The Use of the Old Testament in the New Testament
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 64, No. 1 – Fall 2021
Editor: David S. Dockery
By Todd Bolen. 4-volume collection. DVD. Updated. BiblePlaces.com, 2020, $299
The educational value of an accurate, high quality Bible picture for a sermon or Bible lesson is immense. No matter how well one describes a Tyrian shekel, the Pontius Pilate inscription, the Mt. of Olives, or Gordon’s Calvary—showing a picture is far better. Viewing a picture avoids the inevitable inaccuracies that often occur when listeners try to picture the object or place in their minds.
For over a decade, BiblePlaces.com has offered collections of biblical pictures online and for purchase on DVDs. Todd Bolen founded BiblePlaces. com and is professor of biblical studies at The Master’s University, Santa Clarita, California. In this new collection, The Gospels (Photo Companion to the Bible), are pictures from Bolen as well as A. D. Riddle (graduate student, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) and Steven D. Anderson (PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary)—both longtime contributors to BiblePlaces.com.
The format of this product makes illustrating the Gospels easy for the pastor and Bible teacher. Over 10,000 photographs are arranged by Bible chapter and verse. Each Gospel chapter includes a slide show with 40-230 photographs. Many verses have multiple pictures, but not every verse has a picture since multiple verses may refer to the same place or item. For instance, Matthew 1 has 48 slides: 1:1 (10), 1:6 (1), 1:11 (4), 1:16 (2), 1:18 (13), 1:19 (3), 1:20 (1), 1:22-23 (2), 1:24 (3), and 1:25 (9). Parallel verses in the other Gospels contain a good balance of new pictures along with some repetition of the same pictures.
1. Benefits of this collection. The collection is convenient and saves time from searching the Internet or other sources for appropriate, current pictures for an upcoming sermon or lesson. All pictures are in a PowerPoint slide show, so they are easy to cut and paste into your own slide show. Updates are also included via the website. The most recent one was June 6, 2020. The purchaser of this product has free lifetime updates.
This collection is a useful teaching tool. One may be unsure about what to depict for a certain Gospel verse, but this resource often has several suggestions. The many aerial slides give a helpful perspective with labels for important sites and routes, such as slide 3 in Matthew 2 that labels the Church of the Nativity and Rachel’s tomb in Bethlehem, as well as the nearby Herodium. Slide 19 in Luke 2 is a satellite image of the Levant that depicts the two possible routes taken by Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The use of professional black and white photographs from the American Colony from the 1900-1930s gives two fascinating perspectives: how much Israel has changed in the last 100 years (especially in the appearance of sites like Gordon’s Calvary), as well as how much it has not changed in the last 2,000 years (the Bedouin lifestyle, Samaritan lifestyle, etc.). Most slides have beneficial descriptions in the notes section.
The collection includes hard-to-find pictures. It can be challenging to locate a picture of a 1st-century AD Roman axe head or some chopped-down Judean tree stumps to illustrate Matthew 3:10. This resource has both (Matt. 3, slides 58-59). In addition, there are pictures of sites or scenes no longer available today, such as the reconstruction of a first-century AD boat on the shore at En Gev (John 6, slide 48), and the many wonderful American Colony photographs.
Accuracy is assured. Even if one might find a needed picture on the Internet, it may be misidentified or have an erroneous description. It can also be challenging to verify Internet pictures.
2. Suggestions for improvement. Here are some ways to make this helpful product even better. First, offer pictures in widescreen format (16:9 ratio) when possible—the aspect ratio of modern monitors. Second, provide more picture options. For instance, there are some great aerial and grotto photographs of the Church of the Nativity, but there are no pictures of the beautiful altar inside the church (Luke 2, slides 28-53; Matt. 2, slides 3-17). Third, provide cross references. For instance, on each picture of the Sea of Galilee boat, it would help to know there are additional pictures (slide 3 in Matthew 9, slide 143 in Mark 6, and slide 49 in John 6). However, there is a good variety of pictures, and the present format serves the intentions of the producers of this fine product.
3. Recommendation. The Gospels (Photo Companion to the Bible) is a useful tool for pastors and Bible teachers who want to add interesting and unique pictures to their sermons and lessons. It is convenient, creative, well documented, and accurate. For the busy pastor or teacher who needs accurate, quality pictures to illustrate specific verses of the Gospels, this is a valuable resource.
