Barry J. Beitzel
Barry J. Beitzel (born August 6, 1942, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) is an Old Testament scholar, geographer, cartographer, and translator of the Bible. He currently resides in Mundelein, Illinois.
Appointments
Barry J. Beitzel has been a member of the Department of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, Illinois) since 1976, as Assistant Professor (1976-1980), Associate Professor (1980-1985; tenured 1983), Professor (1985–2016), and Professor Emeritus (2016 to the present). He served as Associate Academic Dean between the years 1986–1996 and as Executive Vice-President/Provost throughout 1996–2004.
Dr. Beitzel is married to his wife Carol (née Watson); together they have three children (Bradley Jay [1968], Bryan Kent [1970], Kelly Melinda [1980]) and ten grandchildren.
Education and scholarship
Beitzel holds a PhD degree in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from The Dropsie University (Philadelphia, 1976; merged with the University of Pennsylvania in 1993); his dissertation is titled "The Place Names in the Mari Texts: An Onomastic and Toponymic Study," supervised by Nahum M. Waldman, Theodor H. Gaster, and Hayim M. I. Gevaryahu. He obtained a post-doctorate in ancient Near Eastern Geography at L’Université de Liège (Belgium, 1981), where he worked with the doyen of Near Eastern geography, Professor J.-R. Kupper, as well as with the renowned Assyriologist, Professor Georges Dossin. His archaeological work relates to the geography and socio-spatiality of paved and unpaved roads in the ancient Near East, more recently focusing on ancient roadways and milestones inside the modern country of Jordan; he also spent one season in eastern Syria, with the UCLA team excavating the site of Tell Ashara (ancient Terqa), on the middle Euphrates River. Beitzel's professional work has taken him to Western Asia and/or the greater Mediterranean world on more than 50 occasions. He has also lectured in various countries, including Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, South Korea, Philippines, and Syria. Beitzel has contributed to such serial publications as Archaeology in the Biblical World; Bible Review; Biblical Archaeology Review; Biblical Archaeologist; Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research; Iraq, the British Schools of Archaeology in Iraq; Journal of the American Oriental Society; Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society; Trinity Journal; and the Journal of Near Eastern Studies. He has contributed chapters in numerous monographs and essays in the Festschriften of Cyrus H. Gordon; William Sanford LaSor; Gleason L. Archer; and Michael C. Astour. He served as senior translator for the New Living Translation, the Historical Books.
Publications
Monographs
Barry J. Beitzel. The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands. Chicago: Moody Press, 1985. ISBN 9780802404381.
- Winner, 1986 American Congress on Surveying and Mapping Map Design Competition, sponsored by the Association of American Geographers.
- Finalist, 1986 Evangelical Christian Publishers Gold Medallion Book Award for the "Bible and Reference Study" category.
__________. Associate Editor and Author, "Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible." Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988. ISBN 9780801034473.
__________. Chief Consultant and Author, Biblica, the Bible Atlas: A Social and Historical Journey Through the Lands of the Bible. London: Viking/Penguin Press, 2006. ISBN 9780764160851. Translated into 16 foreign language editions. Also published as Biblica, the Bible Atlas: The Story of the Greatest Story Ever Told. Sydney: Global Publishing, 2006; ISBN 9781740480093. Also published as Bible Atlas: The events, people, and places of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Auckland: David Bateman, 2013; ISBN 9781869538491, and also published as The SPCK Bible Atlas: The events, people, and places of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. London: SPCK, 2013; ISBN 9780281068517.
__________. Member of the Board of Advisers and Chief Map Consultant, The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2007. ISBN 9781426201387.
__________. The New Moody Atlas of the Bible. Chicago: Moody; Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2009. ISBN 9780802404411.[1]
- Translated into seven foreign language editions: Dutch (2012), Italian (2012), German (2013), Korean (2015), Spanish (2017), Portuguese (2017), and (to be released in 2020) Chinese.
- Winner, 2010 Evangelical Christian Publishers Gold Medallion Book Award for the "Bible Reference and Study" category.[2][3]
- "2010 Best in Category" in the Book/Atlas category at the 37th Annual Map Design Competition sponsored by the Cartographic and Geographic Information Systems [CaGIS] of the Association of American Geographers.[4][5]
__________. Cartographer, Logos Bible Software Atlas. Logos Bible Software, Computer Software. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation, 2017. (See also Logos 6 Maps (Vols. 1-3): Dataset Documentation. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation, 2017).
