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New Testament: Dictionaries

This guide is a child of the Biblical Studies research guide. It provides more specific items on New Testament studies alone. In this research guide, you will find titles that are useful specifically focused on the New Testament. It includes reference wor

NT Dictionaries

Like dictionaries for the whole Bible, New Testament dictionaries focus on providing (usually lengthy) descriptions of people, places, and things in the New Testament. Some focus on a specific portion of the New Testament, such as the letters of Paul. Others are concerned with the meaning and significance of some New Testament Greek words. These dictionaries can be very helpful for general understanding of a topic and/or for getting good bibliography. However, these dictionaries are not exhaustive. They do not cover every Greek word in the Greek New Testament or every possible subject.

New Testament Dictionaries

Background Works

The resources listed in this area are not on the New Testament specifically but provide information about the world of the New Testament, particularly the Classical period and the Greco-Roman world. These are most relevant for looking up people or subjects that mignt not be in a dictionary on the New Testament.

Theological Dictionaries

Unlike the dictionaries on the left, theological dictionaries are focused on specific Greek words rather than topics. Typically a theological dictionary will talk about the meaning of a word over time (diachronic analysis) and its use in the New Testament and other literature of the same time period (synchronic analysis). When you cite an article from a topic-related dictionary or a theological dictionary,  you need to cite both the author and the editor.