becoming

What books should I read in order to better equip myself to understand the Old Testament / New Testament?

Denver seminary has complied very useful bibliographies for both. Take a look here:

• Richard S. Hess, Hélène Dallaire, & M. Daniel Carroll R.:
• Annotated Old Testament Bibliography
• Introductions
• Theology
• Histories of Israel
• Archaeology
• Atlases
• Translations of Collections of Ancient Near Eastern Texts
• Ancient Near Eastern Histories
• Hebrew Lexicons
• Biblical-Theological Dictionaries
• Concordances
• Hebrew Grammars
• Old Testament Canon/Textual Criticism
• Sociological and Anthropological Studies
• Feminist, Minority, and Third World Studies
• Literary Approaches
• Israelite Religion
• Commentaries by Bible book (following the order of the Protestant canon)

• Craig L. Blomberg & William W. Klein:
• New Testament Exegesis Bibliography
• Textual Criticism
• Grammar
• Introduction
• Historical Background
  A. Lexical Analysis
  B. History and Religion
  C. Primary Source Material
• Theology
• Dictionary / Encyclopedia
• Criticism
• Hermeneutics
• Jesus and the Gospels
• Paul
• Major Commentaries

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Updated Mar 24, 2007:

Andreas Köstenberger has compiled his list of favorite NT Commentaries, take a look here.

Updated Mar 29 2007:

Check out Andreas Köstenberger's new list on Helpful Reference Tools for Biblical Studies.