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Bible & Theology

A guide for students studying the Bible, theology, and biblical languages at Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas.

Top 2 Databases

Resources to Avoid in a Research Paper

The following was written by Dr. Terance Espinoza and is used with his permission. For more detailed explanations, check his website at www.bibtheo.com/unsuitable. 

Do not use the following resources in preparation for a technical research paper unless you have an unlimited amount of time to spend reading resources of various quality.

The resources on this list are widely available online for free because they are out of copyright so do not cost much to digitize... Though helpful in some ways such as their familiarity with classical Greek and Roman literature, they predate the current state of the knowledge and are therefore inadequate for nearly all technical research purposes. Other resources are included on the list because they never intended to provide the type of information that is required for technical research.

  1. Barnes, Albert, New Testament Notes, 1832.
  2. Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, 1831.
  3. Constable, Thomas. Constable's Notes on the Bible. Fort Worth: Tyndale Seminary Press, 2010-2022.
  4. Easton, Matthew George. Easton’s Bible Dictionary, 1897.
  5. Geneva Study Bible, 1560. 
  6. Gill, John. Exposition of the Bible, 1746-63.
  7. Guzick, David. Guzik's Bible Commentary. https://enduringword.com. (Also known as the Enduring Word Bible Commentary.)
  8. Halley, Henry Y. Halley's Bible Handbook. 1924. 
  9. Henry, Matthew, Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1706.
  10. Jamieson, Robert, A.R. Fausset, David Brown. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871.
  11. Johnson, Barton Warren. People’s New Testament, 1891.
  12. Lange, Johann Peter. Philip Schaff, transl. Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical, 1867-1900.
  13. McGee, J. Vernon. Genesis through Revelation. Through the Bible with J. Vernon McGee. nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998.
  14. Orr, James, ed. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia,1915. (The Geoffrey Bromiley ISBE is from 1995, so it would make a good resource for your research. Note which version of the ISBE you are using.)
  15. Smith, William. Smith’s Bible Dictionary, 1863.
  16. Spence, H.D.M. and Joseph S. Excell, the Pulpit Commentary, 1909-1919.
  17. Wiersbe, Warren. The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete New Testament in One Volume and The Complete Old Testament in One Volume. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2007; Wiersbe, Warren. the Bible Exposition Commentary. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2002. "Be" series, 1972-2004.
  18. Any Study Bible.

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