Acclaimed as a landmark in Biblical scholarship, The Anchor Bible Dictionary (ABD) is an essential reference for every serious reader of the Bible. Featuring more than 6,000 entries written by hundreds of respected scholars, the ABD offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of biblical subjects and scholarship currently available. With the ABD it has never been easier to bring this tremendous wealth of information to bear on your own study of the Bible. The Accordance version gives you unprecedented access to the contents of this remarkable reference work. Click a button to jump instantly from the text of the Bible to the relevant sections of the ABD. Click again to follow hypertext links to related articles or passages of Scripture, to view beautiful photographs, helpful illustrations and detailed charts and tables, or to link to any other resource. Published by Doubleday in 1999.

These modules are included when you purchase Anchor Bible Dictionary on CD-ROM (Macintosh):

The Emmaus Journal, Summer 2002, Book Reviews p117 ff. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Ed. David Noel Freeman, et. al., 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992. $ 360. CD-Rom Edition, Macintosh Version, Accordance Compatible. Oak Tree Software, Inc. 498 Palm Springs Drive, Suite 100, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701, 2002. http://www.OakSoft.com. (877) 339-5855. Sale price $299.

Books are not usually reviewed which are ten years old. What is new with The Anchor Bible Dictionary is its availability now on a CD-Rom. It is a recent addition to the library of resources available for Accordance Bible Software. [1] This is the kind of work which is particularly suited to use on the computer. With Accordance everything is available on one screen with just a click of the mouse. The Anchor Bible Dictionary is a massive work. There are six large volumes which contain over 1100 double-columned pages each. Instead of constantly pulling different volumes off of the shelf and looking up the article, everything is instantly available. There are hyper links to related articles, to verses cited in the articles, to information about the authors, and to abbreviations. My own preference would be to read the long articles in the printed version. But the shorter articles are especially good for the computer. During the past year I have constantly consulted The Anchor Bible Dictionary for information on names of people and places, and for searching for historical and archaeological information.

The Anchor Bible Dictionary is targeted for scholars. It is the modern counterpart of Hastings Dictionary of the Bible (1898-1904) and the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (1962, supplementary volume 1976). It aims to be "the essence of critical scholarship." Each of the over six thousand articles is written by an expert on the subject. The Anchor Bible Dictionary excels in matters that relate to history and archaeology. There is much less emphasis on word studies and theological studies. Most of the articles contain thorough bibliographies which enable you to do further research.

There are certain things that you need to be aware of and expect when using this kind of work. Most of the authors do not believe in the inspiration and complete historical and factual accuracy of the Bible. They would say, for example, that Ephesians was not written by Paul. Daniel was a legendary figure, not a historical person, and the book of Daniel was not written in the Babylonian period (6th century bc), but in the 2nd century bc, so that what purports to be prophecy in the book of Daniel was actually written after the fact. There is no single article on the book of Isaiah but four separate articles by the four supposed different authors of Isaiah. The Pentateuch is also the composite of several different sources from different eras of the Old Testament period. If you are looking for a critical presentation of the latest views in biblical scholarship, The Anchor Bible Dictionary is very useful.

It is particularly useful for all Bible students in its historical and archaeological information. It is hard to keep up with all of the new archaeological discoveries. Here is a good place to find out about the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the more recent discoveries in biblical lands. Articles on countries like Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon are particularly good introductions for the student of the Bible. (You expect dictionary articles to be introductions to a subject, but it is surprising how thorough some of them are). There are comparatively few illustrations in this work. Those included consist of black and white maps and drawings which are accessible in the computer edition by clicking on the figure.

The goal of Accordance is to make the best resources available for the scholarly study of Scripture. The Anchor Bible Dictionary is one of those tools.

[1] I continue to be very enthusiastic about the Accordance Bible Software program. For my latest review of AccordanceTM CD-Rom Library 5 see The Emmaus Journal 10 (Winter 2001): 281-283. There is also a CD-Rom version of The Anchor Bible Dictionary compatible with the Logos Library System.