Research guides: Bible: Multi-Volume Bible Encyclopedias

Multi-Volume Bible Encyclopedias

Each of these works includes articles about Biblical persons, places, events, concepts, and institutions. The articles are normally longer than those found in Bible dictionaries and usually include bibliographies.

Most multi-volume Bible encyclopedias are only available in print. Toronto School of Theology students can send an email request to their local college library, asking for an article on a particular topic to be scanned and sent to them.

The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible.
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Edited by David Noel Freedman.
Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2006-2009. 5 volumes.
For print version locations, see the UofT Library Catalogue.
One of the two standard scholarly English-language encyclopedias on Biblical topics. The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible is more recent and is directed towards ministers and theological students.
The online version is available on the Internet Archive, a trusted source, but one for which it is necessary to create a free account and login:
A - C, D - H, I - Ma, Mc - R, S - Z.
The Anchor Bible Dictionary.
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Edited by David Noel Freedman.
New York: Doubleday, 1992. 6 volumes.
For print version locations, see the UofT Library Catalogue.
One of the two standard scholarly English-language encyclopedias on Biblical topics. The Anchor Bible Dictionary is older but is more academic and includes more in-depth articles with significantly more bibliographical references.
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception.
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Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009 - present.
The print edition of this work already numbers over twenty volumes.
Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical and Post-Biblical Antiquity
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Edited by Edwin M. Yamauchi.
Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2014.
115 articles ranging from five to twenty pages in length which provide background cultural information on the biblical world. Topics include alcoholic beverages, divorce, police and prisons.
Bible Odyssey.
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A website with hundreds of short articles written by Biblical scholars.