Skip to main content
Hope Library Guides

REL 261 Carpenter- Biblical Commentaries: Biblical Commentaries

Searching for Biblical Commentaries in the Catalog

There are many ways and strategies to search for biblical commentaries using the Hope PRIMO.  Some biblical commentaries focus on a specific book of the bible (Corinthians), some focus on a particular critical lens (feminist biblical commentaries), some focus on a section or group (apocrypha or New Testament biblical commentaries), and some are made up of sets that cover the entire work.

Here are some examples of research/search strategies for discovering biblical commentaries using Hope PRIMO:


1 (recommended option) 

Another option is to search the name of a Bible book(s) or section (ex. bible john or bible new testament or bible Corinthians), and then use the Genre option to limit your search results to only "Commentaries"

* you may want to do this as a Books and Media search


2. Do a Subject Search using the term Bible and then whatever book you are researching:


Here you can see the Subject Heading within the record of the book, you can then use these to search for resources that also have that same Subject Heading



3. Another option is to simply browse the areas/shelves of the library where biblical commentaries and biblical studies materials are held. You can do this by looking at the call numbers, as seen below.  The BS sections are the areas where lots of biblical related materials are held.


Multivolume and Single Volume commentaries

Some commentaries will be single volume works, so essentially one individual book that has sections that cover the entire Bible.  Others will be multi-volume sets.  For example, the New Interpreter's is made up on multiple volumes that make up one set.  The different volumes will focus on specific books in the Bible.


Abbreviations are often used in relation to biblical commentaries. Click here for a useful guide to help understand some of them.

Just one of many online Biblical Commentaries

Humanities Librarian