Summary: This full-color encyclopedia will be a wonderful tool, especially for families and Bible students, to learn the people, places, and historical context of Holy Scripture.
Book InfoISBN: 9780310241362 (Worldcat; Google Books)
Publisher: Zondervan (2009; expected in October)
Genres: Reference, Biblical studies
Reading Level: high school–adult
Format: Hardcover, 5 volumes
List Price: $279.99 (Pre-order from Amazon: $176.39)
Zondervan’s newly revised Encyclopedia of the Bible has a long pedigree; it significantly updates Zondervan’s 1975 Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, which itself was an expansion of Zondervan’s 1963 Pictorial Bible Dictionary. This pedigree is significant when viewed in light of its nearest major competitor, the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), which was published in 1915 and revised in 1929 and 1979. Both encyclopedias are nearly 30 years old. Thus, Zondervan’s revised Encyclopedia will compete as the most up-to-date, comprehensive (and to my knowledge the only full-color) Bible encyclopedia currently on the market.
What is new in this revised edition?The original scope of the 1975 edition was “intended to cover directly or indirectly all persons, places, objects, customs, and historical events and major teachings of the Bible” (x). Fifteen new contributors and a new revision editor (Moises Silva) deepen this original scope by adding hundreds of new brief articles and twenty new “in-depth articles.” For example, readers will look forward to new articles such as “Apologetics” by William Edgar and the “Biblical Doctrine of God” by John M. Frame. Additionally, some existing articles “have been totally rewritten,” and others “have received substantive updating” (v). Thus, the revision seeks “to preserve the original contributions as much as possible while at the same time updating the material to serve a new generation” (v).
Perhaps the most visible difference is the full-color photos and maps. The colorized maps aid the reader in appreciating topographical features, and the detail of the photos helps the geological and archeological aspects to come alive. See, for example, the sample shot of the pre-publication Zondervan Encyclopedia entry for “Arad” (left) compared to the ISBE entry for “Arad” (above left).
Specs from the Publisher- More than 5,000 pages of vital information on Bible lands and people
- More than 7,500 articles alphabetically arranged for easy reference
- Hundreds of full-color and black-and-white illustrations, charts, and graphs
- 32 pages of full-color maps and hundreds of black-and-white outline maps for ready reference
- Scholarly articles ranging across the entire spectrum of theological and biblical topics, backed by the most current body of archaeological research
- 238 contributors from around the world
Be sure to look for this new Zondervan Encyclopedia in October 2009. (Pre-order through Amazon.com.)
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