Customer Reviews

The New Christian Traveler's Guide to the Holy Land

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This guide is an excelent source for Christians that would like to read in the bible what took place in the Old and New Testiment in Israel and Jordan. It was exciting to recount stories in the bible and connect them to where I would be visiting. There is also a great 4 week bible study and daily prayer guide to prepare you for your journey. There are a few tips to prepare you for the culture and what to pack but I would suggest the lonley Planet guide for less spiritual and more cultural guide.

I was disappointed by this book. There is no detailed description of any particular sacred sites. For example, when discussing Jerusalem, there is no description for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and there is no discussion on the Basilica of Nativity in the section dedicated to Bethlehem. I think there is a huge remiss on the part of the authors. There are so many churches in the Holy Land, but the authors do not cover any of them. However, the references to relevant Scriptural passages related to a pilgrimage destination are quite useful.

Plenty of detail on all the historical sights. Contains four weeks of preparatory devotionals before you leave as well as concise advise on what to pack & how to prepare physically. Overall an excellent guide.

We ordered this book before a trip to Israel to enhance our experience. We were disappointed with the layout of the book and we did not find it to be very informative or user friendly.

Love this book. Our tour guide wanted to buy it from me thats how great of a book it was on our trip. It had all the scriptures and details to each of the holy sites.
Another great one is In the Footsteps of Jesus by Daniel Cohen.. I purchased the book in Israel because I couldnt find it at home.. Its a great book for reference to the holy sites with great colored pictures..

This book is great for preparing a trip to the Holy Land. The devotions and Bible references are very good to relate events with locations. Each city is described in terms of significance in the Bible. You will need another reference to prepare for other historical elements. Amazon delivered the book in excelent condition in good time with free shipping.

I am going to Israel in a couple of months. A friend loaned me her book and I had to buy my own. There are a couple of good Bible studies to prepare one for a trip to the Holy Land. Lots of other good information to help you prepare for your trip. I recommend it for anyone who is planning a trip to the Holy Land.

The book has good information, and a month long Bible Study for those preparing to travel to Israel. Not the same secular perspective as many travel guides.

This was one of several books I chose to take with me on a recent three-week tour of the Holy Land. I had to limit what I packed. It was a good choice for several reasons. It isn't heavy, it's easy to read, with brief, short descriptions of major and minor sites, and the places you are going are easy to reference quickly on the road.

The Introduction to the book has all sorts of practical information: travel safety, tips for travelers, packing list, information about weather, shopping, telephones, electric appliances, obtaining a passport, overcoming jet lag, helpful web sites, how we should conduct ourselves respectfully in areas of different religious beliefs, and two unique sections: a four-week schedule of Bible reading and prayer--to prepare for Israel, --to Prepare for Egypt and Jordan, --To Prepare for Greece and Turkey and the second section, A Four-Week Bible Series to Prepare a Group Spiritually for a Trip to Israel.

There's a section in the back for listing your photos and your tour notes, something I wish I had done. You have no idea how helpful that would be until you get back home and try to remember, did we go straight to Beersheva from Eliat, or was that the day we went to Petra? That section in this book is there for a purpose. Write it down. You'll be glad you did. I started out right at the beginning, but stopped making photo and journal entries on the 2nd day, mainly because of jet lag. I was also so interested in watching out the window every second so I wouldn't miss even one part of the trip, and then fell into bed exhausted after dinner, not wanting to bother with my journal entries then either, but I wish I had.

This book is an introduction or more of a reminder of why a certain site is important to you from what you've read in your Bible over the years, a quick reference, and my favorite feature, Bible scriptures to go along with each site description!

I would recommend using this book in conjunction with a more detailed source of information about the sites you are going to be visiting. Then make your own notes on the pages in this book. They've left room on most pages for notes.

Each site includes a short page of information and usually a picture or map. I did go through before the trip and added a few notes to some of the places of something I wanted to remember to see or do, but I just didn't do enough of that. It's really too late once your trip starts, because of time constraints, logistics, and jet lag. Do it as you are planning your trip.

