The Catholic Study Bible

When I purchased this Bible, I expected a study bible like my Ignatius New Testament study Bible, one that gave me many footnotes from experts, explained the Church's position on difficult passages, and countered modernist tendencies where appropriate, all while focusing on the way in which the Bible was meant to teach the modern faithful reader. This is not what I received here. The Footnotes to this book lean very heavily on the atheistic Historical-Critical Method and on interpretations aimed at a particular side of the political aisle. While I, as a Historian, am suppossed to recognize its (highly questionable) validity as a field, the Historical-Critical Method of biblical interpretation is rightfully considered dangerous to faith by the Catholic Church, yet for some reason, it is prevalent throughout the whole of the footnotes in this edition. Suggesting definitively that the authors of scripture were probably lying about their identity or that the Bible is edited for nefarious political reasons, might be well and good inside of a University classroom, but it does not belong in a Bible edition meant for the actual faithful. My Ignatius Catholic Study Bible and my Orthodox Study Bible both treat the Historical-critical method as it is meant to be treated, by thoroughly explaining it and then countering it while giving the positions of the Church Fathers and of the Modern Churches respectively. This edition, on the other hand, offers these unfaithful theories up uncritically as fact and therefore this Bible is deeply suspect as an actual tool for the faithfulAdditionally, as other reviewers have mentioned, interpretations in the footnotes often go against both Church teaching and the meanings actually meant by the text itself. It certainly is not appropriate in the modern day to espouse that wives should be subservient to their husbands or that homosexuality is not condoned in religious scripture, but, nonetheless, such positions are advocated in the Bible and are still positions held by the Catholic Church today. The Footnotes, instead of accepting such things as they were meant to be, attempt to push agendas by saying that the authors do not really mean what they say in such cases, and where there is no argument to be made of such a kind, they even stoop so low as to attack the authors of scripture as ethnocentric, patriarchal, and therefore not worth being listened to.I could go on and list the physical things such as the poor paper quality, the difficult to use Kindle edition, or the ugliness of the translation, where poetic language in the original Hebrew is consistently turned into the ugliest of prose, so bad that I would mark points off for such writing in an undergraduate essay. Nonetheless, I will simply finish by saying: This is not a properly Catholic book and the faithful should be wary of such a purchase.

This is a marvelous book for wherever you are in your spiritual journey. I am convert to Catholicism and found this study bible to be essential, especially given the additional books (73 versus 66). My favorite new-to-me book is Tobit, a truly delightful story. I have the prior edition and the hard cover and electronic versions of this edition. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT purchase the electronic version. I have never so badly wanted a return of my money. This book is too intricate not to be fully linked and better organized with guides. There needs to be chapter verse linking, otherwise you just get woefully lost. If you would like to truly study the Bible, this is a great addition to your texts, but please DO NOT buy the e-version lest you be discouraged.

What I like: first off, the revised edition of the NAB OT is really good. There are many who are critical of the NAB, and for good reason; but the 2011 NABRE is much improved. The notes and introductions for each book are the standard ones you'll find in any NAB(RE). But the real meat and potatoes of this study Bible is the 500+ pages of study notes located in the front of this bible. The study notes cover each and all 73 books. They provide solid, scholarly information about the structure, and thought behind the writings. This study bible also includes a lectionary, very nice Oxford maps, and a pretty good sized concordance and glossary. Thumb tabs are also included which I don't really have an opinion on, but I'll take em.What I don't like: I was a bit hesitant to purchase because of some reviews complaining about the binding coming apart after some use. So far, after a few months of steady use, I can tell that the binding isn't that strong. Ive been very careful not to be too casual with this bible so as to prevent the binding from coming loose. I've done a good job thus far, but c'mon, I've got books waaaay older that can and have taken a beating and the binding remains strong as ever. Anyway, the spine has gotten a little flimsy and I'm not sure how long I have until it separates. Hopefully never. The paper is ehh. Obviously you can't have thick paper on a study Bible or it will become too heavy and too unpractical to carry. But I have other bibles just as big that seem to have good quality paper and not sacrifice its portability. So expect some ghosting but not enough that you'd be too afraid to highlight, BUT only with good quality bible markers. Be warned regular highlighters or pens will bleed through BIG time. But those marker/crayons and pens made specially for thin paper works just fine; minimal bleed through. One more issue I have is it doesn't come with ribbons. A bible with this much material should have at least two, (though four would be even better). No excuse Oxford, no excuse.So all in all, a wonderful, scholarly, study Bible for any serious Christian. Buy it, but be gentle with it.BTW, here is a link to the Mr. Pen- Dry Highlighter, Gel Highlighters that I bought. They work well. There's some tinting on the back of the page that was highlighted but it is minimal. Go light and you'll be fine. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0793DYRKV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_kaUpBb9MYR8Y1