__________. General Editor and Author, Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software and Lexham Press, 2016, 2018. ISBN 9781683590446.
- Winner, Christianity Today "2019 Book Award in Biblical Studies."
- Finalist, 2019 Evangelical Christian Publishers Gold Medallion Book Award for the "Bible Reference and Study" category [see https://christianbookawards.com/finalists.html].
__________. General Editor and Author, Lexham Geographic Commentary on Acts Through Revelation. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software and Lexham Press, 2019. ISBN 9781683593423.
- Finalist, 2019 Best Books in Biblical Theology, Reference Works [see https://dbs.mbts.edu/2020/02/13/finalists.html].
__________. General Editor and Author, Lexham Geograqphic Commentary on the Pentateuch. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software and Lexham Press, 2020. (LexhamPress.com).
__________. Where Was the Biblical Red Sea? Examining the Ancient Evidence. (Lexham Studies in Biblical Archaeology, Geography, and History 1). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software and Lexham Press, 2020. ISBN 9781683594383.
__________. Gemeral Editor and Author, Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Historical Books. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software and Lexham Press, 2021. (LexhamPress.com).
__________. General Editor and Author, Lexham Geographic Commentary on Poetry and Prophesy. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software and Lexham Press, 2021. (LexhamPress.com).
Maps
Maps executed and/or supervised by Beitzel appear in Bibles published by:
- Moody Press (including the Ryrie KJV Study Bible; including the Ryrie NASB Study Bible; including the Ryrie NIV Study Bible; including the Ryrie ESV Study Bible), 1986, 1991, 1994, 2002, 2010, 2011, 2012.
- Zondervan Publishing House (including the NIV; including the NIV Study Bible; including the Zondervan New American Standard Bible; including the Zondervan New Revised Standard Version; including the NIV Archaeological Study Bible; including the NIV Faithlife Study Bible), 1987, 1989, 1990, 2009, 2011, 2018.
- B. B. Kirkbride Bible Company (including the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible; including the Thompson Chain-Reference Study Bible [all Versions]), 1989, 1991, 1997, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2019.
- Tyndale House Publishers (including the NLT; including the NLT Study Bible; including the Life Application Study Bible), 1996, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018.
- Holman Bible Publishers (including the Holman Illustrated Study Bible; including the Christian Standard Bible), 2006, 2017.
- Crossway Bibles (including the ESV; including the ESV Study Bible; including the ESV Archaeology Study Bible), 2007, 2008, 2018, 2019..
- Thomas Nelson Publishers (including the Nelson Study Bible; including the NKJV Study Bible), 2008, 2019.
- Bible Truth Publishers (J. N. Darby Translation), 2016.
- Schuyler Publishers [all Versions], 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.
He has also supervised the production of maps for A Short History of Ancient Israel (Biblical Archaeology Society, 1988); Holman Bible Atlas (Broadman & Holman, 1998); Logos Electronic Atlas of the Bible (Logos/FaithLife, 2005); and the ESV Bible Atlas (Crossway, 2010). Some of his maps appear in the Atlas of the Ancient World (National Geographic, 2016, 2019). Over the years, he has executed or consulted on a dozen or so maps appearing in National Geographic, most recently in the following issues: 189.4 (April, 1996, [insets]); 214.6 (December, 2008, p. 43); 218.6 (December, 2010, p. 74 [foldout]); 221.3 (March, 2012, p. 51); and 232.6 (December, 2017, pp. 48–50, 57 [foldouts]).
References
- ^ "Book review by Nathanael Warren". Books At a Glance. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
- ^ "Moody Atlas wins 2010 Christian Book Award". Retrieved 12 February 2015.
- ^ "2010 Christian Book Award Winners". Retrieved 12 February 2015.
- ^ {{cite web|title=Moody Atlas wins Cartography Award|url=http://www.moodypublishers.com/pub_newsDetail.aspx?id=58938%7Caccessdate=12 February 2015}}
- ^ "37th CaGIS Map Design Competition Results" (PDF). Retrieved 12 February 2015.