''Asimov's Guide to the Bible'' is a work by

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

that was first published in two volumes in 1968 and 1969, covering the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

and the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

(including the Catholic Old Testament, or deuterocanonical, books (see

Catholic Bible The term ''Catholic Bible'' often refers to a Christian Bible that includes the whole 73-book canon recognized by the Catholic Church, including some of the deuterocanonical books (and parts of books): those of the Old Testament which are in th ...

) and the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

Old Testament books, or '' anagignoskomena'', along with the Fourth Book of Ezra), respectively. He combined them into a single 1296-page volume in 1981. They included maps by the artist Rafael Palacios. Including numerous black-and-white maps, the guide goes through the books of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

in the order of the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

to the extent possible, explaining the historical and geographical setting of each one, and the political and historical influences that affected it, as well as biographical information about the main characters. His appendix "Guides to the Old and New Testament" includes biblical verses, footnotes, references and subject indices. The book was written for the layperson, without expectation that the reader would have much knowledge about ancient history. While the ''Guide'' has been generally well-received by readers, with a 4.1 out of 5 score on

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and readi ...

as of January 2022, the work has been the subject of some scholarly criticism. Professor Robert C. Dentan reminded readers that Asimov's book was not an academic work and he overlooked advances in contemporary biblical archeology. He also noted it as having ''"lengthy discussions of insoluble geographical problems...The result often seems to emphasize the trivial at the expense of the substantive."''

References

Publication data

*''Asimov's Guide to the Bible: The Old and New Testaments'', Wings Books (Random House), 1981, , also Gramercy Press reprint 1988 (same ISBN)

External links

*
Isaac Asimov FAQ
1967 non-fiction books 1969 non-fiction books 1981 non-fiction books Books by Isaac Asimov Books about the Bible English-language books {{reli-book-stub