Bible Is History [Hardcover]

Ian Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 1999

In the 1950s the light shed by archaeology on the veracity of the Bible was fascinating enough; but this volume seeks to take the story up to the century's end. Among the issues it explores are the possible evidence for a Great Flood found at Ur, the discovery of thousands of clay tablets in Syria purporting to relate to Abraham, Esau and Ishmail, the evidence for the Biblical plagues and for the destruction of Jericho, the whereabouts of the Ark, the provenance of the gospels, and the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is written neither for the religious fundamentalist nor the blinkered atheist, but for the thinking layman eager to know to what extent the events described in the Bible may have been historically true, and is illustrated with colour photographs, maps and reconstructions of Biblical cities and buildings.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Wilson (The Turin Shroud; The Columbus Myth) skillfully presents the popular reader with a coherent narrative of the broad sweep of biblical and Palestinian history from Genesis to Revelation in a relatively small, beautifully illustrated book. Therein lie both its strength and its weakness. As in all such books, there is a problem with oversimplification and a number of relatively minor errors. Although Wilson's introduction well emphasizes the controversial nature of much of the scholarship of biblical history and the tentative nature of the results, in the rest of the book he gives an impression of certainty that will be very misleading to the careless reader. His stated goal is to use thoughtful historical scholarship to produce a "carefully reasoned, middle of the road approach" by a liberal-minded Catholic who favors the general historical veracity of the Bible. However, his approach and conclusions do not support the unqualified claim of the title; he also finds mythology and much unhistorical material in the Bible. All in all, however, Wilson's investigation is quite valuable, and readers mindful of the caveats described above will find much here. Recommended for all public libraries.DEugene O. Bowser, Univ. of Northern Colorado, Greeley
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Ian Wilson was born in London in 1941 and educated at Emanuel School, Wandsworth, and Magdalene College, Oxford, where he graduated in History in 1963. His previous books include The Turin Shroud, which became a worldwide bestseller when published in 1978 and Jesus: The Evidence (1984), a companion to the major three-part TV series of the same name and another bestseller. The Blood and the Shroud was published in 1998. His biography of Shakespeare, Shakespeare: The Evidence was published in 1993 and The Bible is History in 1999. All of his books have attracted critical acclaim.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square; 1st ed edition (December 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297836048
• ISBN-13: 978-0297836049
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 7.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,321,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Journey Through Biblical History, March 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bible Is History (Hardcover)

This reader highly recommends Wilson's latest work. THE BIBLE IS HISTORY takes the reader on an archaeological journey through Biblical history from Noah's Deluge to the early Christian Church. Wilson informs the reader in the preface (p.9) that he wishes the book to be a replacement for Dr. Werner Keller's classic THE BIBLE AS HISTORY, and this work may very well acheive this stature with time. Keller's book has become somewhat of a historio-archaeological classic in itself, but, is now quite dated. The best part Wilson's new work is the presentation of the latest archaeological discoveries which, over recent years, have repeatedly confirmed the Bible as a genuine aperture for viewing ancient historical events. Some of these discoveries include: The finding of the Nile Delta Asiatic statue that may indeed depict the Biblical Joseph of the Old Testament (See also the book PHARAOHS AND KINGS by Egyptologist David M. Rohl who supports this interpretation); recent re-linking of the Theran/Santorini volcanic catastrophe with the Biblical Plagues in Egypt; the latest on ancient Jericho and the Conquest; the 1993 Tel Dan fragment discovery that confirms the historicity of King David (to the dismay of Mimimalists!); Leen Ritmeyer's research on the location of Solomon's Temple Most Holy upon the present es-Sakhra under the Dome of the Rock; The latest on the Dead Sea Scrolls; The Capernaum `House of Peter;` the 1986 discovery of the Galilee Boat; the 1990 discovery of the ossuary of Caiaphas, the High Priest who sentenced Christ; and of course, Wilson's long project, the Turin Shroud. The only weakness this reader found disturbing was that Wilson dismisses out of hand the revolutionary revison of ancient historical dating made by David Rohl (and others), claiming that the discovery of a scarab of Nefertiti in an ancient shipwreck of Turkey has disproven the re-dating of Rohl and others. To the contrary, scholars have already addressed this issue, and there are explanations for the Nefertiti discovery within the revisional framework. All and all, if you are a Biblical believer, or just fascinated by ancient Biblical history, this is a book you must have in you library!

