Who's Who In the Bible (Jean-Pierre Isbouts) -- A Review
WHO’S WHO IN THE BIBLE: Unforgettable People and Timeless Stories from Genesis to Revelation. By Jean-Pierre Isbouts. Washington, DC: National Geographic
Society, 383 pages.
The book will sit nicely on a
coffee table, where it will beckon one to pick up and explore its contents. If
you know anything about the National Geographic Society you know that their
publications include wonderful photographs and maps. You won’t be disappointed
here. The book includes four hundred full-color photographs of artwork,
artifacts, archaeological sites, and more. These photographs help illustrates
the telling of the biblical story. There are also numerous sidebars and family
trees (do you want to know who is who in the family of the Maccabees?) that
provide background information to the story. These take the reader deeper into
the story being told in the narrative. There are montages of art and artifacts
that are linked to each chapter of the book, and again these are in full-color.
Then there are the numerous maps that can be examined. Finally, there is the
timeline that runs throughout the book that sits at the bottom of each page in
the chronological narrative section. Each chapter includes a dictionary that
identifies every figure discussed earlier in the narrative. This is a helpful
contribution that will prove useful for Bible readers who want to know who is
who in the story. The point though is to help the reader get a sense of the
progression of the story from creation to the end of things.
Isbouts uses a chronological
narrative to move the reader forward from creation to the ends of things. He
does so by dividing the book into five chapters. The first three chapters take
the reader through what Christians know as the Old Testament. We could use the
title Hebrew Bible, but he includes elements from the Septuagint, which was
written in Greek. Then, comes the exploration of the New Testament. Chapter One
focuses on the Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy). Chapter two tells the story
that begins with Joshua and continues through the story as told in Kings. The
Prophetic books appear in their appropriate place in the chronology. Chapter three Takes us from Chronicles to
Maccabees. Essentially this covers the period from the Babylonian Exile to the
Maccabean restoration. Chapter 4 introduces us to the four Gospels and the
story of Jesus. Finally, in chapter 5, Isbouts covers the rest of the story,
from the Book of Acts through Revelation.
This is a book written for the
general reader. It is based on solid scholarship, but the author has written
this book, as one would expect from a book published by the National Geographic
Society, from a nonsectarian vantage point. The readers are expected to be
Jewish, Christian, and non-religious. Overall, it reflects solid, mainstream
scholarship. If you are conservative in your theology you might find his
findings not to your liking, but this isn’t designed for a specific religious
perspective. You might say that he attempts to take a more secular perspective.
So, for instance, when it comes to the authorship of the Pentateuch, he notes
that Moses is the traditional author but that most scholars would disagree. So,
he introduces the reader to Documentary Hypothesis (JEDP). But the point here
is getting into the story itself by letting the biblical writers be the
storytellers. The sidebars, however, often deal with the stickier issues. In
all the book covers a lot of territory. It’s comprehensive but not exhaustive.
It’s based on solid scholarship but isn’t written for the scholar.
After the five chapters that focus on the biblical story, Isbouts provides a brief epilogue that introduces the reader to the ongoing story of early Christianity and the origins of rabbinic Judaism after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. This epilogue takes us briefly through the history of the Holy Land, including notes on Byzantine-era Jerusalem and Crusader Jerusalem. Again, all of this is richly illustrated.
Having taught Bible
studies in churches for a long time, I am time and again asked questions about
the identities of figures in the story, about the historical context, and the
overall narrative. I realize that the Bible is in one sense an anthology of
sacred writings produced over many centuries and the authors are human beings
who reflect their cultures. Nevertheless, there is a narrative, or so it seems
to me, that connects everything. Not perfectly, but there is an overall arc to
the story, and a book like this helps the reader get a sense of the narrative
and its components. For the general reader, I can’t think of a better place to
start than this book. So, for all those who find it difficult to put everything
together, who struggle with the overarching narrative that makes up the Bible
in all of its historical and religious variety and diversity, check it out. If
nothing else, the photographs, especially of the artwork, are worth the price
of the book. I do have one caveat. That has to do with the focus on Eurocentric
art. There is greater sensitivity today to the need to reflect the broader
stream of perspectives. That’s not to say that the art portrayed here is not worthy
of being shared, but perhaps a future edition could include a greater variety
of art to the reader. Other than that, those who pick up Isbouts' Who's Who In the Bible will enjoy it and
maybe gain a better sense of this Bible and the people, whether well-known or
not, who participate in the story.
Comments