Books in Brief
012
Eerdmans’ Family Encyclopedia of the Bible
Edited by Pat Alexander, with John W. Drane, David Field and Alan Millard
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1978) 378 pp., $18.95
Eerdmans’ Atlas of the Bible with A–Z Guide to Places
Edited by Pat Alexander, with John W. Drane, David Field and Alan Millard
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1983) 68 pp. $7.95
For the Bible reader who has questions about such matters as the meaning in Biblical texts of wrapping a baby in swaddling clothes, girding one’s loins, harvesting olives or throwing pottery, Eerdmans’ Family Encyclopedia of the Bible may be a helpful acquisition at a reasonable price.
This encyclopedia contains, in a single, amply illustrated volume, a wealth of information about the world and the contents of the Bible. As the title suggests, and the dust jacket and preface clarify, the encyclopedia is meant to appeal “to the entire family,” and so “difficult academic or technical language is avoided.” Over 500 photographs and drawings, most of them in full color, help make this a very attractive book. Although some of the photographs are poorly reproduced (for instance, the photograph of a portion of Merneptah’s “Israel Stele” on p. 50), many illustrations are too small, and a few drawings are silly and cartoon-like, most of the illustrative material is satisfactory, and some of the photographs are positively stunning.
The encyclopedia is divided into ten specific parts to aid readers using the book. In part one, “The Environment of the Bible,” the contributors survey the geography of Israel and describe the surrounding nations. Incorporated into the discussion are several colorful sections on plants, trees, shrubs, animals and birds mentioned in the Bible. Part two focuses on “Archaeology and the Bible” and describes the history and methods of archaeological investigation and archaeology’s impact on Biblical studies. Part three, entitled “The Story of the Bible,” describes the processes of canonization and translation of Biblical documents and summarizes the general character of each of the books of the Bible. In several other parts of the encyclopedia, the contributors portray and describe religion and worship, home and family life, and work and society in the Bible. These descriptions are, for the most part, accurate and fair, although the descriptions of Canaanite, Egyptian and Greco-Roman religion sometimes caricature those rich religious traditions and accentuate the uniqueness of Judaism and Christianity in contrast to what is called, at one point later in the volume, “superstition” and “degenerate religion” (p. 314, on Greco-Roman faith).
Three remaining portions of the encyclopedia provide alphabetical listings of words and events, significant people, and notable places mentioned in the Bible. These alphabetical entries include appropriate scriptural references. The list of place names is cross-referenced with the “Atlas of the Bible,” which constitutes the tenth and concluding part of the book. A short index to the non-alphabetical sections of the encyclopedia is appended to the book but is too concise to be of much use. The editors of the encyclopedia would have done well to provide detailed indices, especially an index to the numerous scriptural references in the volume.
The editors are to be commended for their even-handed attitude toward many matters of Biblical interpretation. While they maintain a tone that is devotional, conservative—and sometimes naive in the description of the teachings of the Bible—they also emphasize the need for careful study (compare pp. 78–80) and remain open to (if not always enthusiastic about) well-accepted conclusions of current scholarship, such as the existence of a Second (and Third?) Isaiah (p. 86), the composition of the book of Daniel during the Maccabean period (p. 87), and the deutero-Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Letters (p. 94)
However, too often the contributors say hardly anything about issues that are of great concern to critical students of the Bible, and this silence does the readers of the volume a real disservice. I looked in vain for a discussion of, or reference to, the documentary 014hypothesis, which divides the Biblical text into different textual strands, or for an approach to the New Testament Gospels that shows more sophistication than the uncritical, harmonizing approach commonly employed in earlier times. One example: the so-called Messianic Secret—in which Jesus concealed his true nature—is a theme of enormous significance in the study of the Gospel of Mark; it is dismissed here with a quick reference to Jesus’ avoiding the open use of the title Messiah “because the people understood it in political terms. … Jesus wanted genuine disciples; he was ‘no rabble-rouser,’ out to make a name for himself” (p. 117, compare also p. 316). Such silence or near silence on key issues of Biblical interpretation might be forgiven editors and contributors seeking to publish a brief encyclopedia like this for a general audience if they provided an adequate bibliography for further reading and study. Alas, no bibliographical suggestions whatsoever are provided (the acknowledgments on p. 328 do not help at all), and so readers who truly care about the careful exegesis of the Bible are given no assistance in locating more complete and suggestive discussions elsewhere. Serious students of the Bible and its interpretation, I am sorry to say, will thus find much that is unsatisfactory about this encyclopedia.
Furthermore, BAR readers will also be disappointed, I dare say, by the very brief section on archaeology and the Bible (pp. 33–64). The overview of the literary and archaeological evidence concerning the conquest of Canaan (pp. 48–50) is too abbreviated to be of much value, and the subsequent references to the conquest of Jericho and Ai play up a paraphrase of the Biblical account and play down the challenge of the archaeological evidence. The mere mention of Ugarit (p. 38) and the complete omission of Nag Hammadi (not even in a section on Gnosticism [p. 160] are the Nag Hammadi codices mentioned) are unfortunate lacunae in this encyclopedia. Certainly, Ugarit and Nag Hammadi are among the more important locations of manuscript discoveries significant for the study of the Bible. Ebla receives more attention (pp. 38–9, 47), but the discussion may mislead the readers of the encyclopedia by repeating the sensationalizing suggestions typical of some early reports on Ebla and the Bible. Here again, with no bibliographical references to the literature reflecting the continuing debate over Ebla, the encyclopedia leaves its readers only with the tablets from Ebla and the report that they contain a reference to the five cities of the plain in Genesis 14:2.
The “Atlas of the Bible” that concludes the encyclopedia is also published separately, together with the alphabetical list of place names, as Eerdmans’ Atlas of the Bible with A–Z Guide to Places.
The New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology
Edited by E. M. Blaiklock and R. K. Harrison
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1983) 485 pp. plus maps, $24.95
The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church
Edited by J. D. Douglas, revised edition
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981) 1,074 pp., $29.95
The revised edition of the Dictionary of the Christian Church is its third printing since 1974 and contains updated articles and bibliographies from 86 contributors. This is a popular and useful reference book.
The Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology is new. More than 200 articles written by 20 contributors purport “to survey biblical archaeology … in comparatively brief form” (p. viii). Subjects such as “aerial photography” and “agriculture” are treated, as well as sites, such as “Jericho” and “Jerusalem.” The contributors are for the most part “armchair” archaeologists who exercised considerable discretion in selecting source materials to suit their conservative viewpoints.
The article on Jerusalem by J. A. Thompson is well balanced and thorough. The article on Ai by E. M. Blaiklock, on the other hand, lists as its major source E. Yamauchi’s The Stones and the Scriptures, a secondary source by a conservative scholar. The main effort in this article is devoted to finding a site for Ai that fits the views of the Israelite conquest held by the author of the article. The article ends with the comment that “further archaeological work is clearly necessary before the problem can be resolved.”
The volume will be useful to students and laypersons interested in the Bible and its backgrounds, although those who prefer to do their own thinking may encounter occasional frustrations.
Eerdmans’ Family Encyclopedia of the Bible
Edited by Pat Alexander, with John W. Drane, David Field and Alan Millard
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1978) 378 pp., $18.95
Eerdmans’ Atlas of the Bible with A–Z Guide to Places
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