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Biblical Inerrancy

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Recommended Bible Study Library

For the Personal Library of Bible Students or Pastors

Below is a list of the most essential references for solid, expository and topical Bible study, grouped from most important to most optional. Within each group the listing is in no particular order, and every individual will have their own particular interests and circumstances. In every category, books should be selected with counsel from pastors or professors regarding the authors, and particular titles.

The Foundation

A good study Bible - Version should be KJV, NASB, or ESV - a good literal (formal equivalence) translation. Excellent study notes can be found in the Scofield Study Bible, Ryrie Study Bibles, the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, or the (Thomas Nelson) Open Bible, all of which are available using KJV, NASB, and ESV versions. Study Bible notes are Commentary - feel free to disagree with them, but they can be very helpful!
An English Dictionary - I use Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, For KJV users, the Websters 1828 is a unique source for insight into how English words were used in the KJV.
A Strong's Exhaustive Concordance - This particular concordance is used universally for word study references - A printed version is definately worth having and can be much more useful than a digital copy.
A Conservative Bible Dictionary - I recommend Unger's Bible Dictionary, Smith's is also a good conservative choice.

That's it - the foundation of a good Bible Study library. You need all of them, but you can get by very well with just these four books.

Desktop Reference Level

A copy of the Hymnal your church uses - I recommend you have one for planning purposes, and for personal devotion. If you start doing services or Bible studies outside of the church, you can easily find yourself leading a few songs - it helps to have a book.
Whole-Bible Commentaries by J. Vernon McGee and Matthew Henry are good for initial read-throughs, or for sanity-checking your thoughts on a passage. Both are conservative standards.
Systematic Theology (1 vol) - A single-volume theology book which you're comfortable with will see a lot of use. Single-volume works are easier to read because they are much more concise than multi-volume sets. This will usually a Bible school text book, and should definately be recommended by your pastor and/or seminary.
- Major Bible Themes - Written by Chafer, revised by Walvoord; A single volume representation of Chafer's 8-volume set. Chafer and Walvoord both presided over Dallas Theological Seminary. - My college textbook.
- Lectures in Systematic Theology - by Henry C. Thiessen. This has been my favorate 'alternate source' while taking theology courses using Chafer as the textbooks. Thiessen also taught at Dallas, as well as at Wheaton.
- Basic Theology - by Charles C Ryrie. Ryrie is best known for the Ryrie Study Bible and his theology text is very good. Ryrie was professor of systematic theology at Dallas, and he taught courses at Tyndale.
Nave's Topical Bible - This is useful for looking up topics where a particular key-word may miss some references. It is a reference which will help some, and will surprise you from time to time.
Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words - This is the standard companion to Strong's concordance, and adds depth of understanding for word-studies. It is not necessary, but can be nice, especially when just starting with word-studies.

Bookshelf Level

Your Bookshelf should grow as slowly as possible, as it can become immense if not restrained.

Your Bible-School Class Notebooks If you're lucky, your classes required you to turn in notebooks of your work and you still have them, and they're worth keeping - These can become VERY valuable in a dozen or more years!
Bible Outlines/Surveys/Handbooks - Seeing 'the Bible at a glance' can be very helpful. Proper interpretation of Scripture requires proper context, which in turn, requires a good perspective. I recommend the Wikinson & Boa Bible Handbook. Most any study Bible will have good outlines, but not all, and not as usefully presented as a book focused on Bible Outline will be.
Whole-Bible Technical Commentary, I only recommend one set, and it is expensive - that's the Expositor's Bible Commentary by Frank E Gaebelein. The set is comprised of commentary by several authors, but the publication is done to a high standard, and helps unravel many of the more difficult passages. It must be seen to be appreciated, but I find it uniquely valuable.
Individual Bible Book Commentaries can provide a good mix of comfortable-reading commentary with additional information, but they are ususally application-based rather than overly technical/language-based. I like the Twenty-First Century Biblical Commentary Series by Mal Couch and Ed Hindson (various authors), but I know most of these authors, so I might be a little biased. It's a good, conservative series. Conservative classic authors include A.W. Pink, Warren Wiersbe, H.A. Ironside, and R.C. Sproul.
Multi-volume Theology Sets - A few very good multi-volume theology sets includes Chafer's (8 vol) Systematic Theology and Geisler's (4 vol) Systematic Theology. I used Chafer's full set for a series of systematic theology classes, and found it superior to the single-volume Major Bible Themes for the purposes of course-work.
Individual Theological Subjects - Books are available on Inerrancy of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, Canon, End Times, and any other theological topic you can think of. The trick is selecting reliable authors - check with your church or your Bible institute.
Church History, Biographies, and Doctrinal History, can be of significant interest. Maybe your Church History class textbook is all you ever want, but there's a great diversity of unique material to consider. Writings of the earliest Church Fathers and very early historians are in this category but are usually far more available in electronic form.
Biblical Period History and Archeology books can be of real value. Two highly recommended authors are F.F. Bruce and Randall Price. For those with $30/year worth of interest in this area, Biblical Archaelology Reviw (BAR) Magazine is still published and active online. My bookshelf also has a section on (secular) World History.
Books on 'Doing Church' - There are books out there which outline weddings, funerals, etc., and books which tell you how to witness, disciple, and generally stay on track. The books I have in this category are no longer in print, but these types of books can be worth having (or not). Definately want your pastor's recommendation.
Lectures to My Students, by Charles H Spurgeon - This book is disguised as a book on Homiletics, but is really an extaordinary read for anyone committed to the Ministry. Spurgeon talks about the Minister's spiritual and emotional needs in a frank, indisputable way which is beyond encouraging, as well as providing a lot of good, practical instruction for praying, preaching, and teaching.
Alternate Bible Versions - Unless you are in a KJV-exclusive environment, you should have a few versions for comparison - If you know another Bible is being used by an individual you're witnessing to, you need to know if their Bible says something unexpected. I've taught small group Bible studies where I know one person used the Living Bible and someone else had an NIV, while I was using KJV. To avoid confusion during the lesson, I learned to check the verses beforehand. There are some parallel Bibles available with some assortment of modern versions side-by-side, which works well for cross-checking primary verses.
Books on Canon, Manuscripts, and Translations - For those with a deep interest in the origins and translations of our Bible, the resources are not as easy to find. Start with your seminary library, and expect to be hunting down out-of-print copies.
Interlinear Bibles - Green's Interlinear is great, providing word-for-word translation of the Greek and Hebrew using the Masoretic text and Textus Receptus, while Brenton provides the OT using the Septuagint. Both are very useful classics. For modern translations, Crossway has an interlinear for the Critical Text of the NT (ESV, NA28).

