The ESV Church History Study Bible
A review of Crossway's English Standard Version (ESV) Church History Study Bible (ISBN 9781433579684). This edition contains only the 66 books of the Protestant canon.
The text in this edition is printed in two columns, organized into paragraphs. The font is about 9 pts tall. The text is not line-matched. Text and translation notes, as well as references, are printed in a roughly 6.5 pt font beneath the text, but above the ~20,000 notes collected from a range of authors throughout church history. Those notes are in a 7.5 pt font.
The words of Christ are in black ink.
This sewn, brown hardback is 9 3/8 x 6 3/8 x 1.8 inches in dimensions. Pages are 231 x 154 mm (9.09 x 6.06 inches). The dust jacket is blue.
The paper is nearly white and sufficiently opaque. I estimate the paper weight at 32 gsm.
Each book begins on a fresh page with its own brief introduction.
Resources in the back include the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian statement of faith, twelve articles on various aspects of church history, an index to the authors of the notes (giving a thumbnail biography for each), a "full" concordance, and 15 color maps.
The single brown ribbon marker is 6.35 mm wide and about 31 cm long. It is too short.
The overall character of the notes strikes me as Reformed; but Lutheran authors are often featured, as are authors from other traditions.
The edition also includes more than 60 "This Passage in History" callouts. As an example, the one located at Romans 13.13-14 describes Augustine's conversion.
Detailed contents:
00:00 Introduction
02:07 Page layout
05:23 The fonts in the page-bottom material
06:06 The dust jacket
06:51 More on page layout
07:53 Print quality
09:10 The paper
10:24 Ecumenical creeds
10:49 Articles and resources
11:39 The author index
12:24 The concordance
13:09 The color maps
13:50 Binding, ribbons ...
14:33 It lies open in Genesis
15:14 Title pages, copyright pages, contents
17:32 The ESV as a translation
20:19 Font comparisons
21:24 Sampling the commentary
34:11 Sampling the essays
38:04 Concluding remarks
Пікірлер: 64
Thank you, brother... have missed your reviews of late, so glad to see this pop up tonight.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the kind comment, Tony! Sometimes work gets busy or other issues pop up and I can't spend as much time or energy building videos as I would like. I should post at least one more Bible review this month, and I have a few short book reviews I'd like to produce. We'll see.
Your font comparisons are so well done; every year this part of your reviews becomes increasingly important to me. I realize this is Crossway, but one might think a Church History bible ought to have a somewhat larger number of books.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Fonts become more important to me every year, too, as my presbyopia progresses. Thanks for the kind comment!
So glad to see this and hear your review. I won the CSB ancient faith study Bible and found it most enjoyable. But alas I discovered I was a majority text guy by means of Pastor Matthew Everhard this past fall- and your translation reviews in the past confirmed my belief.
I'm a simple man. I see a R. Grant Jones video about a bible I would never buy and I watch the whole thing.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for that kind comment, Tony!
@MetroWord
Жыл бұрын
Hahaha! Same!
Good to see new videos : )
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for commenting, Uncle!
Thank you for the review!
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for commenting!
Thanks for the review! Nice job as usual...
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the encouraging comment, Travis!
Thanks for your review. I was looking forward to it :)
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for commenting, Michael!
R, another super video review.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thank you, Richard, for the encouragment!
@HD23777
Жыл бұрын
@@RGrantJones out of all the Bible reviewers on KZread, your reviews are the best. We come from the same cut of cloth, when it comes to scripture.
The Ancient Faith study Bible, seems to be a better version of this for me. I'm more interested in the earlyish church fathers, not later prominent names.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Since that's your focus, the Ancient Faith Study Bible is a better choice. Thanks for commenting!
Glad to see your New review, I am waiting for your review of the Thomas Nelson King King James version deuterocanonical/apocrypha next month I think you said, I'm hoping for good-sized dark print and please God no red ink in the print I mean! Thanks brother 😊🔥🤟⛪👨👩👧👦🇺🇸👨🦽
@eclipsesonic
Жыл бұрын
I'm sorry to break this to you, but it's going to be a red letter text!
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the comment, Larrym.! eclipsesonic is correct - it will be a red letter edition. I have a recent NKJV wide margin from Nelson with red letters, printed in India, which I hope to review in the near future. The red in it is sometimes dark enough even for me. Apart from fading, it also exhibits poor registration, so the red lines sometimes aren't lined up with the black. But overall it's a very nice, inexpensive Bible. I hope this KJV with Apocrypha is similar, but with the quality control issues resolved.
