The Bible in the British Museum: Interpreting the Evidence

Rating:
Summary: An Expert Reviews the Evidence
Review: T. C. Mitchell is an expert on the Ancient Near East. He looks at the material evidence for the Biblical accounts in British Museum. This book is a great book to take along when you visit the museum if your area of interest is Biblical Archaeology. If you forget your copy pick up one in the museum bookstore and give yours away. Whoever you give this book to will be greatful.

Rating:
Summary: The Bible and archaeology
Review: THE BIBLE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM - Interpreting the Evidence by T. C. Mitchell. Paulist Press, 997 Macarthur Blvd., Mahwah, NJ 07430; www.paulistpress.com; [e-mail]. 2004, this edition. 136 pp. $22.95 trade paper, ISBN 0-8091-4292-9. maps, photographs, illustrations, bibliography, indexes.
This author who is a former Keeper of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum does not try to solve any esoterica or controversies in the Bible in discussing a wide variety of antiquities mostly from the Near East with some from adjacent Mediterranean lands. Rather, Mitchell uses the diverse, interesting antiquities as direct or related references to the historical periods covered in the long time span of the Bible and the cultures of the different lands and civilizations which are parts of its tales. The photographs of the numerous antiquities are photographed as if part of a museum exhibition on the subject. A group of 7th-century B.C. pottery vessels found in a tomb near Bethlehem exemplify the "metaphor of the potter [Jeremiah] used to clarify his prophetic message." Hieroglyphics, statues, passages from ancient texts, and impressions on coins are similarly used to illustrate parts of the Bible. From Mitchell's approach, limited though it is to materials from the British Museum, one learns a good deal about both the Bible and related ancient cultures.