eBook downloads, eBook resources & eBook authors
In this panorama of world history from 4004 BC to AD 29, you will explore creation, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, and the rise of civilizations from Mesopotamia to Rome. You will see God's purposes worked out through His chosen people, Israel, culminating in the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
This full-colour volume offers an overview of the history and findings of biblical archaeology. Drawing together the archaeological research into the principal sites in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, Persia, Anatolia, Greece and Italy, Hoerth and McRay explore the histories, cultures and social forces of these early civilizations. Using full-colour maps, photographs and diagrams to walk you through the various archaeological digs. This volume enables the reader to place the biblical narratives firmly in their historical context and cultural setting. The authoritative but accessible text brings familiar Bible characters brilliantly to life.
In this new edition of a successful book (over 120,000 copies sold), now updated throughout, a leading expert on the social world of the Bible offers students a reliable guide to the manners and customs of the ancient world. From what people wore, ate, and built to how they exercised justice, mourned, and viewed family and legal customs, this illustrated introduction helps readers gain valuable cultural background on the biblical world. The attractive, full-color, user-friendly design will appeal to students, while numerous pedagogical features--including fifty photos, sidebars, callouts, maps, charts, a glossary of key terms, chapter outlines, and discussion questions--increase classroom utility. Previously published as Manners and Customs in the Bible.
As its title suggests, this volume is written for readers of the Bible. It is intended to provide historical backgrounds concerning the peoples and lands of the Bible and is meant to supplement a study of the biblical narrative itself. Thus it is not a traditional history of the ancient Near East, because it does not address all periods and all societies but has its focus on those that enlighten the biblical text. It is also written with those Bible readers in mind who travel or study in Bible lands, with emphasis on places and artifacts that visitors frequently see today.
In this groundbreaking work that sets apart fact and legend, authors Finkelstein and Silberman use significant archeological discoveries to provide historical information about biblical Israel and its neighbors. In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel and its neighbors. They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible—the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon’s vast empire—reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts. Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today.
Coins have not changed much throughout antiquity. Yes, they are made from different, more durable materials now, but they are still etched with depictions of their civilization, whether that means the profile of George Washington or the profile of Emperor Nero or the profile of a lion, the symbol of ancient Babylon. Following the course of time from Abraham to the Crusaders, Ancient Coins through the Bible chronicles the history of various locations mentioned throughout the Bible and presents photographs of ancient coins minted in these cities. Though we cannot see those ancient civilizations or the way they lived, these tangible bits of the past speak abundantly about them. As you view these fragments of history, imagine you are traveling with Abraham to Canaan and Paul to Spain. Experience the biblical stories visually through the coins depicted instead of simply reading them, and better understand the lessons taught by God's Word.
In Created Equal, Joshua Berman engages the text of the Hebrew Bible from a novel perspective, considering it as a document of social and political thought. He proposes that the Pentateuch can be read as the earliest prescription on record for the establishment of an egalitarian polity. What emerges is the blueprint for a society that would stand in stark contrast to the surrounding cultures of the ancient Near East -- Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, and the Hittite Empire - in which the hierarchical structure of the polity was centered on the figure of the king and his retinue. Berman shows that an egalitarian ideal is articulated in comprehensive fashion in the Pentateuch and is expressed in its theology, politics, economics, use of technologies of communication, and in its narrative literature. Throughout, he invokes parallels from the modern period as heuristic devices to illuminate ancient developments. Thus, for example, the constitutional principles in the Book of Deuteronomy are examined in the light of those espoused by Montesquieu, and the rise of the novel in 18th-century England serves to illuminate the advent of new modes of storytelling in biblical narrative.
Leading evangelical scholar John Walton surveys the cultural context of the ancient Near East, bringing insight to the interpretation of specific Old Testament passages. This new edition of a top-selling textbook has been thoroughly updated and revised throughout to reflect the refined thinking of a mature scholar. It includes over 30 illustrations. Students and pastors who want to deepen their understanding of the Old Testament will find this a helpful and instructive study.
The breakthrough of the alphabetic script early in the first millennium BCE coincides with the appearance of several new languages and civilizations in ancient Syria-Palestine. Together, they form the cultural setting in which ancient Israel, the Hebrew Bible, and, transformed by Hellenism, the New Testament took shape. This book contains concise yet thorough and lucid overviews of ancient Near Eastern languages united by alphabetic writing and illuminates their interaction during the first 1000 years of their attestation. All chapters are informed by the most recent scholarship, contain fresh insights, provide numerous examples from the most pertinent sources, and share a clear historical framework that makes it easier to trace processes of contact and convergence in this highly diversified speech area. They also address non-specialists. The following topics are discussed: Alphabetic writing (A. Millard), Ugaritic (A. Gianto), Phoenician and Hebrew (H. Gzella), Transjordanian languages (K. Beyer), Old and Imperial Aramaic (M. Folmer), Epigraphic South Arabian (R. Hasselbach), Old Persian (M. de Vaan/A. Lubotsky), Greek (A. Willi).
“Starting from the Old Testament these pages address the story of what is often not highlighted or, worse, deliberately forgotten or interpreted differently in order to conceal the potential disruptive effects.”—Mauro Biglino Did a distant race of ancient aliens once inhabit the lands of the Bible? Do the ancient writings of the Bible and other texts provide proof of their existence? Did the “prophets” have close encounters with ancient aliens? Were the “angels” physical beings sent to perform specific tasks by their alien masters? Ancient Aliens in the Bible answers these questions and more. Analyzing the historical and archaeological evidence, and using the work of former Vatican translator Mauro Biglino as his guide, Xaviant Haze provides ample proof that what our ancestors described in ancient biblical texts were real-life events and not visions. The UFO encounters in the Bible are described as concrete experiences by flesh-and-blood beings. The angels were assigned specific duties and struggled to carry them out; some even rebelled and took earthly wives, forbidden by their superiors. Ancient Aliens in the Bible reveals that: • Lamech’s wife gave birth to the son of an angel with glowing eyes. • Moses was led to the promised land by UFOs. • Noah’s great-grandfather, Enoch, got a heavenly tour of space. Your view of the Bible will never be the same.
