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AUSTRALIAN BIBLICAL REVIEW
ISSN 0045-0308 |
BOOK REVIEW Published in Volume 50, 2002
D. N. Freedman (ed.), Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2000), Pp. Xxxiii + 1425.
All readers of the Bible will welcome this one-volume dictionary. Edited
by D. N. Freedman with twelve distinguished consulting editors, there are
almost five thousand entries by nearly six hundred contributors. The contributors
are a mix of established scholars and younger scholars who are making their
mark on the field. The articles, arranged in alphabetical order, cover
every person, place and event in the Bible and the Deuterocanonical books,
as well as important theological subjects and terms. Many entries, particularly
the longer ones, contain short but useful bibliographies. Amongst the articles
are many charts, illustrations and photographs, and at the end of the book
are fourteen very clear maps pertinent to both the Old Testament and New
Testament periods.
By any standards this dictionary is a momentous achievement. The publisher’s
boast that it is comprehensive, up-to-date, reliable and helpful is not
an idle one, and one might add that it is also clear, easy to use and beautifully
presented. The scholarship is of a consistently high standard, though,
as is to be expected in such collections, there is some unevenness in the
entries. This minor observation notwithstanding, Freedman and Eerdmans
have provided a great service to their intended readers. This affordable
and accessible dictionary will be of considerable use to students, clergy
and interested general readers, and it should not be too far away from
the desk of the specialist scholar. A better single-volume dictionary of
the Bible would be difficult to find.
Review by
Dr. David C. Sim
Australian Catholic University
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