The ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' refers to two different versions of a Bible encyclopedia: a 1915 fundamentalist edition, and a 1979–1995 revised

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

edition. The first version was published under the general editorship of the fundamentalist James Orr (1844–1913), among other objectives to counteract the impact of

higher criticism Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". While often discussed in terms of ...

. The original encyclopedia was published by the Howard-Severance Co., Chicago, in 1915. It is in the public domain and can be found freely available at various sites. A revised version, edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley, was published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. in the years 1979 (Vol. 1, Vol. 2 appeared in 1982) to 1995 (Vols. 3 and 4). It contains articles by nearly 200 evangelical scholars about

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

discoveries, the language and literature of Bible lands, customs, family life, occupations, and the historical and religious environments of Bible people.

Reception

Second edition

The first two volumes both won the Gold Medallion Book Award for reference books. Writing in a 1984 book review for '' The Churchman'', Stephen Motyer said the conservatism of the ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' "is that of broad, main-line

evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

, although it seems to be slightly more conservative than the work it replaces". He also says it makes "dogmatic use of the Bible", and adds: "sometimes it seems to go over the top somewhat". However, he concludes "The criticisms I have made do not, to my mind, qualify the great solid worth of this production....I...seriously commend this encyclopedia..."Stephen Motyer
Book Reviews – ''The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' (PDF)
/ref>

References

External links

''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' (1915 revision)
– (studylight.org)
Online Version of ''ISBE'' at gospelhall.org (1915 revision)

Eerdmans Publishing Company
1915 non-fiction books 1989 non-fiction books Reference works in the public domain Encyclopedias of religion Bible dictionaries 20th-century encyclopedias {{encyclopaedia-stub