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BiblePlaces Newsletter

Vol 18, #1 - February 11, 2019

Of all of the books in the Bible, Acts may be the most geographically diverse. That’s not surprising, given Jesus’s mandate to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. From the origins of the church in Jerusalem in Acts 1-7, the believers then move out to Judea and Samaria in chapters 8 and 9, and ultimately Paul brings the good news to Rome in chapter 28.

For someone who wants to illustrate the Bible with photographs, Acts provides the ultimate challenge. Years of travel to remote sites, and returning back and again to key sites, is just the beginning. With the Greco-Roman world as its backdrop, Acts benefits from an extraordinary amount of illustrative material in museums around the world. Reliefs, inscriptions, and statues provide contemporary parallels and direct connections. The possibilities are really amazing.

The Photo Companion to Acts pulls all of this together in one place. Organized by chapter and verse, the collection is designed to be easily accessible and maximally useful—for pastors, teachers, and students. You can get a quick feel by downloading Acts 18.

Our team has poured a lot of effort over many years to create the Photo Companion to Acts. We think the results are exceedingly well worth it. I suspect that years from now, we’ll look back and consider Acts to be one of the most important photo collections we ever created.

Keep reading to view some of the photos. If you want to grab the collection at its introductory price, go here.

Todd Bolen
Photographer, BiblePlaces.com
Professor of Biblical Studies, The Master’s University

Of all of the books in the Bible, Acts may be the most geographically diverse. That’s not surprising, given Jesus’s mandate to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. From the origins of the church in Jerusalem in Acts 1-7, the believers then move out to Judea and Samaria in chapters 8 and 9, and ultimately Paul brings the good news to Rome in chapter 28.

For someone who wants to illustrate the Bible with photographs, Acts provides the ultimate challenge. Years of travel to remote sites, and returning back and again to key sites, is just the beginning. With the Greco-Roman world as its backdrop, Acts benefits from an extraordinary amount of illustrative material in museums around the world. Reliefs, inscriptions, and statues provide contemporary parallels and direct connections. The possibilities are really amazing.

The Photo Companion to Acts pulls all of this together in one place. Organized by chapter and verse, the collection is designed to be easily accessible and maximally useful—for pastors, teachers, and students. You can get a quick feel by downloading Acts 18.

Our team has poured a lot of effort over many years to create the Photo Companion to Acts. We think the results are exceedingly well worth it. I suspect that years from now, we’ll look back and consider Acts to be one of the most important photo collections we ever created.

Keep reading to view some of the photos. If you want to grab the collection at its introductory price, go here.

Todd Bolen
Photographer, BiblePlaces.com
Professor of Biblical Studies, The Master’s University

Acts Photo Companion

Acts: A Quick Summary

The Photo Companion to Acts includes more than 4,000 photos in PowerPoint format. To break that down in a few examples:

  • Acts 2 has 190 slides
  • Acts 6 has 60 slides
  • Acts 13 has 250 slides
  • Acts 20 has 180 slides

Every photograph is identified and explained:

  • A verse and verse reference are associated with each photo
  • A description line quickly tells you exactly what you are looking at
  • Explanatory notes provide background detail

We have photos of every named place that Paul and the apostles traveled, including:

  • Lydda, Joppa, Caesarea
  • Lystra, Derbe, Pisidian Antioch
  • Ephesus, Corinth, Cenchrea
  • Tyre, Sidon, Ptolemais
  • Malta, Puteoli, Syracuse, Three Taverns
  • Roman roads likely taken (Via Sebaste, Via Egnatia, Via Appia)

A variety of inscriptions are included, such as:

  • Gallio Inscription
  • Temple balustrade inscription
  • Politarchs inscriptions
  • Praetorian guard
  • Roman calendars
  • Godfearers inscriptions
  • Many aerial photographs

Numerous historic images

Photographs of coins, artifacts, models, scrolls

The author of a 4-volume commentary on Acts says this:

“I have been looking for this sort of extraordinary resource for years. I don’t know of any other photo resource for Acts currently on this level. This collection will transform the way I teach Acts in the classroom, and it’s useful for my own thinking as I work again through the text.”

—Craig S. Keener, F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary

Our introductory sale prices:

The Photo Companion to Acts includes more than 4,000 photos in PowerPoint format. To break that down in a few examples:

  • Acts 2 has 190 slides
  • Acts 6 has 60 slides
  • Acts 13 has 250 slides
  • Acts 20 has 180 slides

Every photograph is identified and explained:

  • A verse and verse reference are associated with each photo
  • A description line quickly tells you exactly what you are looking at
  • Explanatory notes provide background detail

We have photos of every named place that Paul and the apostles traveled, including:

  • Lydda, Joppa, Caesarea
  • Lystra, Derbe, Pisidian Antioch
  • Ephesus, Corinth, Cenchrea
  • Tyre, Sidon, Ptolemais
  • Malta, Puteoli, Syracuse, Three Taverns
  • Roman roads likely taken (Via Sebaste, Via Egnatia, Via Appia)

A variety of inscriptions are included, such as:

  • Gallio Inscription
  • Temple balustrade inscription
  • Politarchs inscriptions
  • Praetorian guard
  • Roman calendars
  • Godfearers inscriptions
  • Many aerial photographs

Numerous historic images

Photographs of coins, artifacts, models, scrolls

The author of a 4-volume commentary on Acts says this:

“I have been looking for this sort of extraordinary resource for years. I don’t know of any other photo resource for Acts currently on this level. This collection will transform the way I teach Acts in the classroom, and it’s useful for my own thinking as I work again through the text.”

