Late last year I teamed up with Ron Choong, PhD, executive director of ACT Ministry, to write a museum guide to the Ancient Near Eastern Art Gallery for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It was an exhausting, yet exhilarating, enterprise for both of us and our editor and proofreader Mrs. C. Hill over in Malaysia.

It is amazing how many artifacts in the Ancient Near East gallery directly relate with the Bible. To get a deeper appreciation and understanding of the Bible, I believe it is critical to immerse yourself in the culture, beliefs, customs, and history of the geohistorical area of Mesopotamia, where much of the Old Testament events happen.

The book will cover the art and science of biblical archaeology, how the Ancient Near East beliefs and culture impacted the Old Testament text, and how the Assyrian and Babylonian empires shaped Israel’s identity and theology.

The book is on sale here.

188 pages. 68 color photographs, 6 color maps, and several illustrations.

For a limited time, 20% off the color paperback.

ALL proceeds from the sale of the book(s) go directly to support Academy for Christian Thought (ACT) Ministry.

If you are in the New York City area and would like to have more information or want to join us on one of the live tours of the Met or the other major museums in New York City please ‘like’ the facebook page or go here for the latest updates and schedules of the live tours.

Book description:

How often have you visited a major museum and wandered around, staring at the artifacts, with little clue as to their relevance for your religious faith? Ever wondered about the ANE where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived? What were the contemporary, cultural, political, and social contexts from which Israel emerged as a nation? Understanding the geohistorical contexts of the Old Testament is instrumental to study the Bible. This guide will introduce the art and science of archaeology, their contributions to biblical studies as well as their limitations as a tool to reconstruct the past. Learn about the history of the Ancient Near East (ANE), their myths and religions, as well as the contemporary tensions between conservative-confessional and liberal-critical prejudices and biases in their interpretations of the Bible in the light of archaeology. It will also examine a selection of artifacts from the Met’s ANE collection relevant to the Bible with reference to their geohistorical and theological contexts.

A summary of the Table of Contents can be found here and an excerpt from the book here.

We hope that this book will be an invaluable resource to both lay persons and educators alike in delving deeper into our knowledge of the Bible.