num_pages: 352
description: For many, the names Bethlehem, Babylon &amp; Jerusalem are known as the setting for epic stories from the bible featuring rustic mangers, soaring towers &amp; wooden crosses. What often gets missed is that these cities are far more than just the setting for the bible &amp; its characters—they were instrumental to the creation of the bible known today. Cargill, Assistant Professor of Classics &amp; Religious Studies at the University of Iowa, is an archeologist, bible scholar &amp; host of tv documentaries, such as the History Channel's Bible Secrets Revealed. Going behind-the-scenes of the bible, he blends archeology, biblical history &amp; personal journey as he explores these cities &amp; their role in the bible's creation. He reveals surprising facts such as what the bible says about the birth of Jesus &amp; how Mary’s virgin birth caused problems for the early church. We’ll also see how the Old Testament god was influenced by other deities, that there were numerous non-biblical books written about Moses, Jacob &amp; Jesus in antiquity, &amp; how far more books were left out of the bible than were let in during the messy, political canonization process. The Cities That Built the Bible is a tour thru 14 cities: the Phoenician cities of Tyre, Sidon &amp; Byblos, Ugarit, Nineveh, Babylon, Megiddo, Athens, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Qumran, Bethlehem, Nazareth &amp; Rome. Cargill includes photos of artifacts, dig sites, ruins &amp; relics, taking readers on a far-reaching journey from the Grotto of the Nativity to the Megiddo battlegrounds, from the Acropolis of Athens to the Qumran caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.
language: English
title: The Cities That Built the Bible
publisher: HarperOne/HarperCollins (NYC)