Zondervan Essential Atlas of the Bible

by Carl G. Rasmussen

An Up-Close and Comprehensive Look at the Lands of the Bible
No Bible Degree Required
Discover everything you need to know about the lands where Jesus walked, Moses traveled, and Paul preached. Packed with multidimensional maps, photos, and charts, the Zondervan Essential Atlas of the Bible is designed to help you better understand the history and places of the Bible and its world. This full-color atlas is concise but thorough, perfect for Bible students, travelers to the Holy Land, or any reader of the Bible curious to find out more about commonly mentioned places in the Old and New Testaments.
The Zondervan Essential Atlas of the Bible features:
Nearly 200 stunning multidimensional and three-dimensional maps and full-color images
Accurate and up-to-date mapping technologies
Innovative chronological charts and maps covering historical backgrounds, regions, weather, and roads
With this easy-to-understand atlas, you'll find Bible study more engaging and comprehensible, and you'll learn the essential facts about the fascinating lands of the Bible.

Genres: Christian, Reference, History, Atlases

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 10, 2013

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thus book shows lots of maps of the Biblical regions and the narrative summarizes the Bible in chronological order.

[Edie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource to go along with reading the Bible. Since I am a visual learner it added more depth and understanding to the context of the Bible stories. Being more like a history book it gave a clearer picture to all that is happening. I can see using this resource over and over, since there is so much good content. On the other hand, it isn't overwhelming.

[Dewayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book to read end to end, but it's one of reference to keep close as you study the bible.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this Atlas very much, it is a nice overview of the geography of Biblical events. It was more interesting than I had expected. You can get caught up following the discussion of places, and looking at the locations of Biblical places. Beginning with a basic overview of the geography of the middle east and then move into historical geography. Moving along the timeline of the Bible, we examine Abraham's journeys, follow the possible path of Israel's Exodus from Egypt, and then journey to the promised land. We see Israel's dispersions from Israel into other lands, and finally end up looking at Israel at the time of the New Testament. The places visited by Christ are considered, and then we see the spread of the Gospel. The book ends with an examination of the city of Jerusalem in detail.

Some particular sections I found helpful were the maps of the distribution of land to the twelve tribes of Israel. It makes the account in the Bible easier to focus upon when you actually see the areas spoken of, and are able to see the land area of each individual tribe. The histories, and geography of the lands of Israel's enemies are also dealt with. The Maps show where these enemies lived, what routes they took to attack Israel, and what areas of Israel they took over.

This Atlas includes many pictures, and also has discussion of archaeological finds in relation to the locations being examined. It is so refreshing to read a book dealing with a science that doesn't doubt God's Word in the process. For instance archaeologists have found Sennacherib's written account of his war with Judah and in it there is no mention of 185,00 troops seeming to randomly die in one night(2 Kings 19:35-36; 2 Chron 32:21-22). Instead of panicking or bowing before archeological evidence and saying that the account must just be symbolic, as there is no known evidence of it actually happening, this Atlas reads: "Obviously, Sennacherib did not mention this disastrous loss of troops in his inscriptions."

I would recommend it to anyone reading the historical accounts in the Bible, it really helps build a geographical picture in one's head of the locations that are mentioned.


I Received a free review copy from the Booklook blogger program(My review did not have to be favorable). Many thanks to Harper Collins Christian Publishing!

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good entry level Bible Atlas. It begins by giving general information about the ancient lands mentioned in the Bible and then moves into a chronological history of the Bible at a high level. The chronology begins in Genesis and goes through coverage of the 7 churches in Asia to which Jesus addressed letters in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation. The last section of the book focuses on Jerusalem. One thing I disliked about the book is that throughout there are references to page numbers, however, there is no way to display what page you are on in the current version of the Olive Tree Bible app. But I found you can tap the page number of the reference and you're taken to the page. This was not readily apparent because unlike scripture references, the page number references are not colored as live links like the scripture references are. One thing I loved about the book is the capability to tap on pictures and maps and view them in the viewer that allows you to zoom in. I highly recommend this book to Bible readers who want to know more about the places they read about in the scriptures.

[Jonele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, great maps, lots of info but without getting overly bogged down. My kids in Sunday School class could understand it!