Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testaments

I don't normally do reviews but as I have been looking for a particular catholic bible for some time and this is the one I've been waiting for I cannot help leave a review. First of all the package itself, it travelled well. The dust sleeve it comes with tuck the brunt on the impact through travel. The bible itself, beautiful leather and fantastic quality. Now on opening the bible I have heard people say they are missing pages. John being the affected pages on page 1883. I can confirm that the pages are all intact in my copy. Inside the bible is the contents pages, abbreviations, contributing writers, Introduction to the Ignatius Catholic study bible, The Catholic church and sacred scripture, The Catholic canon of scripture, overview of salvation history, introduction to the Pentateuch and then before every story in the bible is an introduction to the story. Half the pages are bible stories other half is bible study. There are fantastic charts and charts scattered throughout, word study the list goes on. Highly recommend this bible to everyone. A must have for any catholic but also worth an investment for people of different faiths due to the extra apocrypha. I am having so much fun reading this and studying the bible in a never before way. Thank you to Ignatius for working over the 20 something years to create this.

This is the best study bible I've encountered, and as a former Protestant, I've read quite a few. This takes a very balanced look at scholarship, choosing a God orientated approach rather than atheistic secular biases. There are lots of cross references to scripture, the church fathers and the catechism. There are deeper articles on important topics, diagrams, word studies... it's making reading the OT history books much easier and more enjoyable. I've already learned a lot and I've only read a fraction of this very detailed and extensive work. Bravo. I bought the leather cover, note this is soft, which I didn't realise, and I'd have preferred the hardcover personally. It is beautiful though, and I can't bear to part with it to replace it!

The quality and detail in this Bible is amazing. Really well put together. Nice and big to read, clear text and pages. At the bottom of each page is the information on the passages at the top of the page. As you can see there is a good amount of information. At the back there are other pieces of information to go back and look up certain topics and some basic colour maps etc Couldn’t fault this if you want to have a greater understanding of the Bible. Everything you need to understand stories and parables etc are of a high standard with good detail. Absolutely worth every penny, and was slightly cheaper buying from Amazon than elsewhere. Only thing I can think of to say people may not like or would want is when Jesus speaks is not highlighted in red like in some bibles. No issues at all with that but some people prefer it.

My son asked for this specific Bible for his birthday, as he has independently decided to be baptised. He is finding it very informative and is by far his most cherished gift. Only thing I would point out is the pages are very fine, so assuming highlighting text could potentially seep. That said he hasn’t tried, just something I observed. God bless.

Received the St. Ignatiud Catholic Study Bible in excellent condition - I know there are a few comments stating that the book doesn’t travel well but for me it does (USA to Oxford, UK) ! As shown in the photos, the book’s spine and edges are immaculate! It was indeed a clever idea of them to protect book with a paper cover! As for the content - it’s incredible! The history, introductions per book, footnotes, essays, commentaries are robust, well-researched, edifying! I could go on and on - I’m just so happy to have my hands in one of the most sought-after Catholic study bibles!

I strongly recommend this study Bible. I purchased the leather cover which is well made and very soft to the touch. The book is large but the amount of interesting notes explains its size. The translation is the Revised Standard Version (2nd Catholic Edition) which I already purchased earlier from the same publisher. This is a beautiful translation which allows study, prayer and meditation. Here, Isaiah 7:14 translates 'almāh' as 'virgin' in accordance with the Septuagint. The term 'young woman' is mentioned in the notes alongside an analysis. The notes do not shy away from traditional Catholic teaching and refer many times to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Just incredible scholarship, amazing. A tour de force

This is a beautiful Bible, I've been struggling to read my Bible. I tried the Bible in a year but it didn't work for me. I have decided to read my Bible using daily mass readings, so it's going to take me 3 years. I love the notes that are in this bible. What a gem. I refunded this bible to all Catholics.

Academic resource

I will qualify my review by stating that I am Catholic-adjacent, and considering entering into the Catholic church soon. I will also add that I am a lifelong student of the Bible. Studying scripture is my single biggest hobby, and I am also a Christian author. Anyways, here's my review. The Ignatius Press Study Bible is unbelievable. I've had mine for 3 weeks, and I'm convinced this is the best study Bible on the market (perhaps only second to the Word on Fire Bible, which isn't really the same). Before I bought it, I borrowed several competing study Bibles from friends and the Library, and there's really no comparison – the Ignatius Press Study Bible, which took around 25 years to complete from what I've heard, is the only one of its kind. I've read about 5-6 of the included essays, and they were all brilliantly written, and I learned quite a bit from them. The commentary strikes a good balance between modern scholarship and traditional beliefs. It doesn't shy away from the tough questions (i.e. the divine council in the OT, the glorification of killing in Joshua, the multiple authors of Isaiah, etc.) That said, it mostly leans conservative with its interpretations (e.g., it never hints at parts of Genesis or Joshua as being ahistorical, or anything like that). The style of interpretation didn't feel surface level at all. Unlike many of the competing study Bibles I read, the Ignatius Press Study Bible has already taught me a ton. It has notes on the cultural contexts, the Hebrew and Greek wording, quotes from the Church Fathers, etc. In fact, some of the pages had so much commentary that there were more footnotes than actual Scripture (the first page of Genesis only gets through three verses because the commentary is so stacked!) It has the typical notes you'd expect (e.g., explaining difficult passages), but also, typological and anagogical interpretations that I'd never have come to on my own. That said, I still find myself googling often. There aren't a ton of notes on the poetic and chaistic structure of the text. There also aren't Strongs numbers for looking up Hebrew and Greek words. The style of commentary is definitely a better fit for a Catholic than for a Messianic Jew or someone who really skews towards the Jewish roots of the faith. In fact, this study Bible is unapologetically Catholic. But that is its greatest strength. This Bible is a behemoth. It's almost as wide as a tin can. I can't imagine getting the floppy leather version – hard back is the only way to go. In fact, while looking into which version to get, I learned that many people returned their floppy leather versions to get the hardback version. So maybe do yourself the favor and do that ahead of time. One strange omission is that there are no bookmark ribbons. Also, there are no tabs on the side to easily find the book you're looking for. That's not a big deal, but I wanted to mention it. As far as the RSV-2 translation goes, I find it to be very readable except for the way it translates the names of people and places. There's often weird apostrophes (e.g., Abraham's brother is Na'hor instead of Nahor.) Otherwise, I find it to be just as readable as ESV, NASB, and other mainline translations.

Very useful with detailed explanations. Perfect companion for bible studies.

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Great notes , I didn’t expect it to be as big as it is but I took a look at the notes and I was impressed with them 👍 Also most as big as one chad mode from choq