This seems like a really nice Bible for those interested in it. I knew that a Crossways ESV probably wouldn't be what I'd like, which I don't think yet exists: I'd love to read a Bible like the Ancient Faith Bibles that is based on the LXX and helps explain how Christian theology developed and shows which passages were most important for shaping (early?) doctrine. I think such a Bible would be an incredible resource for many Christian faith communities/denominations. I'd even like this study Bible more if it focused on the history of later Christian thought, through the protestant reformation and afterwards through major schisms, with opposing viewpoints placed head to head. This ESV Bible just seems like a bunch of the other ESV study Bibles with just some quotes as footnotes instead of explaining historical context or translation choices. The pages the creeds are on seem oddly blank; I would've either increased the font size for the creeds or put more than one creed per page. The essays are laughably short. (I did like the section of an essay you highlighted about traditions.) For such an aesthetically pleasing book with such a promising study topic it really doesn't seem to have much to offer. I dislike feeling so negatively towards this book, but it looks like it would be a great Bible to give to confirmation students while they're going through classes, learning about the roots of their faith tradition and why their denomination believes as it does, but it doesn't even seem to be good for that. It makes me wonder who this Bible's primary audience is supposed to be: it's not for Christians who are looking to better understand where many Christian ideas came from; it's not for students learning about Christian ideas and movements through the years; is it perhaps only for loving family members looking for a "giftable" Bible to give to younger people who are growing in their faith? Sorry for venting about how mediocre I think this book is. I am deeply appreciative of your work and how throughly you have reviewed this Bible -- it's exceptionally clear that I would've been very disappointed had I purchased it based on my assumptions of what it could be.
@Stronghold511
10 ай бұрын
It's probably mediocre cause it would be too "Catholic" or "Orthodox" if it included more in-depth history about the Councils and creeds. Can you imagine if Crossway published the declarations from the second Nicean Council on Iconoclasm?
I’ve never wanted an ESV, but with these notes, I’m seriously considering getting it
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for commenting, Brian!
The dustcover shown at 6:33 advertises a "full concordance", but if there are only 14,000 context lines, I wonder that can possibly mean. The KJV has 783,000 words, and the ESV should be about the same, so the coverage is about 1.8%.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
It does seem rather incomplete to be considered "full." But perhaps other Crossway ESV editions have even smaller concordances. Thanks for commenting!
I believe this is a good companion piece with the CSB Ancient Faith Study Bible.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Yes, they complement each other, with the ESV Study Bible emphasizing more recent authors.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
@YAJUN YUAN - I have heard of that Bible, but I've never seen a copy. Thanks for describing it.
An excellent review! I have already have this in my Amazon basket but checking other sources for quicker delivery to the UK as currently seems to be shipping only from the USA. Currently reading through the whole ESV so this will compliment that part of my study. Switching to the KJV later next month. Thank you for putting this together so appreciate the work and in-depth none bias reviews you do here ) ++ p.s where do you get those wonderful Maps we can see on your table when you do your videos ? any links ? thanks again Dino
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the encouraging comment, Dino! Most of the maps came from old issues of National Geographic, I think. I don't believe I bought any of them separately, except perhaps for the one of the Roman Empire, but I haven't acquired any in many years.
36:04 what Luther said. The Bible is alive
What do you use as your table cover? The map diagram thingy?
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
That map is entitled 'The Egyptians,' copyright 2001 by the National Geographic Society. Thanks for the question!
Hi Mr. Grant, I would like to know if we are only basing on the scholarly content, would you still advising getting a copy of the ESV Study Bible even know I have a CSB Study Bible already?
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Chris - thanks for the question. Unhappily, I don't have any experience with the CSB Study Bible. The study Bibles I have seen sometimes address different topics and often address common topics with differing levels of detail. The ESV Study Bible is very good, in my opinion.
@chris12780
Жыл бұрын
@@RGrantJones the CSB Study Bible was recommended to me last year, that was why I was able to request a review copy of it from Holman. Based on my own assessment, CSB Study Bible has a broad scope in its notes. The essays and articles offer excellent supplementary source for diverse topics. And it makes me wonder if the ESV Study Bible would add on to what CSB SB already has. Or would it be just the same?
Excellent review! Pity they didn’t publish the Church History Bible with the Deuterocanonical/Apocrypha.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Yes, I agree. We saw the same thing with the CSB Ancient Faith Study Bible. And there's the problem of the Old Testament textual basis - which is much more of an issue for the writers featured in the CSB Ancient Faith Study Bible than for most of the authors quoted here.
