Drobner, Hubertus R. Lehrbuch der Patrologie. 2nd revised and expaned ed. Frankfurt am Main; New York: P. Lang, 2004. 532 pp.

Drobner, Hubertus R. The Fathers of the Church: A Comprehensive Introduction: With Bibliographies Updated and Expanded for the English Edition by William Harmless, and Hubertus R. Drobner. Translated by Siegfried S. Schatzmann. English ed. ed. Originally published as Lehrbuch der Patrologie. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1994. Repr. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007. lvi + 632 pp.

Drobner’s textbook is not a comprehensive dictionary, perhaps not even a comprensive introduction. It is a textbook as the German title indicates. Drobner provides very helpful introductions to the first eight centuries and to the most important Church fathers. A number of those who have written on Revelation are not included, however, e.g., Victorinus of Petovio and Caesarius of Arles.

The English edition is more than a translation, as the subtitle states. A helpful review by Vilhelm Pratscher (pdf) is published by Review of Biblical Literature. The Table of Contents of the English edition is provided by the Library of Congress.

In his amazon.com review, Dr. William Varner, the author of The Way of the Didache: The First Christian Handbook, questions whether it is really “a comprehensive introduction,” as most entries on the church fathers are covered in only one or two pages.

Nevertheless, Varner concludes:

This volume will become THE source to be consulted for “further reading” about the Fathers. But if the reader is looking for an introduction to the thought of the fathers, he can be better served by the old classic, Patrology by Johannes Quasten, or even better by the recent two volume work by Moreschini and Norelli, Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature.

McKim, Donald K. Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2007. xxviii + 1106 pp.

DMBI is a revised edition of Historical handbook of major biblical interpreters (1998), already an established reference. This revised and expanded volume is a welcome resource for any Biblical scholar and student. Hopefully, an electronic edition will be published soon.

“With over two hundred in-depth articles, the Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters introduces readers to the principal players in that history: their historical and intellectual contexts, their primary works, their interpretive principles and their broader historical significance. In addition, six major essays offer an overview of the history of biblical interpretation from the second century to the present.” (From the publisher’s site)

Table of Contents (For sample pdf-files, see the linked entries below)
Table of Contents
Preface to First Edition
Preface to Second Edition
How to Use this Dictionary
Abbreviations
Contributors

Part 1: Biblical Interpretation through the Centuries
Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church
Biblical Interpretation in the Middle Ages
Biblical Interpretation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
Biblical Interpretation in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Biblical Interpretation in Europe in the Twentieth Century
Biblical Interpretation in North America in the Twentieth Century

Part 2: Major Biblical Interpreters (sample entry: Luther)
Dictionary Articles
Index of Persons
Index of Subjects
Index of Articles

Hat tip: deinde.org