What is Reddit's opinion of HarperCollins Study Bible - Student Edition: Fully Revised & Updated?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

I have gotten a lot out of this kind of information from the HarperCollins Study Bible. If you follow its footnotes throughout Esther, for example, the editors constantly point out to you why the story probably isn't an actual historical account. The footnotes in Genesis explain all the different text sources (Priestly, Yahwist, Elohist). I haven't perused Exodus yet, but I'd put my money on a good honest historical contextualization.

This is the book I'm talking about. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Get a GOOD study bible! The one I used in college was The HarperCollins Study Bible. Another good one is The New Oxford Annotated Bible.

For NT we used: New Testament History: A Narrative Account by Ben Witherington III; Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction by Jonathan Pennington; and An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods, & Ministry Formation 2nd Edition by David A De Silva.

For OT we used: The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament; and Apocalyptic Literature: A Reader edited by Mitchel Reddish. (This cycle of classes had less textbooks overall).

Random suggestions:

Radical Christian Discipleship but John Howard Yoder*; Endangered Gospel: How Fixing the World is Killing the Church by John Nugent; The Incarnation of the Poetic Word: Theological Essays on Poetry & Philosophy - Philosophical Essays on Poetry & Theology by Michael Martin; Repetition and Identity by Catherine Pickstock; A Larger Hope?: Volume I by Ilaria Ramelli & Volume II by Robin Parry;Faith, Hope, and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination but Malcolm Guite; and Invitation to Syriac Christianity: An Anthology. There's honestly so many that I love that I didn't list (thinking things by David Bentley Hart, William Cavanaugh, John Milbank, etc.) and some that I find just okay. Hopefully this is a large enough list for anybody!

*John Howard Yoder is known (ironically) to have used his power as a teacher, minister, and public figure to try and cheese women into sexual misconduct. No physical harm, but still major violations.

His theology is tainted by that, but can still be redeemed. I think this post by Ted Grimsrud goes over that well.

I guess that's up to your own reading of the text to convince you who's correct.

The fact that Genesis 1 is poetically written is seemingly universal amongst Christians of all stripes and is the academic consensus (whether Jew, Pagan, atheist, Christian, etc.) All one has to do is pick up a study Bible, like The HarperCollins Study Bible or The New Oxford Annotated Bible and read the openings of each book or the footnotes of the text.

Others have already pointed out the RSV2CE and the NABRE, which are both excellent Catholic translations.

To help your search, you might like the NRSV. It is perhaps the most "ecumenical" translation. (It's used in Mainline Protestant and Secular academic circles).

In particular, picking up a solid Study Bible with accompanying notes from top scholars of multiple faith traditions like the Harper Collins Study Bible or the New Oxford Annotated Bible might also be helpful. Those also both contain the Deuterocanon, but place them in a separate section between the OT and NT (so, they won't quite appear in the Catholic order, but they're all there to be studied, and with lots of notes about their composition, canonicity, etc.).

Former Mormon (resigned a little over a year ago) so I know a little of what you are going through. Not to despair, you have a big journey ahead of you and you have to find what works for you.

Of course you are used to the KJV English but I really liked modern English to understand what the heck I'm reading. I picked up an NIV when I found a new church but later moved on to the NRSV. Just remember that understanding the background/history of what you are reading can be more helpful than anything else. I found a good study Bible with great footnotes that give a lot of information that I wouldn't have known otherwise. I've also seen this study Bible recommended today and I'm sure I'll start reading that one as well.

I've also used this tool to compare translations to get other perspectives: http://www.biblestudytools.com/compare-translations/

PM me if you ever want to talk about your possible transition out of Mormonism.

Hmmm, there aren't many non devotional bible study books. I don't know if you know who Bart Ehrman is but he's one of the leading Biblical scholars so I'd check out some of his books. He also recommends reading the Gospels "horizantally" ie reading the same story in each gospel (the Crucifixion, the Nativity story) to compare the differences and similarities. I would also recommend getting a study Bible. I have the Harpercollins NRSV (http://www.amazon.com/HarperCollins-Study-Bible-Student-Edition/dp/0060786841/ref=pd_sim_b_1) which is about half biblical text and half notes (historical context, translation notes, etc). I love it.

Good luck and I hope you are able to find a good study plan.