@ggarza
Жыл бұрын
@@RGrantJones Yes, it seems rather eclectic collection of commentary of Fathers, rather than systematic approach. Perhaps the editors preferred the devotional texts of the Fathers rather than the theological? This seems to be the approach that the ESV has taken with the Hebrew texts that form the basis of the Hebrew Bible. I am encouraged that the effort is pushing in the right direction, that is preferring an earlier tradition rather than a later.
@andrewbolton2298
Жыл бұрын
Reminds me of films where the characters dress up in period clothes but have modern attitudes and behaviours, that are inappropriate for the time in which the film is set. To some degree this Bible is projecting back on the past a later idea of what the Bible is.
Grant Jones, just wondering how often you you read the Bible or related material? I’m guessing several hours a week?
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the question, C! Yes, I'd say several hours a week is right. I often come away from a week feeling that I haven't spent as much time in devotional reading as I would like, but I don't have a strict reading plan I try to stick to. Although sometimes I read works of fiction, most of my reading is directly from the Bible or from a book about some topic related to Christianity. For instance, in recent weeks I've been working through William Goode's _The Divine Rule of Faith and Practice,_ which frequently drives me to the Bible and the works of early Christian writers. And the works of fiction I read are often selected because I saw them mentioned in serious works about Christianity. For instance, a few months ago, I read _Sinister Street_ by Compton Mackenzie because I saw it mentioned in a history of the Tractarian Movement.
@user-zo2ge3oe8d
Жыл бұрын
Very nice brother. I’ll be praying for you.
@ionutpaun9828
Жыл бұрын
@@RGrantJones Which translation do you mainly use?RSV?
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
@@ionutpaun9828 - Averaged over a year, I'd guess that I spend more time in the KJV than any other translation. But I read several different ones.
Forgive me for asking but do you actually read all the bibles you have bought and have you used the study material in all of those bibles? If you have, has reading them change your theology or understanding of faith?
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the questions, alphacenturian! Do I actually read all the Bibles I've bought? I certainly used each of them for at least a few days initially. But I go years without looking at some of them - except perhaps to feature some aspect of a particular Bible in a review video. The same is true of the study materials. A few of them are used regularly and are within arm's reach. Has reading them changed my theology or understanding of faith? My perspective has changed over time, but I can't think of an instance where a note, essay, or book introduction in a study Bible has been responsible. For instance, reading Hart's New Testament didn't convince me of universalism, nor have the notes in various Catholic study Bibles persuaded me to become a modernist or a Catholic, or both.
Is this Bible like the CSB Ancient Faith Study Bible, with notes from Apostolic/Church fathers?
@RGrantJones
8 ай бұрын
It's similar, but with fewer comments from early Christian writers and more from later Protestant authors.
Nice bible
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Yes, I agree. Thanks for commenting!
I love how there are certain things omitted , like church history doesn’t go all they way back to Jesus?
I wanted to recommend a book, it is a scholarly study of NT from an Oxford Muslim Philosopher The New Testament in Muslim Eyes: Paul's Letter to the Galatians by Shabbir Akhtar The Quran with Christian Commentary, by Gordon Nickel appears to be a similar academic work. Both Akhtar and Nickel have reviewed these books of each other.
@MM-jf1me
Жыл бұрын
I'm not affiliated with this channel -- just an internet stranger reading through the comments. These books sound very interesting! Thank you for mentioning them.
@hassanmirza2392
Жыл бұрын
@@MM-jf1me Welcome. Comparative theology is fascinating!
Is this the one that jumps from the apostles time to Augustine.. then jumps from Augustine to the reformation? Some biased stuff 🤦🏻♂️
You need to ready more about the the two crazies that dug up this minority text. The children of these men have some interesting stories to tell about “experiences” they’ve had. These books are printed in Europe not sold in US. The stories sound a lot like the ones of these maker of false religions. And in these experiences somehow they all were told the same thing. The devil himself can be transformed into and angel of light.
@RGrantJones
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for commenting, Fred! I haven't heard from you in a while. The ESV New Testament isn't a translation of Westcott & Hort's 1881 Greek New Testament. I tried to give viewers a sense for how different it is by showing those scatter plots. For instance, take a look at the one that's on the screen at the 19:18 point.
@fredeskridge22
Жыл бұрын
@@RGrantJones I’m flattered you remember me and really I don’t want to sound mean ever also.