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Scriptures and the Church Fathers: Resources

Orthodox Christians are most definitely blessed with a plethora of resources for gaining the Church's understanding of the Holy Scriptures. Below I list several of these resources (in a rather idiosyncratical random order).

Orthodox Study Bible

Though only available currently in the New Testament and Psalms, later this year (July is the projected date), the entire Christian Old Testament (including the so-called "Apocrypha") along with the New Testament will be available through Conciliar Press. (Our parish's own, Fr Patrick, translated the book of Exodus and wrote the study notes for Exodus and the Psalms.)

The text of the Orthodox Study Bible is a "boilerplate" of the New King James Version, corrected and/or augmented according to the traditional Greek text of the Church's Scriptures. The study notes are of a similar nature and format as one will find in Protestant Bibles, such as the NIV Study Bible, but of course with citations from the Church Fathers and reflecting the historic Church's mind on various biblical passages. There are plenty of topical studies which take up an entire page scattered at appropriate places throughout the text. There are also headers on the pages indicating which feast days certain passages are associated with. The appendices include articles by his grace, Bishop Kallistos (Timothy) Ware, forms for Morning and Evening Prayer (in contemporary English) and a lectionary.

The Orthodox Study Bible is clearly geared more for those who've come from Protestantism into Orthodoxy and as an evangelistic tool to explain various aspects of the Orthodox Faith than it is for lifelong Orthodox or those wishing for an in-depth presentation of the Church's mind on particular texts, at least it is in its current New Testament and Psalms edition. I'm not sure what sort of revisions are being done to the study notes in light of the production of the entire Bible. Also, the citations from the Fathers and other explanatory notes are frequently extremely brief, since the formatting (notes at the bottom of the page under the biblical text) does not allow for lengthy quotes.

The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox, ed. by Johanna Manley

This large one-volume text is arranged according to the Orthodox lectionary, with the Gospel and Epistle readings the Sundays of the year (and Old Testament when called for--New King James Version for all but the "Apocrypha," which are taken from the New Jerusalem Bible). For every lection there is at least one commentary by a Church Father, or, occasionally, a recognized Orthodox writer from the modern era, such as Bishop Kallistos Ware and St. Justin Popovich. It is an amazing treasure trove of patristic commentary on the biblical texts, including the Matins Gospels and the lections for both the Great Feasts and general feasts and saints' days. It also contains a topical index, so that one can trace an idea as it is woven through different biblical texts and the Church Fathers, as well as a concordance of church fathers and other helps.

Although it is not a book one is going to tote to Church under one's arm, or toss in a bookbag (a wheelbarrow, maybe), still as a one-volume resource for the home or dorm room, it is invaluable. Unfortunately, I cannot find it on Amazon or at Light and Life, and not even the publisher, SVS Press, offers it online that I could find, though the latest printing is 2003, and I bought my copy less than a year ago at the NAPS conference at Loyola from the SVS booktable.

Orthodox New Testament, tr. by Dormition Skete and Holy Apostles Convent

On Saturday, I received in the mail the fourth (May 2004) edition of the two-volume Orthodox New Testament that I had ordered from Dormition Skete and Holy Apostles Convent. I had purchased the "pocket-sized" edition from Eighth Day Books in Wichita, Kansas, when I was home over Christmas, which contains only the text of the New Testament, and had so fallen in love with the at-times quirky translation that I decided to put my pennies together and order full New Testament with patristic commentary. I am glad I did.

The first volume contains the Gospels (the Evangelistarion), the second the Acts, Epistles and the Revelation (the Praxapostolos). Both volumes contain an identical preface, which is largely composed of a patristic exhortation to read the Scriptures as well as a brief rationale for the translation and commentary. The appendices to the two volumes are somewhat similar in terms of the manuscript background and the principles of translation that are offered, but in terms of the specific manuscripts discussed, each appendix is geard toward it's volumes contents (so the manuscripts discussed in volume one have to do with the Gospels, that in volume two the Acts, Epistles and Revelation). Volume also one has a helpful chronological Gospel harmony.

