BiblePlaces now speaks French. It’s taken about a year and the heroic efforts of Mr. Philippe Viguier, but BibléLieux is now ready to share the best photos and descriptions of biblical sites to readers in France, Algérie, Bénin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroun, Cap vert, Centrafrique, Comores, Congo Brazzaville, Côte d’ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinée, Guinée-Bissau, Guinée-Equatoriale, Haiti, La Réunion, Les Seychelles, Madagascar, Maurice, Mali, Maroc, Mauritanie, Monaco, Niger, République démocratique du Congo, Rwanda, Sénégal, Suisse, Tchad, Togo, Tunisie and Québec.

If you’re a French speaker, hop on over and explore the biblical world.

If you’re an English speaker, you can do one of the following:

1. Practice your French and see beautiful pictures at the same time.
2. Tell all of your Canadian, African and French friends about it.
3. Take a few minutes to learn something (in English) about a biblical site that you don’t know much about, such as Aphek, Edom, Laodicea, or the Nahal Besor.

Biblical Archaeology Society has just announced the release of New Testament Archaeology in Pictures. This CD includes 285 digital images (1024×768 resolution) for $70. We weren’t impressed with the previous The Biblical World in Pictures CD (nor was The Journal of Biblical Studies), but we haven’t seen this one. If anyone has it, feel free to add a comment here. We’re always looking for good teaching resources.

Mars Hill in Athens. I took this picture yesterday.

As a grad student in biblical history, I recognized the reference value of Biblical Archaeology Review and began a subscription and collecting back issues. It took me about a decade to get them all (the 70s are rare), but I finally succeeded. I had them all bound (not cheap), and then they came out with all the issues on CD. The advantages of having the articles on computer are obvious, but the printed editions with their large, beautiful pictures still are useful. Now I see a nearly complete set of the first 20 years for sale. The listing, as received from my ABEBooks want list is:

Biblical Archaeology Review (ISSN 0098-9444), Shanks, Hershel (Editor) Biblical Archaeological Society, Hard Cover & Paperback, A set of 17 bound volumes and 14 loose-leaf bi-monthly issues from 1975 to 1995 (vv1-17,20 are bound). Issues 18:1, 4 issues are missing.
Bookseller: International ALERT Academy, Big Sandy, TX
Price: US$ 266.00

View or Order this Book:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/ListingDetails?bi=662079020&cm_la=want

I paid much more than that just to have my issues bound. Some issues cost me $10 each. Of course if you’re going to be moving back and forth across the ocean, the CD is preferable!

I’ve heard that the text is close to going to the printer for the revised edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica. The original edition, published in 1972, has been an essential reference work on all subjects related to Jewish life and Israel. The new edition probably won’t be for sale for a year, I’d guess. The 16 volume set will cost $1900!

Somehow I’ve managed to avoid buying BibleWorks for all these years (using Logos instead), but now I see a new version has been announced. There are a lot of new features apparently, but the one of interest here are the satellite maps. In their words:

BibleWorks comes with a set of beautiful satellite maps that you have to see to believe! The collection includes a full set of editable site and terrain overlays for major locations in Israel and Egypt, along with detailed overhead and elevation data and a comprehensive list of archaeological sites. You can even create your own map views, select sites to display, annotate key locations and trace journeys or battle lines.

If you haven’t seen it already, take a look at my review of Electronic Maps for Bible Teaching. (And no, I still haven’t made it to doing Part 2.)

Update: The program is for sale from Rejoice Christian Software for $349 with free shipping. In my experience, they usually offer the lowest prices.