Customer Reviews

In the Steps of Jesus: An Illustrated Guide to the Places of the Holy Land

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Peter Walker takes the reader on both a historical and modern day tour of the Holy Land. This work is full of helpful maps and pictures of the land in which Jesus traveled, beginning in Bethlehem with the birth of Jesus and from there to Nazareth. There is a key days chart for each location discussed and the important all of the important events that have happened there throughout history. The focus is obviously on the time of Jesus, but each section has a section about today (e.g. Bethlehem Today). The author also give instructions and tips to anyone who is going to be taking a trip to Israel. Other locations that are included at the Jordan River, The Judean Desert, Galilee and its villages, Samaria, Caesarea Philippi, Jericho, Bethany, the Mount of Olives, the Temple, Jerusalem, Golgotha, and Emmaus. If you have read N. T. Wright's book "The Way of the Lord" and enjoyed it, then you will like this book as well. Walker seems to have been inspired, at least somewhat by Wright's work.

If you read one other Christian Book outside of the bible it needs to be this book. This book is excellent!!!!!It is a mix of standard bible commentary, some bible archeology, and a travel book all mixed up in one. The author also uses some references about the bible stories from ancient texts like Josephus and others. The book has a liberal amount of photo graphs of the bible sites as they are today. Reading this book will give you a feeling of actually visiting the Holy Land. (Actually visiting the site is also a must do thing for anyone) Looking at the faith stories from a modern perspective with a little commentary and history mixed gives you a new look. The truth of the gospel will stand out from reading this book like a sore thumb after you hit it with a hammer. Actually looking at the site as it is today makes you see the event as a real thing and not just literature. This book won't convert anyone but if you are a believer you will love the book.

This resource is outstanding because it brings together information from various areas to make the Holy Land understandable, across a range of information, both current and historical. You always have the feeling that you are there! If you study a region, or even a city, there are the important historical dates before, during and after Jesus life time. If you view a region, it is through the integrated perspective of historical and modern maps, current photos and art, and significant biblical quotations and stories to go with the event under consideration. What makes the book so terrific is that while refecting many academic disciplines in the presentation, the text is very readable and understandable. This is one of those books that you think of as a classic. I wish I had access to this resource prior to my first trip to the Holy Land many years ago, however, I think it will be relevant any time to prepare for a trip, or to renew old memories.

This book wants to be a guide for Christian pilgrims. Since I visited
the places which are depicted in the book, I come to the judgment that
the author did this very well, spirited and originally. Besides Peter
Walker surprises with extraordinairy interpretations of the scriptural
testimonies of the New Testament which cannot be found in usual guide
books. His style of writing conveys pleasant containment. Here the
author not just reported about historic events and local specialities,
rather he reasoned beyond the conventionel and traditional. This makes
the book to a lucky pull for every Irsael traveller, who knew Israel
only from the Bible. The pictorial material completes this felicitous
work properly. Travelling widens the horizon. This book does it also!
Highly recommended!
picted in the book, I come to the judgment that
the author did this very well, spirited and originally. Besides Peter
Walker surprises with extraordinairy interpretations of the scriptural
testimonies of the New Testament which cannot be found in usual guide
books. His style of writing conveys pleasant containment. Here the
author not just reported about historic events and local specialities,
rather he reasoned beyond the conventionel and traditional. This makes
the book to a lucky pull for every Irsael traveller, who knew Israel
only from the Bible. The pictorial material completes this felicitous
work properly. Travelling widens the horizon. This book does it also!
Highly recommended!

Having been to Israel twice and going back in a few months, I would recommend this book. It provides good background to the events that took place in the Bible as well as what a traveler could expect today. The pictures alone, including the aerial views, are incredible. If you are a believer and you've never been to the Holy Land, this book is the next best thing. But I am betting someone who has never been and is reading this book will begin to look for ways to go. The best part for me is the sections in each chapter called "(Name of chapter) today," for here the author gives practical advice about seeing the most important places. There are also several places where he gives advice on seeing the most you can in that arena with limited time (i.e. a weekend). I certainly wouldn't follow his advice place by place, but he certainly gives some good ideas. This is definitely a book you will want along with some of the guidebooks if you plan to go to Israel; it is vital to learn as much as you can before you go.

I read this book prior to a trip to Israel in Feb/March of 2010. It had good detail on many of the major sites I visited. The book is comprehensive enough and the pictures were good to help preview the area we would visit. I had other fellow travelers looking at this book and wishing they had it for that trip.

Remembering the sites visited during a trip to the Holy Land were made easy for my friend with this book. My friend shared many experiences from the trip during the Christmas season.

On a recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land, my friend passed this book to me, as she didn't want the weight on her checked bag. I can see why she made the choice.
The book is very beautiful, and it does have lots to offer with regard to the geography of the area, etc. However, there are much better books already out there than this one.

Zondervan is a Protestant publishing house, and it definitely has a skew in that direction. I found the gratuitous use of the qualifier "so-called" very distracting. Also, the author takes off his negative hermeneutic lenses to put on rose colored ones when describing the Garden Tomb; which is the Protestant alternative to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

I'll be dropping this book of at donations bin at the Salvation Army. Not a keeper.