A short while ago, I mentioned my pleasure at the appearance of Islam: A First Encounter, a fairly brief book written for the relevant coursework at Brigham Young University’s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. It was written by my long-time BYU colleague and friend Kent P. Jackson, a former faculty member and associate director at the Center, and it’s available to a general readership on Amazon.com:
When I came home this evening, I was happily surprised to find, on my front porch, a copy of A Bible Reader’s History of the Ancient World, edited by Kent Jackson. Although I somehow managed to miss its publication, it came out about three years ago, again primarily for use at the BYU Jerusalem Center in the Center’s required course on the ancient Near East. The book — which is beautifully designed and illustrated — includes chapters by about a dozen different scholars, all of them Latter-day Saints. Remarkably, Dr. Jackson tells me, some non-LDS Christian colleges and seminaries are using it in their courses.
A while back, I heard a presentation in which the speaker contended that we in the Church are living in an “intellectual bubble,” and that nobody at BYU is seriously involved in biblical scholarship and religious studies. Few BYU religion professors, he told his audience, are active professionally outside the Latter-day Saint community.
This book suggests that there are some pretty well-trained people at BYU and in the Church who are quite knowledgeable about ancient history and biblical studies.
Anyway, the good news is that A Bible Reader’s History of the Ancient World, too, is available on Amazon.com for purchase by interested general readers:
Here is the description of the book on Amazon.com:
With thirty-five maps and more than three hundred color images, A Bible Reader’s History of the Ancient World provides a stunning introduction to the ancient Near East and the classical world. Telling the story of the lands where the events of the Old and New Testaments took place, this volume introduces its readers to the civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Syria-Palestine, extending its reach as far east as Persia and as far west as Rome. Its chronological span is from prehistory to the medieval period, but its main focus is on the second and first millennia BCE and the first century CE. Based on current archaeology and historical research, this volume makes modern scholarship readable and engaging. Its sixteen authors show how scientific archaeology, examination of material culture, and careful reading of primary texts are the keys to understanding ancient societies. The many images-of artifacts, buildings, landscapes, and locations-are more than illustrations; they are central to the book’s purpose. They combine with the words of the text to bring the ancient world alive.
Incidentally, if you choose to buy either of these two books I hope that you’ll do it through AmazonSmile. It will cost you not a single cent extra, but Amazon.com will send a small portion of the purchase price to a charity of your choice. One of the charities that you can choose is the Interpreter Foundation. Here’s an easy how-to guide to AmazonSmile created by the estimable Tom Pittman:
“How to use Amazon Smile to Make Donations”
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