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Bible Research Guide

Finding a Bible in the Library

To locate a Bible in Falvey Memorial Library’s online catalog search for the version needed using keywords from the title headings given below. There are many different versions and/or translations of the Bible. The brief list with descriptions given here is intended as a help, designed to assist the Library user in locating the English translations of the Bible most commonly used by Villanova undergraduates.

  • The Douay-Rheims Bible, aka, The Douay-Challoner version of the Holy Bible
    Translated from the Latin Vulgate and compared with original language manuscripts (1582-1609) this English translation prepared by Catholic scholars was revised in accord with the Latin Vulgate by English Bishop Richard Challoner in the eighteenth-century.
    (Falvey call number:  REF BS 180 2000)
  • The King James Bible, aka, The Authorized Version of the Holy Bible
    Translated from the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Received Text into English, this version of the Bible was authorized by King James I of England (1611). The seventeenth-century scholars who made this English translation included Deutro-Canonical books for the first time as an additional supplement called “The Apocrypha.” Editions of the authorized King James Version are published both with and without these books included.
    (Falvey call number:  BS185 1997 .O94 1997)
  • The Revised Standard Version, aka, The RSV Catholic Edition of the Holy Bible
    Although many projects to revise and update the Elizabethan language and phrasing of the Authorized Version, which had become the standard text familiar to much of the English speaking world by the twentieth-century, had been undertaken before and have since, the widely heralded scholarly yet readable text published by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches in the U.S.A. (1946-1957) was reviewed and prepared as a Catholic Edition with the Apocrypha incorporated by the Catholic Biblical Association of Great Britain (1965-1966).
    (Falvey call number:  BS191 .A1 1966 S2 1994)
  • The New Revised Standard Version, aka, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV
    Scholars interested in a less literal and a more dynamically equivalent translation used the Revised Standard Version English translation as the basis for a project to further update the wording of the Bible to match norms of the late-twentieth century, including gender inclusive language. Completed in 1989, and following the success of earlier editions prepared by Oxford University Press that included the Apocryphal/Deutro-Canonical Books and notes from the committees of scholars who worked on producing the entire text, an annotated study edition was published.
    (Falvey call number:  BS191.5.A1 1989 N4 1994)
    The NRSV is the vernacular translation that Catholics (Latin Rite) in Canada use liturgically.
    The NRSV Catholic Edition was also produced.
    (Falvey call number:  BS 191.5.A1 1989 N4 1999)
  • The New American Bible, aka, The Confraternity Version of the Holy Bible
    In the mid-twentieth century the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in the United States began a process to greatly revise and update the Douay-Challoner text (1941-1969). Although the periodic revisions issued were combined with the older text in editions of the Bible (see The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 1941, The Holy Bible, Catholic Action Edition, 1953, and The Holy Bible, 1961), the allowance of the Holy See for scholars to create an English translation not bound to the Latin Vulgate produced a fresh English translation, based on all available manuscripts and the previously published CCD translations, called The New American Bible (1970). A revised NAB is the vernacular translation U.S. Catholics (Latin Rite) use liturgically.
    The NAB is available in various editions including The Catholic Study Bible.
    (Falvey call number:  BS192.3 .A1 2006 N4)

Finding Books About the Bible

To locate a commentary on, or a work about the Bible, or even part of it, means it is important to note that the Holy Bible is divided by a system intended to assist a reader to identify particular passages. Therefore the most common divisions of the Bible are book (name), chapter (number), and verse (number). Note that there are also many different designations given by scholars to identify groups of books clustered around a genre. It is worth while to discover if a biblical book is in different broader categories.

Common subdivisions include:

Old Testament
The Law = Pentateuch = Five Books of Moses = Torah
The Prophets, including the “Twelve”
The Writings

New Testament
The Gospels
Acts
Epistles of Paul
Catholic/General Epistles
Epistles of John
The Apocalypse

Other common sample groupings
Historical Books
Ezra-Nehemiah
Wisdom Literature
Greater/Major Prophets
Lesser/Minor Prophets
Synoptic Gospels
Luke-Acts
Johannine Literature
Pauline Literature
Apocalyptical Literature

Individual books of the Bible are listed below in canonical order with a common abbreviation in brackets, if there is one, followed by alternate titles. For the Latin names of Books in the Bible see the official Catholic Latin version, the Neo-Vulgate edition of the Holy Bible, i.e., Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum.
 (Falvey Call number:  REF BS 90 1986)

Key to parenthetical comments:
[DC] = Deutro-Canonical books sometimes separated into a group called the Apocrypha, that is "Apocryphal books (Old Testament)". Note there are several works not included in the Bible also called "Apocryphal books (New Testament)". The Old Testament Apocrypha is canonical for Catholics, but not for most non-Catholic Christians. Therefore some “Protestant” versions of the Bible leave these books out all together.
[HB] = Books in Hebrew Bible followed by name from the Tanakh unless it is the same.

Even though the keyword “Commentaries” and the phrase “Criticism, interpretation, etc.” are useful to remember, keep in mind that descriptors and subject heading formulation in general may vary. The most consistent way to locate a book about a particular book in the Bible via VUCat is to search the subject index using a search string that identifies the Christian Holy Bible, the major part of the Bible, and the book of the Bible about which the commentary or scholarly book is written. The form given in the quotation marks below is what should be searched as a subject in the Library’s online catalog.

Canon of Christian Sacred Scripture:
Old Testament

Canon of Christian Sacred Scripture:
New Testament

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Last Modified: Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

dpoley Darren Poley
Falvey Library, Villanova University
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Villanova , PA , 19085
Falvey Memorial Library
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Darren Poley is the subject librarian for Theology and is available for research consultations, instruction, curricular support & purchase requests.