Explore our Holy Week and Easter resources
Back to Bible Library
OTHER

The IVP Bible Background Commentary

InterVarsity Press

First published 1993

PublisherInterVarsity Press
First Published1993
Canon Proximity9.0 / 10 — Very High
OTHER

The IVP Bible Background Commentary

Craig Keener's groundbreaking commentary providing verse-by-verse cultural and historical background for every passage in the New Testament, illuminating the ancient world of the biblical writers.

History & Background

Craig S. Keener published this IVP commentary in 1993 as a layperson-accessible distillation of his extensive scholarship on the Greco-Roman and Jewish backgrounds of the New Testament. It became one of the most useful single-volume Bible background resources available.

Canon Proximity Rating

Canon Proximity9.0 / 10 — Very High

Commentary work on the standard Protestant canon. Not a translation.

Rating Scale

9–10: Formally equivalent, 66 books
7–8: Dynamic equiv., 66 books
5–6: Includes Apocrypha
1–4: Major departures / additions