New Interpreter’s Dict of the Bible I-Ma (vol. 3): notes

I just received for review the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible I-Ma (Vol. 3) (Abingdon, 2008). I have the first two volumes and I have found the articles to be well-written and the contributors are highly respected scholars internationally. How does it compare with the Anchor Bible Dictionary? First, there are less volumes and less space given to any entry. Secondly, the NIDB is directed towards pastors and seminarians, rather than being a more critical-scholarly reference. Nevertheless, end-of-entry bibliographies are excellent and the scholarship represented in this series is current. On a more personal note, I like the font, size, layout, and colors of this series. It is very visually appealing and the font in quite large. In this third volume, I had wondered (just reading I-Ma): what kind of important entries are included in this volume? Flipping through it, I soon found out just how significant this volume is!

Here is a sampling of titles and authors.

‘Image of God’, T. Fretheim

‘Immortality’, Alan Segal

‘Incarnation’, James Dunn

‘Inspiration and Revelation’, Sandra Schneiders

‘Book of Isaiah’, Richard Clifford’

‘Israel, Origins of’, Norman Gottwald

‘James, Letter of’, John Painter

‘Jerusalem’, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor

‘Jesus Christ’, Dale C. Allison, Jr.

‘Jews in the NT’, Adele Reinhartz

‘Job, Book of’, S.E. Balentine

‘John’, R. Alan Culpepper

‘Judaism’, James Vanderkam

‘Judges, Book of’, Victor Matthews

‘Justice, NT’, Pheme Perkins

‘Justification’, Calvin Roetzel

‘Kingdom of God’, Bruce Chilton

‘Knowledge’, James Crenshaw

‘Law in Early Judaism’, ‘Law in the NT’, both by S. Westerholm

‘Leader, Leadership, NT’, R. Beaton

‘Leviticus, Book of’, Frank Gorman

‘Lord’s Supper’, I.H. Marshall

‘Love in the NT’, J.S. Koppenborg

‘Luke, Gospel of’, John T. Carroll

‘Marriage, NT’, M. MacDonald

Highly recommended!