ReViews: Plan a Biblical Trip to Turkey or Jordan

Pilgrimage in Early Christian Jordan: A Literary and Archaeological Guide

By Burton MacDonald (Oxford and Oakville: Oxbow, 2010) 252 pp., $29.95 (paperback)

Biblical Turkey: A Guide to the Jewish and Christian Sites of Asia Minor

By Mark Wilson (Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari, 2010) 395 pp., $39.95 (paperback)

Biblical Turkey and Christian Jordan are not terms in common currency. Yet these two guidebooks convincingly demonstrate that their titles are entirely justified. The adjectives also hint that these guides are selective. MacDonald does not treat all Christian pilgrimage sites in Jordan, but only those that have a Biblical basis and have been excavated. Wilson casts his net more widely and covers all Turkish cities, regions, provinces and natural features mentioned in any document from the Old Testament through the New Testament to the Apostolic Fathers.