductions to sections of books and individual books of the Bible have been rewritten and expanded.
- J. I. Packer's theological articles from the NGSB have been edited and condensed in the SRSB. Articles on other subjects not covered in the NGSB have also been added.
- In the SRSB, the notes, articles, and introductions tend to be slightly more scholarly in character and make use of certain forms of literary criticism not utilized in the NGSB or RSB to interpret the text.
- Appended to the SRSB are six major Reformed confessions: the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, Canons of Dort, and the Westminster Confession of Faith, Shorter Catechism, and Larger Catechism. The confessions include Bible verse citations, and the commentary notes in the Bible have reverse references that indicate when one of the included confessions cites particular verse(s) as a proof-text.
- A set of color maps are appended to the SRSB, while the RSB (ESV) has none. They both have black-and-white maps and drawings embedded in the text a various points, however.
- The SRSB uses a single-column reference system, while the RSB uses a double-column format.