41 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment, June 12, 2000

By 

Vince Page (Brookshire, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Bible Is History (Hardcover)

This book may be readable and full of color pictures, but it is a disappointment to those of us who expected a dispassionate review of the subject, containing not only existing information but the latest developments.

What the informed reader will find instead is an author who passes himself off as dispassionate but has culled the available archeological evidence to a group of facts which support Biblical detractors. Christians may actually be offended by the book. A few examples should illustrate the point.

The first sentence in Chapter 1 states "No archaeologist in his right mind would go searching for the Garden of Eden." Mr. Wilson must certainly be aware that the Smithsonian magazine used LANDSAT images to define the boundaries of the Garden and reported it in their May 1987 issue. After all, the names of the four rivers flowing through the Garden are listed in the Bible.

Further-on in Chapter 1 the author repeats perhaps the favorite story of detractors with regard to Noah's Ark -- the story of Ferdinand Navarra who in 1955 found a piece of wood on Ararat that he thought might be from the Ark. Subsequent carbon-14 dating showed it to be from the 7th or 8th century A.D., which is consistent with the construction of a monestary on Ararat by Byzantine monks. That's the sum total of evidence in support of the Ark. Omitted is the account of Berossus (as quoted by Polyhistor), records from Nicholas of Damascus (as cited by Josephus), all of the local knowledge, as was painstakingly recorded by Marco Polo while on his way to China, and so forth. Although there is disagreement among these sources regarding the exact location of the Ark, all of the historical records indicate that the Ark is located in the Ararat region, just as the Bible states. The author implies that the Biblical Ark account is a myth, but to successfully do so he ignores volumes of information.

In Chapter 2, the author forgets that he is writing a book on Biblical archaeology and gets lost on an extended tangent into pagan rituals, going so far as to describe genitalia in sufficient detail so as to be inappropriate for young children. Further-on in Chapter 2, Abraham is described as a "hillbilly," although he came from the great Sumerian city of Ur.

Enough said. The point is made.

Biblical detractors will enjoy this book, but it would not be advisable to rely on the scant information contained therein for any debate with an informed archaeologist, or an informed Christian for that matter.

I gave the book one star because I expect works on Biblical archaeology to be objective explanations of all the available information pertaining to the Bible. This book does not pass the test.

The reader would be well advised to stick to the classics if an understanding of all available information is desired. In the case of Biblical archaeology, these are "Archaeology and the Old Testament" by Alfred Hoerth, and "Archaeology and the New Testament" by John McRay. Both books have recently been updated to unclude the latest information and are full of pictures, although the pictures are black and white -- a small price to pay for accurate and complete information.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and informative - but use some perspective, May 2, 2001

By 

niall o'gaiblain (Derby United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bible Is History (Hardcover)

Whatever subject Ian Wilson deals with, he is thorough and well reasearched. He usually sides with one point of view or the other, not being merely a surveyor of previous arguments, but never forgets that there are other perspectives, possibly equally as persuasive as his own.

A balanced approach like this is always going to be difficult medicine for fundamentalists (both religious and scientific) but for the reader with a suitable interest in the given subject, it usually means time well spent.

His thesis in this book is that there may be rather more historical veracity in the bible (particularly the Old Testament) than has it has recently been fashionable to acknowledge.

The book is a mixture of various intriging possibilities and is generally an invitation to think, which can never be a bad attribute for a book.

This book will not change your life, or fundamentally alter your view towards the bible, but you will enjoy the writing, the illustrations and may be encouraged to read around the subject further.