Electronic Level - Online or Software/CD

(see my Online Resources Page)

Bible Gateway.com is the go-to online reference for searching and quoting Scriptures - simple, instant, and available in most any Bible version.
Logos Bible Software is the professional level go-to for extensive language references and tools, as well as both modern and historic publications.
Free or low-cost Bibles and References afe available through applications such as e-Sword and Olive Tree.
Collections of older written material used to be sold on CD as collections of PDF files, but currently these either need to be sourced through your Bible software offerings or online websites. Christian Classics Ethereal Library - Very good collection of important reference works, commentaries, etc., free for download.

AI Warning

As a professional Technical Writer, I have been formally trained in the use of AI and have used AI extensively over a one-year period for professional documentation research and publication.

I have learned a lot about effective methods and the limits and problems of using AI. Since that time, I have used AI in a limited fashion for some of my own research, but popular computer culture has run to AI like children in a candy store. Bible studies are NOT what AI is best at!

Necessary restrictions on use of AI Chatbots:

Gross Inaccuracies - on fairly rare occasion, AI Chatbots can provide information which is just completely wrong. It could be wrong based on source material (see below), but the strangest errors come from the Chatbot's own failed interpretation - relating unrelated information, misunderstood context, or from completely indiscernable reasons. Usually these types of errors are very noticeable, but other time they seem valid until you do your checks.
Unqualified Sources - This is the Misinformation Age - The internet has removed the barrier of professional/scholastic review from publication. Everyone's opinions are online; websites, blogs, Youtube videos etc. These are mixed with seminary-level publications of Orthodox Jews, Roman Catholics, Jehovah's Witness, Mormons, and scholastic atheists. All of these sources are weighed equally by chatbots ingesting or searching information. A human viewing this information can discern (to a degree) who their source is and how qualified their information should be, but chatbots can't.
Biased and Misinformed Sources - Chatbot sources are inevitably biased and based on the opinions of the general (online) populace. You are not getting information from a trusted source.

Using AI

At BibleSanity.org - I maintain a discipline of not using any AI generated content, and not using AI for any direct information sources. The vast majority of my research is from my physical library and local electronic collection.
Finding Information - I do sometimes use chatbots to find information - I ask my question in detail, refining responses. Then after reading through the responses, I go directly to the linked references.
1. I qualify the souce, often backtracking the author to an institution or statement of faith, etc.
2. I read through the source information to understand the article and my subject matter.
3. I make sure anything the chatbot told me which I want to use is clearly presented in the qualified source(s) - If I can't source it I can't use it.
Thought Provoking - Sometimes my thought process is greatly facilitated by 'chatting' through a few Q&A cycles and looking at 'executive summary' information. AI can highlight negative, alternate, and related perspectives which I need to consider and may need to address.
Other Particular Uses - Apart from using AI as a glorified Search Engine, here are a few other specifics I use:
- I have discovered that AI can help with the translation notes from the Variourum Bible for me. These footnotes are extremely dense with reference symbols, acronyms, and abbreviated names (contemporary to 1881) and both ChatGPT and Gemini have worked well clarifying these footnotes.
- I have used AI to create some of my website graphics.
- Lastly, Tech Support - I have discovered that AI understands my computer, HTML coding, and my Smartphone configurations much better than I do.