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Holy Bible: Access Bible-NRSV
Modern readers of the Bible are time travelers visiting a society and culture very different from their own. Strange customs, unfamiliar words and novel concepts encountered in the Bible's pages can make understanding the Word of God a real challenge.
The Access Bible is friendly to people who've never studied the Bible before. It's been carefully written and edited so that those new to the world of Bible study can just pick it up - and start reading.
A unique feature of the Access Bible is the running commentary which is interspersed with the Bible text. Difficult concepts are clearly explained in terms which everyday readers can easily understand. There's no need to have a dictionary by your side when you're using the Access Bible. When a technical explanation is required, all of the terms are defined right on the page, as well as in a glossary at the back. History, social contexts, religious practices, the beliefs of ancient peoples - all are explained when the Bible text requires it.
In addition, this Bible was designed to contain all the background information needed by believers from a wide spectrum of churches. The Access Bible sets a new standard for ease of understanding the Scriptures
The Access Bible is friendly to people who've never studied the Bible before. It's been carefully written and edited so that those new to the world of Bible study can just pick it up - and start reading.
A unique feature of the Access Bible is the running commentary which is interspersed with the Bible text. Difficult concepts are clearly explained in terms which everyday readers can easily understand. There's no need to have a dictionary by your side when you're using the Access Bible. When a technical explanation is required, all of the terms are defined right on the page, as well as in a glossary at the back. History, social contexts, religious practices, the beliefs of ancient peoples - all are explained when the Bible text requires it.
In addition, this Bible was designed to contain all the background information needed by believers from a wide spectrum of churches. The Access Bible sets a new standard for ease of understanding the Scriptures
- GenresReligion
2176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 4, 2014
At the start of 2013, I decided I wanted to read through the entire Bible, including the Apocrypha (books that are considered scripture by some churches, though not by all, and not by mine). I was looking for a one-volume study Bible that would include short notes on the text, both because I wanted to have the additional clarity such notes would provide, and because I worried about my ability to read ancient texts on their own without getting bored, and wanted something more modern to break them up with. Also, I wanted something portable.
My father bought me an Access Bible in the hopes that it would meet these criteria, and it pretty much did. It's not a pocket Bible by any means; it's a litte larger and heavier than a standard Bible, but not so much that you can't take it with you in a medium-sized bag. Its study notes are at worst adequate and at best quite fascinating and useful; they include not only notes directly on the text, but also short sidebar essays on more general topics and informative introductory essays for each book and major section. Both the notes and the essays are well rounded: they are suitable for people like me with a fair amount of backround and knowledge of the Bible, but they also seem like they would work for a relative newcomer to the Bible. An interesting feature of the notes is that they are presented in line with the text in boxed off sections rather than at the bottom, which was helpful for my specific project of reading straight through the volume and wanting short breaks for more modern material, but might be off-putting to readers who want to make more occasional use of the notes.
As with any study Bible, the different sections are annotated by different scholars, and the quality of the notes, and even the way they are presented, can very a little from section to section. In some books, the annotator will provide an occasional explanatory note on a word or phrase here or there; in others, the annotator will let the text run for a while, and then write a short summary/explanation of the preceding text. I found the latter approach often suited my needs better, but both were useful.
Purely as a physical object, this book somewhere between acceptable and good. The printing has no glaring problems, apart from a few small typographical inconsitencies (e.g., the titles of each book are printed at the top of the page, but while most books' titles are printed at the outside edge where it is easy to find when flipping through, the book of Isaiah is printed right next to the center for some reason) things work well: the ink doesn't smudge readily, the pages are fairly sturdy for a Bible, etc. The cover holds up fairly well to wear and tear, though not as well as say, a leather cover might; the book is softcover, which is helpful for portability, but not 100% ideal for durability, but that's the tradeoff.
For my purposes, this book was excellent, and I recommend it to anyone starting a similar project, or otherwise needing a semi-portable, layperson's study Bible.
My father bought me an Access Bible in the hopes that it would meet these criteria, and it pretty much did. It's not a pocket Bible by any means; it's a litte larger and heavier than a standard Bible, but not so much that you can't take it with you in a medium-sized bag. Its study notes are at worst adequate and at best quite fascinating and useful; they include not only notes directly on the text, but also short sidebar essays on more general topics and informative introductory essays for each book and major section. Both the notes and the essays are well rounded: they are suitable for people like me with a fair amount of backround and knowledge of the Bible, but they also seem like they would work for a relative newcomer to the Bible. An interesting feature of the notes is that they are presented in line with the text in boxed off sections rather than at the bottom, which was helpful for my specific project of reading straight through the volume and wanting short breaks for more modern material, but might be off-putting to readers who want to make more occasional use of the notes.
As with any study Bible, the different sections are annotated by different scholars, and the quality of the notes, and even the way they are presented, can very a little from section to section. In some books, the annotator will provide an occasional explanatory note on a word or phrase here or there; in others, the annotator will let the text run for a while, and then write a short summary/explanation of the preceding text. I found the latter approach often suited my needs better, but both were useful.
Purely as a physical object, this book somewhere between acceptable and good. The printing has no glaring problems, apart from a few small typographical inconsitencies (e.g., the titles of each book are printed at the top of the page, but while most books' titles are printed at the outside edge where it is easy to find when flipping through, the book of Isaiah is printed right next to the center for some reason) things work well: the ink doesn't smudge readily, the pages are fairly sturdy for a Bible, etc. The cover holds up fairly well to wear and tear, though not as well as say, a leather cover might; the book is softcover, which is helpful for portability, but not 100% ideal for durability, but that's the tradeoff.
For my purposes, this book was excellent, and I recommend it to anyone starting a similar project, or otherwise needing a semi-portable, layperson's study Bible.
Displaying 1 of 1 review