A Numismatic Journey Through the Bible (2008, 1st edition) ISBN: 0-948964-43-X. Retail price: GB£12.00 (approx US$24.00) A new handsome hardback by Reverend Richard Plant. Contemporary Biblical coins are covered as are examples of coins from Biblical Lands and newer coins showing Biblical images. To purchase this book, please see the Stockists link above, or email info@rotographic.com for details.

Features:

• Properly stitched and very well produced hardback.
• Price data for the coins featured.
• Over 200 pages.
• Nearly 600 different biblical related coins are illustrated.
• Indexed by person and place name.
• Huge appeal, not just to Christians or people interested in bible study - this is a book for all and contains no bias or strong religious views.

The book illustrates coins contemporary to the new testament as well as coins depicting images of old testament events and those linked to biblical lands or cities in some way. It practically re-tells the story of the bible using illustrations of coins to provide the pictures of the alleged events.

Well written in the usual Richard Plant style. It will even appeal to people that aren't Christian and just have an interest in history. For those of you that are Christian, the book will help the stories and people of the bible seem more real.

A good idea is to quote the last paragraph of the author's Preface:

"My aim has been partly to make the Ancient World of Biblical times more real to those who read this book: often showing a number of coins from a particular city to give the "feel" of a particular place. My hope is that as the Ancient World becomes more alive for you, then the stories of the Bible will become more meaningful too, and Jesus and Peter and St. Paul and the others will, to a certain extent, come alive. Perhaps this book does happen to be a catalogue as well – I hope it is, but in a way, that is incidental!"

Each coin is well drawn by the Reverend and each coin also has an approximate price associated with it. So not only is this a good read, but it's also a Biblical coin price-guide.

About the Author:

Richard Plant did his national service in the Royal Artillery, serving in the Middle East (Egypt and Tripolitania). He is a graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He read "Mods and Greats" (which is Latin, Greek, Ancient History and Philosophy) at Jesus College, Oxford; and then went on to study the Theology Tripos (including Hebrew) at Wesley House Cambridge - after which he became, and still is, a Methodist minister.

A row of 5 books, just to get an idea of the thickness and quality.

Chapter Listing:

Chapter 1 - The language barrier (Latin names on Greek coins, Greek dating).

Chapter 2 - The Old Testament (Hebrew letters as Numerals).

Chapter 3 - Between the Old Testament and the Gospels (Small Silver coins of the late Persian period, Alexander the Great and the Greek Period, List of Seleucid Kings of Syria, The Prutahs and reading old Hebrew, The Jewish rulers and the early Roman Procurators)

Chapter 4 - The Gospel Story

Chapter 5 - The Land (Galilee, Samaria, Judea, The Decapolis)

Chapter 6 - Acts and St Paul.

Chapter 7 What the Jews did next.

Chapter 8 - The book of Revelation and after.

Index, note on valuations, grading ancient coins and acknowledgements. 

For more information about the author, see here.