Two worthy additions to your library:

1. Frank Thielman. Ephesians. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010. 520 pp.

Doug Moo: “This commentary will join Hoehner and O’Brien as the first references on Ephesians to which I turn.”

2. Craig L. Blomberg with Jennifer Foutz Markley. A Handbook of New Testament Exegesis. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010. 298 pp.

Grant Osborne: “Among the many discussions of the interpretation of Scripture that have appeared lately, this is one of the best and most helpful.” That’s high praise coming from the prof who wrote this.

Zondervan has recently completed two full-color, five-volume reference works, and they look superb.

1. Revised Bible Encyclopedia

Merrill C. Tenney, ed. Moisés Silva, revision editor. The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible. Revised ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 5,616 pp. $279.99 retail.

Tenney edited the first edition in 1975: the Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. “The present revised edition,” edited by Moisés Silva, a first-class biblical scholar, “seeks to preserve the original contributions as much as possible while at the same time updating the material to serve a new generation” (p. v).

Some features:

• over 250 international contributors
• over 7,500 articles on the Bible’s history, literature, and theology
• nearly 2,000 colorful maps, illustrations, charts, and graphs

The introduction explains what’s new:

• “Hundreds of brief new articles have been added.”
• “Some twenty new in-depth articles have been commissioned, including ‘Apologetics’ (William Edgar), ‘Cartography, Biblical’ (Barry J. Beitzel), ‘Ebla’ (Richard S. Hess), ‘Deuteronomic History’ (J. Alan Groves), ‘Ethics in the Old Testament’ (Alexander Cheung), ‘God, Biblical Doctrine of’ (John M. Frame), ‘Land, Theology of’ (Carl G. Rasmussen), ‘Pseudonymity’ (Stanley Porter), ‘Type, Typology’ (Grant R. Osborne), ‘Union with Christ’ (Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.), ‘Warrior, Divine’ (Tremper Longman III), ‘Wars, Jewish’ (J. Julius Scott, Jr.).”
• “Various existing articles have been totally rewritten (e.g., ‘Greek Language,’ ‘Septuagint’).”
• “Others have received substantive updating, such as ‘Archaeology’ (Richard S. Hess), ‘Biblical Criticism’ (Grant R. Osborne), ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ (Martin G. Abegg, Jr.), ‘Versions of the Bible, English’ (Mark L. Strauss).”
• “All other articles have been carefully reviewed and, when necessary, corrected; frequently, new material has been added alerting the reader to developments in the field.”
• “Special effort has been expended to make bibliographic references more current. Many hundreds of new titles have been included, with emphasis on publications from 1990 through 2007.”
• “All biblical quotations, unless otherwise noted, come from the NIV.”
• “A special effort has been made to bring about greater consistency among the articles” in both format (e.g., “a standard outline system”) and content. “Except in the case of articles that bear a new signature, all differences between the original and revised editions of this work are the responsibility of the revising editor.”

The target audience for this encyclopedia is wide: families, pastors, teachers, and students, both libraries and individual study.

2. OT Backgrounds Commentary

John H. Walton, ed. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 2,928 pp. $249.95 retail.

Walton’s OT set is the counterpart to Clint Arnold’s NT set:

Clinton E. Arnold, ed. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: New Testament. 4 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. 1,924 pp. $159.95 retail.

Some features of the OT set:

• thirty international authors
• commentary on the entire OT in light of archeology, history, geography, and manners and customs
• over 2,000 photographs, drawings, maps, diagrams, and charts
• 12,000 endnotes

The target audience for this set is also wide. It’s definitely geared more for laypeople than Bible scholars.

Here are the books (in the order listed in the series) and commentators:

1. Genesis: John H. Walton
2. Exodus: Bruce Wells
3. Leviticus: Roy E. Gane
4. Numbers: R. Dennis Cole
5. Deuteronomy: Eugene E. Carpenter
6. Joshua: Richard S. Hess
7. Judges: Daniel I. Block
8. Ruth: Dale W. Manor
9. 1 Samuel: V. Philips Long
10. 2 Samuel: V. Philips Long
11. 1 Kings: John Monson
12. 2 Kings: Iain Provan
13. 1 Chronicles: Simon Sherwin
14. 2 Chronicles: Frederick J. Mabie
15. Ezra and Nehemiah: Edwin M. Yamauchi
16. Esther: Anthony Tomasino
17. Isaiah: David W. Baker
18. Jeremiah: Steven Voth
19. Lamentations: Paul W. Ferris Jr.
20. Ezekiel: Daniel Bodi
21. Daniel: Ernest C. Lucas
22. Hosea: J. Glen Taylor
23. Joel: Mark W. Chavalas
24. Amos: Philip S. Johnston
25. Obadiah: Alan R. Millard
26. Jonah: John H. Walton
27. Micah: Daniel M. Master
28. Nahum: Alan R. Millard
29. Habakkuk: Victor H. Matthews
30. Zephaniah: Mark W. Chavalas
31. Haggai: Kenneth G. Hoglund
32. Zechariah: Kenneth G. Hoglund and John H. Walton
33. Malachi: Andrew E. Hill
34. Job: Izak Cornelius
35. Psalms: John W. Hilber
36. Proverbs: Tremper Longman III
37. Ecclesiastes: Duane Garrett
38. Song of Songs: Duane Garrett

I’ve just spent some time examining an outstanding book hot off Zondervan’s press:

Gary M. Burge, Lynn H. Cohick, and Gene L. Green. The New Testament in Antiquity: A Survey of the New Testament Within Its Cultural Contexts. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 480 pp.

Introduction

1. overview of the book and authors (Note that all three authors are NT professors at Wheaton College and Graduate School.)
2. 10-page PDF of the front matter and chapter 1
3. video interview with all three authors
4. blog interview with Gary Burge

Endorsements

1. Craig L. Blomberg, PhD, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary: “. . . one of the best introductions and surveys in recent times. Remarkably attractive in its layout, with color pictures, color pictures, charts, diagrams and sidebars galore . . . If it’s backgrounds you want to highlight in a one-semester introduction to the New Testament, this is the text to assign.”
2. Darrell L. Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary: “The New Testament in Antiquity is a beautifully done, carefully presented, evangelically sensitive work to introduce the New Testament. I have longed for a text like this. There is richness on virtually every page. Read, savor, learn.”
3. Craig S. Keener, Professor of New Testament, Palmer Seminary of Eastern University: “Complete with an extraordinary array of visual illustrations, this book covers important topics needed for an introductory text in New Testament in a way that is both understandable and well-informed. It emphasizes many details that help students discover the biblical text in new ways they would rarely get on their own.”
4. Scot McKnight, Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies, North Park University: “For years I have searched in vain for a book that would introduce students to the New Testament—with clear outlines, graphic images, historical contexts, timelines, maps, and bibliographies. My search is over; this is that book.”

Initial Evaluation

While flipping through every page and dipping in here and there, I noticed a few relatively minor disappointments (e.g., the bibliography on p. 122 lists the first rather than the second edition of Craig Blomberg’s The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, and the book lacks an author index), but overall, I agree with the above scholars. My text for New Testament introduction in college was Robert G. Gromacki’s New Testament Survey (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974). I sure wish that it would have been this one!