# John Brown of Haddington's "Self-interpreting Bible"



## Pilgrim (Jul 12, 2013)

Any "fans" here of this work? Anyone use it regularly? 

I probably first became aware of it when I saw that the Westminster Reference Bible would incorporate cross references from this work. I have 1 1/2 copies of it i.e. 1 full set of the 4 vols. and another 2 vols. Unfortunately all of the last editions seem to have had a defect where the board on the spine eventually came off. You can see this in the eBay listings. Even if they are in better shape than mine, often you'll see the board starting to come loose on one or more of the volumes. (Perhaps it was simply not strong enough for a book of this size?) So until I get the set re-bound it's not really practical to use. And that's not a high priority right now. But it looks to be a unique and excellent resource. 

From what I can ascertain it was a shorter work initially. I haven't looked at it in about a year, but it looks like the original work by Brown had the cross references and chapter summaries and maybe some other notes of a more or less devotional nature. Then subsequent editors added a good deal of additional material over the years, historical, theological and linguistic, if memory serves. And of course there are the many photos in the 4 vol. edition. 

For those who are more familiar with this work: Is the theology of the later editors more or less compatible with Brown's or are there some issues to be aware of?


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Jul 12, 2013)

See discussion here:
http://www.puritanboard.com/f63/tri...ference-bible-200-000-cross-references-78425/


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## Pilgrim (Jul 12, 2013)

That's a good thread on the Westminster Reference Bible. However, I'm specifically looking for input from those familiar with Brown's work and the last edition of the Self-Interpreting Bible in particular. As one would imagine with 4 large volumes (the pages are perhaps twice as big as the WRB) there is a lot more to it than the cross references. I know there are a few old threads here but I don't recall any of them going into much detail. 

For those who have no familiarity with this work, eBay often has a number of them listed, with some typically having a good many pics self-interpreting bible | eBay It is also available online on a number of sites. But I think the only format I've seen is PDF, which isn't very user friendly for a work of this size.


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Jul 13, 2013)

This fellow seems to have a good knowledge of the topic:
http://www.puritanboard.com/f29/tho...-reference-bible-76393/index2.html#post973122

...wait a minute!


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## Misadventurer (Jul 13, 2013)

I have a copy which a friend found in a local antique mall. I immediately laid down the bucks for it, although it was not cheap. I did a little blogging on it, and intend to continue to do so. You may view those posts here. 

From a little I've gleaned around the internet, Brown's eschatology gives modern preterists a lot to appreciate. I haven't investigated that, but have seen some preterist sites praise him as if he were one of them. Other than that, I find it to be a very interesting and helpful work, although I don't "use" it in real study. Just thumb through it now and then.

I have an 1859 edition printed by Blackie and Son (Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London). It's title page shows that John Brown's material consists of "An Introduction; Marginal References and illustrations; A Summary of the Several Books; An Analysis of Each Chapter; A Paraphrase and Evangelical Reflections upon the most important passages; and Numerous Explanatory Notes; By the Rev. John Brown, Late Minister of the Gospel at Haddington. To which is prefixed, A Biographical Sketch of the Venerable Author. The Text is more fully elucidated by Upwards of Eight Thousand Explanatory and Critical Notes; and Introductory and Concluding Observations on each book; By the Rev. Henry Cooke, DD., LL.D., Minister of the Presbyterian Church, May-Street, Belfast."

So it appears that Brown's footnotes do not only consist of the "devotional" material, but much explanatory commentary as well, which has been added to by Cooke. All I know about Cooke is what I've read about him on Wikipedia. He apparently led a resistance to the intrusion of Arianism among the Irish Presbyterians which motivated them to secede from the Irish Pres Church. He also at one point unsuccessfully proposed in synod that they should subscribe to a condensed version of the WCF. I know nothing more of his theology. I haven't searched the footnotes of my edition thoroughly enough to know how his theology may have distorted Brown's.


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## JimmyH (Jul 15, 2013)

Misadventurer said:


> So it appears that Brown's footnotes do not only consist of the "devotional" material, *but much explanatory commentary as well, which has been added to by Cooke.* All I know about Cooke is what I've read about him on Wikipedia. He apparently led a resistance to the intrusion of Arianism among the Irish Presbyterians which motivated them to secede from the Irish Pres Church. He also at one point unsuccessfully proposed in synod that they should subscribe to a condensed version of the WCF. I know nothing more of his theology. I haven't searched the footnotes of my edition thoroughly enough to know how his theology may have distorted Brown's.


