OK, Confession to everyone, my guilty pleasure

[gurneyhalleck1]

Have you ever just read through hundreds of pages of the Orthodox Study Bible JUST THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGES WITH THE FOOTNOTES!?

Confession: I have and still am doing that! I've read the Bible for so many years and know it so well, that for a while now I'm just reading the footnotes and am captivated by the insights and powerful words of the Fathers. I'm seeing things so differently. Am I weird just reading the footnotes alone and scanning up to the actual Scripture afterward? :o:o

 

[prodromos]

I'm currently making my way through the OT in the OSB and confess that most of what was in the footnotes should have simply been left out. Since they obviously were not able to find enough material from the Church Fathers on the Old Testament passages, the OSB producers saw fit to add their own commentary which I think I am being generous in describing it as uniformly awful. I really hope the NT footnotes are better, and I mean way better

 

[Kristos]

I only read the footnotes sporadically - but when I do, I'm usually disappointed...

 

[prodromos]

Sorry Gurney, I didn't think much about how my comments might affect you as I wrote them. I apologise if my comments upset you in any way.
I grew up with the NIV study bible and had a tendency to give the interpretation in the footnotes the same authority as the scriptures. Though some footnotes gave some historical and cultural background, most was heavily biased with Protestant theology.
When I bought the OSB, I looked forward to the footnotes being of a much higher standard. So far, in the Old Testament, I've been greatly disappointed. I've got the New Testament from Holy Apostles convent (ROAC, GOCG) which does a pretty good job, though the translation is a bit odd to read at times. I'm assuming the OSB New Testament will be similar in terms of footnotes as there is a much greater abundance of patristic commentary available than for the Old Testament. However, because the OSB is aimed mostly at being a way of introducing non-Orthodox Christians to Orthodoxy, I suspect their choice of commentary may reflect that in that they don't want to drive people away. I guess I can appreciate that because we've given my Dad a couple of books to read on Orthodoxy but he has never gone past the foreword and introduction because they often state that the truth can only be found in the Orthodox Church which my Dad disagrees with passionately. He gets so upset on reading that, that he reads no further.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I guess I'm alone on this one. I've read the Bible so many times through that since I got my Orthodox Study Bible, I just read the footnotes on a marathon. They are insights by the Fathers. I find them to be fantastic.

 

[Jesus4Madrid]

I guess I'm alone on this one. I've read the Bible so many times through that since I got my Orthodox Study Bible, I just read the footnotes on a marathon. They are insights by the Fathers. I find them to be fantastic.

I agree. I love my OSB for this reason. If more Christians would read the Bible through the prism of the Fathers, I believe they would want to become Orthodox.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I guess I'm alone on this one. I've read the Bible so many times through that since I got my Orthodox Study Bible, I just read the footnotes on a marathon. They are insights by the Fathers. I find them to be fantastic.

nah, I am with you. some of the footnotes blew me poor noggin onto the wall (such as pointing out that one of the reasons that both Moses and Aaron died outside of the promised land was to show that the Law and the priesthood alone can get you close, but only Jesus (Joshua) can actually take you in), but some are just silly (such as Scripture pointing out something David did was for 7 days, and the footnote says he did it for a week........).

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Yeah, that Moses and Aaron/Joshua quote was insanely poignant! Sometimes your jaw drops with these things. Heck, we should start an OSB mind-blower thread!

nah, I am with you. some of the footnotes blew me poor noggin onto the wall (such as pointing out that one of the reasons that both Moses and Aaron died outside of the promised land was to show that the Law and the priesthood alone can get you close, but only Jesus (Joshua) can actually take you in), but some are just silly (such as Scripture pointing out something David did was for 7 days, and the footnote says he did it for a week........).

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Btw, what page of the OSB was that on anyway?...the commentary about Moses/Joshua you just mentioned.

nah, I am with you. some of the footnotes blew me poor noggin onto the wall (such as pointing out that one of the reasons that both Moses and Aaron died outside of the promised land was to show that the Law and the priesthood alone can get you close, but only Jesus (Joshua) can actually take you in), but some are just silly (such as Scripture pointing out something David did was for 7 days, and the footnote says he did it for a week........).

 

[ArmyMatt]

Btw, what page of the OSB was that on anyway?...the commentary about Moses/Joshua you just mentioned.

I am pretty sure it is toward the end of the Pentatuch, around when Moses death or when God tells him because of his sin he will look at the Promised Land, but not enter.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I was looking all through Deuteronomy, Numbers, Leviticus, you name it, but couldn't find that exact reference. If you get a page number, show me, bro!

I am pretty sure it is toward the end of the Pentatuch, around when Moses death or when God tells him because of his sin he will look at the Promised Land, but not enter.

 

[RKO]

Gurney, I get it. I once read the commentary in the Navarre bible, which is a Bible edited by the questionable group Opus Dei. I'm not much on Opus Dei or the concept of self mortification, but the commentary was excellent. I was riveted.

 

[prodromos]

I was looking all through Deuteronomy, Numbers, Leviticus, you name it, but couldn't find that exact reference. If you get a page number, show me, bro!

Footnote for Joshua 1:2.
Doesn't mention Aaron though.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Footnote for Joshua 1:2.
Doesn't mention Aaron though.

ah thanks, my bad, after the Pentatuch, hahaha