Reviews for History of Art-key:from Abacus...

The average rating for History of Art-key:from Abacus... based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-07-16 00:00:00 Tarnya Porter This book has been sitting in my library for too many years and it has suffered to have been put in boxes and moved from one place to another. Buried in boxes or in other books. But I finally dug it out so that it could come to life and tell me its story. What prompted its rescue was the series of Lectures that the Prado Museum is currently offering. The cycle will last till the spring and the running theme is the Bible and Art. Since I have visited the Book of Books so very little, I hoped that this read would help me bridge the gap, of my knowledge, and of the passage of time of thousands of years – quickly. First published in 1955 under the better title (Und die Bibel hat doch Recht - And the Bible is Right After All), it was soon translated into very many languages. Twenty years later came the revised edition. I just wish we had something now that followed in the same lines because I felt sometimes as if the history of the digging of biblical sites had been left in suspension. Later times would have been able to bore deeper in the past. Keller’s account is foremost archaeological in kind and structure. He reviews the chronology of archaeologists of his last hundred years and their finds, along the chronology of the Events as presented in the Sacred Scriptures. It assumes that the reader knows, and very well, the Biblical narration, composition and origins. I was not therefore, its ideal reader. Keller’s conclusion is stated in his original title. Yes, the archaeological findings do support the veracity of the core in the narrative of the Bible. And his main attention is devoted to the Old Testament, occupying the greatest part of the book. But in a brilliant postscript written by Joachim Rehork, he reminds us of several other aspects. One is that yes, it was a history but understood differently from the way we do now; second of its prophetic nature that would palliate its imperfections and inconsistencies; and finally the sheer literary magic of its text. What was an additional surprise for me when I rescued this volume was to find out about Werner Keller, and I now wonder if a biography has been devoted to him. Keller, born in 1909, was a man of many abilities. He studied Engineering, Law and Medicine and worked as a Civil Servant under Albert Speer but sought and managed nonetheless to save the lives of many Jews. Consequently he put his own life at a great risk, and was lucky to save it at the very last moment, for the Americans arrived just in time. As I continue to explore the Bible, I have opted to step down a few levels – in difficulty but not in depth – and am currently reading... But I may reread Keller and am eyeing also

Review # 2 was written on 2012-10-29 00:00:00 Benjamin Chase Prescott This was a good book about Biblical history. Granted, I am giving it a 3 star because this book was initially written in German using a German translation of the Bible. So reading the passages involves having three additional books along with the text. The three books being, a German translation of the Bible,(specifically the one done by Martin Luther), an English translation of that translation, and a German dictionary. Having some background with the language it did make it somewhat easier for me to read. I was able to make my way through it as just reading the book as a history book and not one based in scripture. It was also upsetting reading this, because many of the places talked about in this book no longer “exist” due to geopolitical things that have been happening in the area. If you have time, read this book because it will give some insights on what was happening around the time when the scriptures were written.