Whitman Publishing announces the upcoming release of Bible Lore and the Eternal Flame, by Kenneth Bressett. The new 224-page hardcover book will debut in March 2022, available from booksellers and hobby shops nationwide. In the meantime, it can be preordered at www.Whitman.com and online bookstores.
Although he is most famous as Editor Emeritus of the Guide Book of United States Coins (popularly called the “Red Book”), Bressett is also a longtime student of the ancient world. He is editor of the Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins (1994), a popular reference that builds on the work of Zander H. Klawans. His Money of the Bible was first published in 2005 and subsequently updated in new editions. And his book Milestone Coins: A Pageant of the World’s Most Significant and Popular Money has chapters on the ancient world and Biblical currency.
Author Ken Bressett is well known to the collecting community as an expert on American coinage. Active in numismatics since the 1940s, he has written many articles and is author or editor of more than two dozen related books.
In Bible Lore and the Eternal Flame, Bressett creates an archaeological roadmap of the Old and New Testaments, from the earliest cuneiform writing to pottery, oil lamps, glass—and, of course, money. The Roman denarius, the Tyrian shekel, the first coin to feature an image of Jesus, and hundreds of other coins help provide a glimpse into daily life and trade, starting with ancient Israel and continuing through Jesus’s lifetime to the early years of the Christian church.
David Hendin, First Vice President and Adjunct Curator of the American Numismatic Society, who wrote the book’s foreword, describes Bressett as “a teacher and a motivator” who “links the modern reader to antiquity through the study of coins and other artifacts.” He calls Bible Lore and the Eternal Flame “a fun and fascinating book.”
“Money has long been an important part of human civilization,” said Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker. “The Bible tells the parable of the widow’s mite, and stories of the coin in the fish’s mouth, the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas, and other ancient money. By studying the coins and artifacts still with us, thousands of years later, Ken Bressett guides us to a deeper understanding of ancient civilizations.”
Bible Lore and the Eternal Flame was reviewed by the Rev’d Lawrence C. Brennan, Censor Liborum of the Roman Catholic Church. Brennan certified the manuscript with Nihil Obstat, the Church’s official declaration that a book is unobjectionable on doctrinal or moral grounds. It was then granted Imprimatur, the Church’s formal approval for publication, by the Most Rev’d James R. Golka, Bishop of Colorado Springs.
The full-color, hardcover book retails for $19.95.