A lot of people I talk with have trouble
following the biblical narrative. And I have to include myself in that number.
The maps that we use today have different names than those that were used in
the thousands of years leading up to the time of Jesus. And by the time of Jesus,
and then when Paul was making his missionary journeys, many of the names had
changed again.
John
A. Beck has put together the facts that we need to know to be able to follow
God’s story. He calls it a ‘basic’ tool;
I think it’s much more than that. The Basic
Bible Atlas: A Fascinating Guide to the Land of the Bible (Baker Books,
2020) is more than just a book of maps. Beck starts out by introducing the
Atlas, and also the Biblical World.
Using geography as the basis for
his explanation, Beck starts with the Creation and the Fall, and then walks the
reader through the Exodus story, and into the Promised Land. Many of us have
read the Bible, but get confused as to distances, and to the geographic areas
that are being discussed. It doesn’t seem to matter if we’re talking about the
Garden of Eden, the time in Egypt, Israel’s time in the Promised Land, the
divided Kingdom, Israel’s time in Exile, Jesus’ travels, or the later journeys
of Paul, and even the 7 churches of the Revelation.
This book, with its chronological divisions
is an easy to follow guide. For people who are visual learners, this is an
invaluable tool. Granted there is not as
much information in this book as might be found in others, but for other than
serious students ( think post-graduate level) of the bible, I think this is
more than enough information, and it’s helpful that it is presented in an easy
to read format, rather than an academic style which for most people would be
just as confusing as if they were trying to piece things together for
themselves based on the biblical text.
I give this a solid A.
The publisher provided me with a
copy of this book in exchange for posting my own opinion on my blog. I was not
required to write a positive review.
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