I'm interested in this. Here is an archived PB post with a link to a PDF of each of the 4 volumes. I wonder if the lion's share of the footnotes marked 'C' at the end are by Reverend Cooke ? 

http://www.puritanboard.com/f29/joh...rpreting-bible-pdf-download-68398/#post876951

Edit; Upon further examination of the footnotes it appears that those by John Brown are prefixed 'Reflections', while those by Rev. Cooke are suffixed "C". There are also some suffixed "P." in the footnotes that I have looked at so far.


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## Pilgrim (Jul 15, 2013)

"P" indicates that the note was contributed by Josiah Porter, who contributed to the last edition, which is the 4 vol. one. The notes with no initial are Brown's. There is a note apparently of his that sums up every chapter, if I recall correctly. There may be more notes by him but I can't recall. I know there is a lengthy introduction by him too. 

I'm not quite sure what the exact publication dates on the 4 vol. set were. On eBay right now there are some listed as having been published in 1896, so it goes back at least that far. I think I've seen as late as 1925, but I may have it confused with another publication. I know it was printed until at least 1916. I think one of my sets was published in 1916 and the other in 1905.

It is often said that the Scofield Reference Bible was the first Study Bible. Of course we know that isn't true. In a real sense, the Geneva Bible with the notes that it included was the first Study Bible. I've recently learned that the Bishops Bible had some notes here and there as well but not as many as the Geneva. Then of course was Brown's Self-Interpreting Bible, which apparently was originally one volume. Some editions of it were published in a single volume, at any rate.


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## JimmyH (Jul 26, 2013)

I picked up a pretty good condition set of the 4 volumes from an ebay seller. Came in the mail yesterday and I am pleased with the condition. It was listed at $81.00 and didn't sell. So I contacted the seller and made an offer. They relisted it for $55.00 + $11.00 shipping with a buy it now. I grabbed it and it is quite a set.

Googling the editors/contributors subsequent to John Brown yielded little more than links to this work as well as some others. I was happy to see that there are biographies of Josiah Porter and Henry Cooke in the first volume. Now I have to go through it and check out their theology and I hope to find it reformed. As the OP noted, John Brown's commentary is devotional but valuable nonetheless.


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## Tim (Jul 26, 2013)

As far as electronic versions of this work, has anyone come across a file that is _not_ a facsimile? I would think it would be an enormous amount of work to produce a clean and modern eBook version of this volume.


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## Pilgrim (Jul 26, 2013)

JimmyH said:


> I picked up a pretty good condition set of the 4 volumes from an ebay seller. Came in the mail yesterday and I am pleased with the condition. It was listed at $81.00 and didn't sell. So I contacted the seller and made an offer. They relisted it for $55.00 + $11.00 shipping with a buy it now. I grabbed it and it is quite a set.
> 
> Googling the editors/contributors subsequent to John Brown yielded little more than links to this work as well as some others. I was happy to see that there are biographies of Josiah Porter and Henry Cooke in the first volume. Now I have to go through it and check out their theology and I hope to find it reformed. As the OP noted, John Brown's commentary is devotional but valuable nonetheless.



If the boards are still attached to the spine (and especially if they are not starting to come off) and it doesn't stink, it's a good copy. 

I think Porter wrote the comments on creation that endorse something like the ruin reconstruction theory. That's reflective of the time he wrote it, when few evangelicals were 6 day creationists. (I don't know of many besides some SDA's who were.)


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## Pilgrim (Jul 26, 2013)

Tim said:


> As far as electronic versions of this work, has anyone come across a file that is _not_ a facsimile? I would think it would be an enormous amount of work to produce a clean and modern eBook version of this volume.



Indeed it would. If a PDF could be made with a workable Table of Contents (or a Google Books version with a linked ToC) it would be a big help.


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## JimmyH (Jul 26, 2013)

Pilgrim said:


> JimmyH said:
> 
> 
> > I picked up a pretty good condition set of the 4 volumes from an ebay seller. Came in the mail yesterday and I am pleased with the condition. It was listed at $81.00 and didn't sell. So I contacted the seller and made an offer. They relisted it for $55.00 + $11.00 shipping with a buy it now. I grabbed it and it is quite a set.
> ...



I asked the seller about any odor before I made the offer. It is free of any mildew or musty smell. The boards are attached and the bindings tight. The corners are worn and the spines worn out top and bottom. Other than that they are intact. No marking or underlining which is something I have a big problem with when it is present. All in all a pleasing acquisition. I hope to make good use of it.


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