One of my favorite books on my favorite subject is The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World. I’ve hoped to do a short review of it here, but I haven’t had the necessary time yet. I used the book last semester as a required text for a course I taught, but the problem with it is the cost. $100 may be standard for a chemistry textbook, but it’s hard on Christian college students who are used to paying much less. Thus the announcement of a shorter and cheaper version is welcome:

Carta’s New Century Handbook and Atlas of the Bible: Abridgement of The Sacred Bridge
by Anson F. Rainey and R. Steven Notley

Carta, Jerusalem, Forthcoming, November 2007

280 pages + full color illustrations and maps, English

Cloth, 9 x 12 inches

Your Price: $50.00

In some cases, shorter is better and I think this will be one. For most students, The Sacred Bridge is really over their heads. It’s sometimes over my head, and rarely is too basic for me. Thus I am guessing that most students will find the abridged version sufficient for their needs.

Just to be clear, there are many things in this book that I disagree with. If you’re looking for something more conservative, try the NIV Atlas of the Bible, by Carl Rasmussen or the Moody Atlas of Bible Lands, by Barry Beitzel. But the advanced version is The Sacred Bridge or its abridgement.

UPDATE (8/8): Not everyone reads the comments, so I’ll just note that the chairman of Carta has commented below that they are nearing publication of a new atlas by Paul H. Wright, In His Image: Carta’s Atlas of Biblical Geography. Wright is the director of the Jerusalem University College.

I like a good calendar, especially one with photos of Israel.  But while the title of this one is intriguing, the cover shot just does not inspire me.  Maybe the rest of the shots that you can’t see are better!  At $18, I’m not risking it.  But you can see the “Jerusalem in the Fog” calendar and decide for yourself.

Note the Author: Melekh Ben Ya’aqov (King, son of Jacob)

The Biblical Archaeology Society is having a summer sale on DVDs that looks pretty good.  For instance, the BAS Lecture Series Deluxe Set I is $80 and includes 9 DVDs with 15 lectures.  Some of the lecturers are leaders in the field, including William G. Dever, Michael D. Coogan, Bart Ehrman, James Tabor, Aren Maier, and Shelley Wachsman.  A bonus lecture by Dever includes his personal memories of famous archaeologists.  I haven’t seen these, but good lecture series usually require a plane ticket and an entrance fee of $25 and up.  There’s a second series for $62 which includes 12 lectures.  Some of the topics seem a bit esoteric, and some of the lectures I don’t think you’d want to show to a church group, but for many who can’t go to grad school, this is one option.

Bible Software Review has recently posted a helpful review of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands. 

Rubén Gómez lives in the Mediterranean basin, but has not traveled to the biblical lands.

The saying goes that an image is worth a thousand words, and this is truer than ever in the case of The Pictorial Library of Bible Lands (PLBL). No review can make justice to the fine pictures and excellent presentation of this product. It is the next best thing to actually being there! I love it!

He put the Pictorial Library to the test in preparing a sermon.

Since the proof of the cake is in the eating, I used the slides on Capernaum (Figure 2), among others, to prepare a series of sermons on John 6. I can assure you that watching the shots from the Sea of Galilee and spending some time looking at the remains of the synagogue in Capernaum, built on the earlier basalt level where the original edifice once stood — and where Jesus most likely delivered his bread of life discourse –, brought everything to life and certainly helped a lot in seeing the whole picture of the episodes found in that chapter. It certainly enriched me in no small degree.

The review includes several helpful screenshots that illustrate several of the methods to access the photographs and notes.  Ruben’s kind words are greatly appreciated, as is his faithful work in reviewing various Bible software products.  His site is a beneficial resource to all!

A representative of Logos Research Systems has contacted me with a note about their Pre-Publication offer for the Near East Archaeology Collection (3 volumes).  The retail price for the set is $430, but they are offering it now for $100.  The three volumes are:


Studies in the Archaeology of the Iron Age in Israel and Jordan, edited by Amihai Mazar (2001).


Urbanism in the Aegean Bronze Age, by Keith Branigan (2002).


Excavations by Kathleen M. Kenyon in Jerusalem 1961-1967, Volume III: 
The Settlement in the Bronze and Iron Ages, by Margreet Steiner (2001).

I was initially reluctant to mention it here because I feel that these are not foundational archaeological works, which most of this blog’s readers probably would be better suited for.  In fact, these books are all quite advanced and I would only recommend them for the scholar, graduate student, or a real nerdy armchair archaeologist.  For me personally, the first volume is the most valuable.  This alone is $150 new at Amazon.  Logos software, of course, offers significant advantages for an electronic edition.

As a Pre-Pub offer, customers get the lowest possible price, as the price goes up once enough orders are received.  If enough orders aren’t placed, the books are never produced.

I’d love to see Logos offer in the future some more foundational archaeological works, such as:

Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible

Stern, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, vol 2

Ben-Tor, ed., Archaeology of Ancient Israel

Hoerth, Archaeology and the OT

McRay, Archaeology and the NT

And I would get real excited if they could get the archaeological encyclopedia sets:

The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, 4 volumes

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, 5 volumes

I fear that most/all of these will never happen because publishers tend to be difficult to work with.  It
seems to me that publishing an electronic edition several years after the initial publication is a win-
win situation.