But the chief feature of the set, aside from the translation, is the commentary set in endnotes to each of the New Testament books. This commentary ranges from scholarly (though accessible) discussion of some of the more important manuscript questions (though, strangely, some of the more obvious ones are either barely acknowledged or brushed aside altogether), to extended commentary from various Church Fathers on a patricular passage. The commentary to the Gospel of Luke alone runs more than one hundred pages, that of John more than ninety.

Clearly, the two-volume format of the New Testament and commentary do not make it conducive to portability. If one happens to be studying a single New Testament book, say in a Sunday School class or Bible college class, then one might carry the particular volume needed. Otherwise, like The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox these volumes will be more for one's home or study.

That being said, if one likes the translation itself, the "leatherette" edition of the entire New Testament without endnotes, commentary or appendices, is a very handy edition to toss into one's purse or briefcase. I've more than once pulled it out of my bag to read on the bus. However, the key attraction to the Orthodox New Testament is the commentary and appendices, so if that is what one is after the pocket-sized edition is not going to meet that need.

Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers

Another resource that should be kept in mind are the venerable, Ante-Nicene Fathers and the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II. And while one can get the entire set (38 volumes) for only a few hundred dollars from various vendors, one can also get the entirety on a CD-Rom, with various searchable capacites for $35.

Clearly the key feature here is the breadth (and in the case of some fathers, depth) of representation. There is just an entire life's worth of reading in this library. Not everything is here. And there are modern translations for individual works that far surpass the translations here, but sometimes quantity wins out over quality. You can read all of a work in its entire context, with often helpful introductions and notations that clarify difficult passages (and which scholarly work, though done in the nineteenth century, has not always been superceded by present-day scholarship).

It is possible to buy some individual volumes at the links given above. But if one is looking at buying even a good dozen of the 38 volumes, one may as well look at spending just a bit more to get the whole set.

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

The last resource I'll mention is the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. This is a projected twenty-eight volume commentary on all of the Scripture, from Old Testament and "Apocrypha" to the New Testament. Half of the volumes have now been completed (which includes all but four of the New Testament books, John, Acts, Hebrews and Revelation, the latter two commentaries set for release this year in July and December, respectively). (A CD-Rom containing twelve of the commentaries is set for release this year in May, but I suspect such a resource, though a steal compared to the price of twelve individual volumes, will be pricey). The basic structure is similar to that of The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox and the Orthodox New Testament: to have significant comments from the Church Fathers on most of the Scripture passages.

The methodology of the series is to take excerpts from patristic commentaries on certain biblical passages, as well as to take references to certain passages from homilies and treatises, and present a sort of florigelia or catena of connected patristic quotes on a passage. This methodology has a long and honored history, despite whatever limitations it imposes on one's reading of the Church Fathers (brief excerpts divorced from the context of a particular Father's broader thought and argument). The editors do, however, take an eclectic approach, including writings from early Christian leaders that became suspect or were judged to be heretical due to deficiencies in their teaching. This does not necessarily negate the passages included in the ACCS--after all not all of Origen's writings were condemned--but it does require discernment.

One of biggest drawbacks of the series is this excerpted, eclectic approach. One gets, indeed, an historical breadth as to how the various Christian writers handled the passages, but may be misled that all the writings stand on equally authoritative footing. Such is not the case. That being said, the editors have been, thus far, judicious in their selections (I've read through several of the volumes in their entirety).

Another huge drawback is the price. Each volume runs about $40 (though you can obtain a subscription membership, for a much reduced price of one of the volumes and a commitment to buy further volumes, which reduces the retail price by 20%), and with nearly thirty volumes expected, this will not be a small investment. However, I have found them quite useful and helpful, particularly when read devotionally (for which purpose they are an excellent resource). And since I buy the volumes as they are published, I pay out only about $35 (with shipping costs) three or four times a year--though the last time I received a volume was several months ago. In this way, I can obtain the entire set in a very reasonable way for my budget.

Posted by Clifton at February 14, 2005 12:00 PM | TrackBack