While the Catholic Bible Dictionary is (obviously) intended for a Catholic audience, its contents nonetheless provide ample information for Orthodox and Protestants as well. The entry Jesus Christ, for instance, contains an outline of the historical sources used to understand Jesus (433-438), a summary of His life, teaching, and work (438-444), and a section on Biblical Christology (444-447). Especially useful is this dictionary’s willingness to engage the historical and theological sides of Biblical topics. Each entry contains pertinent information about the subject without being too technical or overly verbose, and related entries are helpfully bolded (for example, Jesse: “The father of David, a member….”). However, the materials as presented in an appropriate and straightforward as they currently stand.Įntries in the Catholic Bible Dictionary range from the common ( Desert: “Today scientists define a desert as a place of arid conditions with annual rainfall of less than 10 inches….”) to the obscure ( Deuel: “The father of Elisaph of Gad and a commander under Moses….”), with nearly a thousand pages of entries in-between. If there is a criticism of this dictionary, it would have been beneficial to see a little more front matter, with perhaps an explanation of how this dictionary could be used in conjunction with lectionary readings or a personal Bible study. Recognizing that the need for the Bible to be handled with care (it is a double-edged sword, after all) as well as the need for Christians to become more intimately acquainted with the Scriptures, this Bible Dictionary presents itself as an easy-to-use and accessible tool for readers of all ages and backgrounds. Working from Vatican II’s call for all Christian faithful to “learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine scriptures,” this dictionary is designed to help non-specialists become more familiar with their Bibles. The Catholic Bible Dictionary is exactly what it sounds like-a dictionary of well-known and important (and sometimes less well-known) people, places, and concepts from the Christian Bible. To serve this purpose among the Catholic faithful comes the Catholic Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 2009) edited by Scott Hahn. And, while there are some great online resources for encountering our world, for many topics nothing quite replaces the encompassing usefulness of a well-written book. This is especially true when it comes to faith, where what you hear in church and what you see on the History Channel are often worlds apart. In an age of competing “internet histories” and lists of “ten things you need to know about this”, where the first page of Google and a Wikipedia entry are often marshaled as appropriate evidence for engaging important issues, access to serious resources serves an important role in properly understanding and interpreting our world.

Scott hahn bible study online