Travel guide offers tools for visiting Bible lands

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It has become much more popular in recent years for church leaders to take groups of people to the Bible lands.

Of course, most who lead those groups have significant background in the study of Scriptures. Many, however, are much less familiar with the geography and history of most of the sites.

W. Scott Sager, who serves as vice president for spiritual development at Lipscomb University, has over 30 years of experience traveling to those biblical sites and has produced a resource that will be of significant value to tour leaders and travelers to the Bible lands.

“Bible Land Adventures: The Essential Travel Guide for Serious Disciples” is composed of one-page descriptions of 85 different sites in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Sinai. These are arranged in alphabetical order for easy reference.

Each of these includes a short summary of the geographical location, the historical significance of the site and the connections to the biblical narrative, with Scripture references if appropriate.

There is space allotted on each page for travelers’ brief notations on the dates the sites were visited and other “quick facts.” The book also offers 18 maps and 70 captioned charts and illustrations, as well as a selected bibliography of other helpful resources.

The guide is organized logically and contains a wealth of information that a traveler could use to get the most out of a visit to this part of the world. The book is not designed to be read from cover to cover but to serve as a resource for the traveler.

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Tour leaders or trip hosts could use it as a planning guide for developing an itinerary for a future trip to the Bible lands or as a resource for developing comments to be shared at stops along the way.

Tour participants could use this book to familiarize themselves with the sites before making the journey, as a companion volume while on the trip, or as a means of debriefing the trip after they get home.

Even those who never travel to the Bible lands would find this to be a great resource to aid in the study of Scripture due to the descriptive information about sites mentioned in the biblical narrative.

Scott Sager has produced a helpful and enjoyable resource for those who wish to maximize the impact of a visit to the lands of the Bible. The book is easy to read and understand and provides a significant amount of information without being overwhelming.

“Those who are fortunate enough to enjoy a trip to the Bible lands frequently remark that it has ‘made the Bible come to life.’”

It does a great job of exploring the geographical, historical and biblical intersections that one will encounter on a journey to these significant places without being too heavy or encyclopedic.

Those who are fortunate enough to enjoy a trip to the Bible lands frequently remark that it has “made the Bible come to life.” This book is a useful guide to help prepare travelers for that journey and provide supplemental content to increase the impact of that experience on their lives.

MARK A. BLACKWELDER is a professor of Bible and missions at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn. He has led groups on more than 15 trip to the Bible lands.

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Filed under: Bible lands book reviews Features Israel Reviews Top Stories travel