Its bible only looked few minutes before i get into it its ggod print and the flovour of its writting is good recomended

Was a present for my daughter very informative

I bought 16 Study Bibles of various kind to used in a large group study where everyone used a different study bible and we study together and share the collective wisdom we glean with each other, from each source.This bible's notes were serious lacking compared to other Study Bibles. Just not many of them, and lacked much depth.GET THE IGNATIUS CATHOLIC Study Bible instead. It is only the New Testament. However, it is hands down a much better Study Bible, with so many more useful notes, and greater depth of commentary too..This was just a waste of money, most versus have no commentary.

A number of American reviewers have complained about the poor quality of the binding - and unfortunately I have to echo their criticism. The last 32 pages of my copy simply fell out. This was my reward for spending the extra money for a hardcover. I ran into similar problems with my copy of the fourth edition of the Oxford Bible Atlas. This is simply unacceptable. OUP needs a new Quality Control department.

25.6.2016: 1st day review [unpacking and checking]Noteworthy points:1. The Holy Bible comes in a slip case which protects the Holy Bible when not in use [I doubt anyone will store his / her Holy Bible and not read it].2. Paper is white, thin and print quality is good, though not very black. I like the paper used for The Didache Bible - RSV-2CE better.3. Typesetting, the three outer margins and inner margin with gutter are well planned and almost uniform through the entire Holy Bible. I did across a few pages where there wasn't any uniformity of the margins; however this is negligible. However, what is imperative is that the inner margin is not close to the spine / binding.4. Text alignment on front and rear of a page is as good as perfect. I didn't come across a single page where the text on the front and rear pages were not in line; except if there was a footnote with a smaller size font.5. Page numbers are in the centre and not on the inside corners.6. There are thumb index tabs ' though one tab for three books.7. Book, chapter and verse numbers are at the top outer corner; this facilitates quicker location of Holy Scripture.8. Two ribbon markers; one to each side; takes care of page marking in the Old Testament and New Testament.9. Liturgical cycle for Sunday, Feasts and weekday mass readings ' until 2031. A very important feature.Areas for improvement:1. Does not have a genuine leather cover; current bonded leather cover looks very cheap for a Holy Bible that does not come at a low price [When will publishers provide Catholic Holy Bibles with genuine leather covers?].2. Holy Bible imprinting on the cover is off centre by 0.25 centimetres.3. Thumb index tabs are not provided for individual books.4. A page corner [fortunately, the last] was folded.5. One tab was not properly put and was partially affixed on the preceding page.6. Size of footnote font is small; this brings a slight strain on my powered eyes. The font size could have been one size larger [I wonder how the publishers would keep the Holy Bible size under control].7. Two pages were glued to each other at the bottom towards the spine, a centimetre long.8. No third ribbon marker in the centre of the Holy Bible for the Psalms.The above was written after checking all the pages of the Holy Bible.The biggest drawback though, is the poor quality bonded leather cover. For a costly Holy Bible, the publishers should have provided a much better cover; genuine leather or bonded leather. So, just four stars rating.I am not qualified to review the Holy Scriptures; there are many good blogs out there written by eminent persons if one wants to know more about the Holy Scriptures in this Holy Bible. However, I may add some photographs of the Holy Bible; as soon as possible.UPDATE:1.7.2016I attached four photographs.I came across the following errors:1. Grammatical error noticed on page 'RG 19'; you will notice seven words run together as a single word.3. Stitching between the two map pages is off centre.This makes me wonder if Oxford University Press is offloading second quality Holy Bibles to online sellers. I brought that to the attention of the seller who sold the Holy Bible to me and they were kind enough to offer a full refund or replacement on return of the Holy Bible or a partial refund if I wished to retain the Holy Bible. Considering I got the Holy Bible blessed, begun reading and highlighting important scripture, I decided to keep the Holy Bible. This is all for now.11.7.2016Photographs 5 and 6 attached.1. If anyone is concerned about highlighter ink bleeding through the paper, then you need not worry. I use the yellow colour 'Zebrite Highlighter' and I haven't noticed the ink bleeding through the paper.2. Photograph # 5 shows that the front edge pages of The Catholic Study Bible have become uneven since I began reading the Bible. Photograph # 6 shows that the front edge pages of The Didache Bible: RSV-2CE have remained uniform and even; though usage was more than that of the Oxford publication. Could the unevenness of the front edge pages of the Oxford publication be due to poor sewing and binding quality? I think so. Please correct me if I am wrong.