Customer Reviews

Baker's Bible Atlas

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This atlas has features which will be appreciated by all students of Scripture.

This volume is an atlas in the true sense of the word. Its emphasis is on geography. In addition to the colored maps there are numerous black and white outline maps showing clearly the geographic features emphasized in the text. Photographs have been carefully chosen for the purpose of clarifying the text.

The atlas is organized to follow the Scriptura; narrative. This makes the atlas readily usable as a Bible study aid, and for textbook use.

The concluding chapter gives an enlightening resume of the Bible Lands Today [circa 1961], including a brief review of archaeological research to the present day.

An outstanding feature of this atlas is its Geographic Gazeteer. This gazetteer gives in concise form the location and other pertinent data on geographic names of significance in Scripture.

Features you will appreciate in Baker's Bible Atlas:

* 26 Colored Maps - covering every phase og Bible History
* Numerous Black and White Maps - geared to the contents of the Atlas
* 75 Photographs - to illustrate and illuminate the text
* Emphasis on Geography - making this an "atlas" in the true sense of the word
* Follows the Scriptural Narrative - making it eminently suited as a Bible study aid or as a college seminary textbook
* Enlightened Resume of Bible Lands - from the close of the New Testament to the present day
* Brief Review of Bible Archaeology - from its earliestcrude beginnings to it's very latest findings
* A Comprehensive Gazeteer - giving in concise form the location and other pertinent data on geographic names of significance in Scripture
* Highest Evangelical Authorship - eminently qualified by background studies, teaching and travel.
--- from book's dustjacket

We usually think of an atlas as simply a book of maps. However, Baker's Bible Atlas is much more. In my first year of college the original 1961 edition, which did have a section of full colored maps, served as the textbook for the course commonly called "Freshman Bible." The first semester was originally called "Old Testament History and Geography," and the second semester was "Luke-Acts." However, they were credited as social studies courses, "Judaeo-Christian History" and "The Beginnings of Christianity." I have continued to use the book as a resource for studying the history and geography of the Bible.
Imagine my surprise when, after we began homeschooling, I found that Rod and Staff uses the 2003 edition Baker's Bible Atlas, which has the full colored maps scattered throughout the book, as the textbook for "a social studies course for use in grades seven to ten" on "Bible Land History and Geography," publishing a student workbook, test booklet, outline map supplement, and teacher's answer key to go along with it. We used it with both boys for their seventh grade history and geography. I personally think that the tests from Rod and Staff get extremely detailed and even a little too picky, so I ended up making my own tests, but I especially liked the accompanying map work. I also used some of the material for a homeschool co-op class that I called "Ancient Middle and Near Eastern Civilizations."
Baker's Bible Atlas basically follows the Biblical narrative beginning with the world of the Old Testament through the Roman Empire, then picks up with New Testament Palestine through the geography of Revelation, and concludes with chapters on the centuries between, Bible lands today, and Biblical archaeology in the twentieth century. A Gazetteer and three indices help to make finding specific information in the book easy. There might be a few statements or observations of an interpretative nature with which some would disagree, but the book takes a primarily conservative and authoritative approach to the scriptures, and besides it deals primarily in factual information not theology. Since the original author Charles F. Pfeiffer, who was Professor of Ancient Literatures at Central Michigan University, is now dead, the updating of the Revised Edition was probably done by the consulting editors, E. Leslie Carlson on the Old Testament, and Martin H. Scharlemann on the New.

The book was as good or better than stated. Book arrived quickly. Wouldn't hesitate to buy from this vendor again.

This book gives a good geographical understanding to the scriptures. It helps bring better understanding.