This is the end of my 'short' review, but I'm going to continue with a few more details for anyone who is interested.

I should have taken a taxi back to spend time at the archeological dig at the City of David. That's a note I would have made in this book if I had been wise. At Masada, I wish I had looked down and over to the right a little and I would have had a better look at the place where the Romans built the assault ramp for their final attack, etc.

Here's another example. This book only briefly covers sites like the archeological excavations of the City of David outside the Old City of Jerusalem. It mentions that those places were at that location, but doesn't mention that they are currently under excavation. That may be because the book was written before some of these sites were found. I'm impressed though that it does point out where the City of David was and how it was expanded northward during the time of King Solomon. You have to see other sources to get all of the details of any of this, of course, and make notes about it so you can look for it when you get there.

I found that I often wanted to walk off on my own to explore a little, out of range of the tour guide. The guides' explanations usually, but not always, were helpful. There were a couple of places that I missed seeing what I would have dearly loved to have seen, just because I didn't remember or know it was there until I returned home and it wasn't brought to our attention by the guides while we were there. They couldn't possibly know what would be important to each and every one of us, and there wasn't enough time for them to alert us, especially since that was the time for us to experience, feel, see, and touch it, not hear a lecture about it. Add your own personal notes of things you are interested in seeing to the very concise pages of this book. You'll be glad you did. I did that, but just didn't do enough of it.

I can tell how much I used this book at the time, because I just got it out, realizing I hadn't reviewed it on here, and found all sorts of pamphlets and brochures from the different sites. That reminds me that of the several books I had with me, this was the one I was referencing when I visited those places.

There are detailed sections for sites in Part 2: The Land of Israel, which includes The Twelve Tribes of Israel, Map of the Twelve Tribes, The History of Israel, The Herods of the Bible, Outline of Bible History, and the sites: Arad, Ashkelon, Azekah, Beersheva, Beth Horon, Beth Shan/Scythopolis, Beth Shemesh, Bethany, on down to Tiberias, Timna, and Zin (Wilderness of). Part 3 is the Land of Egypt. Part 4 is The Land of Greece, which includes Let's Go Shopping with Paul, then on to Athens, Corinth, Crete, Patmos, and Philippi. Part 5 is The Land of Jordan, Part 6 is The Land of Turkey, with a brief guide to the History of Asia Minor, the Seven Churches of Revelation 2-3, Ephesus, Laodicea, Pergamum/Bergama, Philadelphia/Alasehir, Sardis/Sart, Smyrna/Izmir, Thyatira/Akhisar.

Using one of my favorites, Beersheba, for an example, there is a geographical description of it having been, practically speaking, the southernmost city of Israel in the Old Testament. When the writers of Scripture wanted to speak of all Israel, they would say, "from Dan to Beersheba". I had seen that in the Bible but never made the connection.

Then the section on Beersheba goes on to give scriptural references and a small, but important picture of the Well of Beersheba. The scriptural references are categorized by Patriarchal Period, Period of Conquest, Divided Kingdom, Single Kingdom, and Restoration (Nehemiah).

This was just enough information for me to review before reaching the site. Afterwards I always had more questions.

I remember being out on the road and passing signs that sounded familiar. I was able to grab this book and see if it was one of the sites described in the book. In some cases it was there and in other cases not, of course. It's also helpful when a tour guide tells you what they think you should hear rather than a fact, which happened to me a couple of times. I didn't make a fuss about it. "That isn't really 'the' site of... It's actually a contemporary person instead of the one in the Bible, so we aren't going there." The truth was, we weren't going there because it was in a place that sometimes has a few breakouts of violence, so getting there is a huge problem and takes hours.

I'm glad I opened this book today and found all those brochures and pamphlets from different sites. I had forgotten they were there. I had also forgotten how interesting this book is after the trip. It's going to the top of my "to read again" stack.

This is a really good book if you are going to travel to Israel.
I found so much to help me. I have now taken the trip and am going
over some of the things written. It was surprising because I was able to meet the author before the trip and he gave me many pointers. He is remarkable.