—Craig S. Keener, F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary

Our introductory sale prices:

Acts detailed markings
Acts models and replicas
Acts museum artifacts

A Photo Every Day

February has 28 days and Acts has 28 chapters, so we’re taking a photo tour of the book this month. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for this fun series and for more every month. If you like them, please share or re-tweet them so others can enjoy them too.

Featured BiblePlaces Photos: Acts 18

Our featured photos this month come from Acts 18, where Paul continues his second missionary journey in Corinth and then heads back to Jerusalem and Antioch. This is a significant time in Paul’s ministry as he founds the Corinthian church, so famous to New Testament readers because of the important epistles he will later write to them. This chapter also covers a lot of ground geographically, as the apostle travels hundreds of miles by sea and hundreds more by land.

Enjoy the photos below and download the entire Acts 18 PowerPoint for free.

"He departed from Athens and came to Corinth"

Not long after delivering his speech on Mars Hill in Athens, Paul departed for Corinth, a city about 40 miles (64 km) to the west of Athens. In Paul’s day, Corinth was the third leading city of the Roman Empire, just after Rome and Alexandria. Here Paul was rejoined by Silas and Timothy, and he met his new friends, Aquila and Priscilla. This photo shows a portion of the commercial agora where Paul likely worked, shopped, and shared the gospel. The Acrocorinth looms in the background.

"He departed from Athens and came to Corinth"

Not long after delivering his speech on Mars Hill in Athens, Paul departed for Corinth, a city about 40 miles (64 km) to the west of Athens. In Paul’s day, Corinth was the third leading city of the Roman Empire, just after Rome and Alexandria. Here Paul was rejoined by Silas and Timothy, and he met his new friends, Aquila and Priscilla. This photo shows a portion of the commercial agora where Paul likely worked, shopped, and shared the gospel. The Acrocorinth looms in the background.

"But when Gallio was proconsul of Asia"

Not everyone in Corinth was pleased that Paul was there, and he was taken to court by Jews opposed to his teaching about Jesus. Luke provides here an extremely helpful detail for understanding the chronology of Paul’s ministry. The discovery of the Gallio Inscription, shown here in the Delphi Museum, indicates that Gallio became proconsul on July 1, AD 51, and that he probably left his post in mid-September of that same year. In the free Acts 18 PowerPoint, you can see where Gallio’s name is, a translation of the inscription, more details about the chronology, as well as an inscription at Corinth with the name of Gallio’s brother, Seneca.

"The Jews...brought him before the judgment seat"

The Roman tribunal where Paul was dragged before Gallio has been uncovered in the center of Corinth’s agora. It can be seen here as the raised platform projecting out into the agora. This was the bema, where Roman officials would appear before the public. Had Paul’s trial been more formal, it likely would have been held at the North Basilica instead of the bema. The free PowerPoint includes a label highlighting the extant remains of the bema.

"The Jews...brought him before the judgment seat"

The Roman tribunal where Paul was dragged before Gallio has been uncovered in the center of Corinth’s agora. It can be seen here as the raised platform projecting out into the agora. This was the bema, where Roman officials would appear before the public. Had Paul’s trial been more formal, it likely would have been held at the North Basilica instead of the bema. The free PowerPoint includes a label highlighting the extant remains of the bema.

"Paul...sailed from there...after shaving his head in Cenchreae"

The Lord Jesus was faithful to his promise to Paul, protecting him from harm throughout his year-and-a-half stay in Corinth. When it was time to return back to his home church in Antioch, he walked across the isthmus to reach the harbor of Cenchreae. Here Luke notes that Paul had a haircut because of a vow, and then he set sail across the Aegean Sea to Ephesus.

"When he had landed at Caesarea"

Paul chose to spend little time in Ephesus, declaring that he would return if it was the Lord’s will. Indeed, he would be back in Acts 19:1 to spend about three years ministering in Ephesus. But for now, he boarded a ship bound for Caesarea, the great port city constructed by Herod. Paul passed through Caesarea many times in his life, and he would later spend two years under guard in Herod’s palace (Acts 23:35; 24:27).

"When he had landed at Caesarea"

Paul chose to spend little time in Ephesus, declaring that he would return if it was the Lord’s will. Indeed, he would be back in Acts 19:1 to spend about three years ministering in Ephesus. But for now, he boarded a ship bound for Caesarea, the great port city constructed by Herod. Paul passed through Caesarea many times in his life, and he would later spend two years under guard in Herod’s palace (Acts 23:35; 24:27).

"He went up and greeted the church"

Luke’s report of Paul’s visit to Jerusalem is striking, for he doesn’t even mention the city by name. The simple notice that “he went up and greeted the church” is understood to signify Jerusalem. Our Acts collection includes photos of the route Paul likely took from Caesarea to Jerusalem, and I like this photo because it shows travelers on the main road into the city before all of the modern neighborhoods transformed the area.

The Photo Companion to Acts provides these photos and 4,200 more, all organized, identified, and explained. You can purchase a copy this week at the introductory sale price. If you know someone who loves the Book of Acts, this would be a unique and valuable gift as well.

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All contents © 2019 Todd Bolen. Text and photographs may be used for personal and educational use with attribution. Commercial use requires written permission.