This week the blog is sponsored by BiblePlaces.com. This post features a Q&A with Dr. Todd Bolen, professor of Biblical Studies at The Master’s University and the founder of BiblePlaces.com.
How do photographs help in studying and teaching the Bible?
First of all, the Bible is a record of real history, of God working in the lives of real people and real places. Photos immediately reduce the distance between here and there, now and then. Second, photographs help us to understand God’s Word more accurately, instead of relying on our imaginations to fill in the details. What does the Mount of Olives look like? How big were the synagogues Jesus taught in? What is the terrain like where the Good Samaritan loved his beaten-up Jewish neighbor? A picture can often answer these questions more effectively than a thousand words.
How did you get involved in creating photo collections to illustrate the Bible?
I lived and taught at our university’s campus in Israel for more than a decade. Traveling to the biblical sites again and again gave me the opportunity to take tens of thousands of photos. I rented airplanes so I could fly over and photograph biblical sites, and I traveled extensively to other countries throughout the Middle East to photograph everything relevant to Scripture. While many of these photos have been used in study Bibles, atlases, and archaeology magazines, the heart of our team’s mission is to provide Bible students and teachers with high-quality images that help to explain and illustrate the biblical text.
How can a student or teacher use photographs to enhance their understanding of Scripture?
One place to start is by looking at photographs of biblical sites. If you are reading about Capernaum, it helps to see pictures of the village’s situation on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The synagogue where Jesus preached and the house where Peter lived are better understood when looking at photographs of these places. Similarly, artifacts from the ancient world can be very illuminating, such as slave chains, a Roman sword, or a silver denarius. In the old days, books would give descriptions of these artifacts, but now we have the technology that makes it easy to view and display large quantities of high-resolution full-color images.
Can modern photographs really help us to understand the ancient world?
Absolutely! Many things look today as they did 2,000 years ago. Landscapes of Galilee where Jesus walked and Greece where Paul traveled are virtually unchanged. Many ancient sites have been excavated and some have been reconstructed. Museum artifacts also help us to get a glimpse into the past. Something else quite valuable are historic images taken 100–150 years ago that peel back the layers of modern construction. Altogether, we have a remarkable advantage today in understanding the ancient world that was not possible prior to the invention of photography and recent technologies that make the distribution of digital images quite affordable.
Why is the Photo Companion to the Bible useful to Bible students and teachers?
I am a professor and a Sunday School teacher, and our team is made up of others who also love and teach the Bible. We know what the busy Bible teacher needs. The Photo Companion to the Bible is carefully organized, so you can find all the relevant photos just by looking up the chapter and verse you are studying. For example, if you are learning about the parables of Matthew 13, you’ll find more than a hundred images of sowers, wheat fields, dragnets, and valuable pearls.
Our collections are designed for those who have not traveled to Israel or other biblical countries, and we provide explanatory notes that give important details about what the image is and why it is significant. The PowerPoint format is ideal because it brings together the photo, the description, and the explanation all in one place, and those using PowerPoint for teaching can easily copy and paste the slides into their own presentations.
Our photo collections are also affordable, with hundreds or thousands of photos in each volume. The purchaser is granted broad permission to use these pictures in their Bible studies, classrooms, and churches. That eliminates the concern of wondering about copyright violations when you are grabbing an image from some website or Google search.
Why not just use images available from a Google search?
Five reasons: time, quality, accuracy, knowledge, and legality. Searching for the right image can burn up precious time, and when you multiply that by weeks of study and preparation, that adds up to a significant investment of time. Second, the quality of internet images varies widely. Our images are the best of the best of 30 years of living and traveling throughout the biblical world. Third, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet! Images are sometimes misidentified, and if you are not an expert you won’t necessarily know what’s right and what’s wrong. Our team of biblical scholars ensures accuracy in every detail. Fourth, the average pastor or professor, as trained as they are, doesn’t even realize the possible illustrations that exist. You can’t find what you don’t know to look for. Finally, there may be copyright restrictions that require you to seek permission or make payment. Our collections avoid all of that hassle.
What is available now and what are you working on next?
Our first collection was the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, a 20-volume set that provides photos organized by biblical region, from Galilee to Greece and more. Our newest collection is the Photo Companion to the Bible, and we have completed the entire New Testament. We have also finished most of the historical books of the Old Testament, including Genesis, Exodus, Joshua through 2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel. We’re working this year on Job, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. It’s really astonishing just how much of the Bible can be illustrated with photographs. Our university students love these, as do those we teach in our churches, and we love to see other pastors and teachers get excited when they realize the possibilities!
The Photo Companion to the Bible is available now. Check out our special offers now.
