TOS Crew Review: Apologia iWitness Books

Before joining the Crew, I had never tried Apologia Educational Ministries products before.  This year, I’ve been able to try five, and I’ve been impressed with all of them!

This go around, Bookworm and I tried three Apologia products:

iWitness Biblical Archaelogy ($14.00)

New Testament iWitness ($14.00)

Old Testament iWitness ($14.00)

These three books are written and designed by Doug Powell who has a Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics from Biola University.  He is also the author of Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics.

The reading level for these books is ages 11 and up.

How Bookworm and I Used the iWitness Books

I was excited to use these books, and since Bookworm is 10, I thought we’d be fine.  However, the content was challenging for Bookworm.  He tried to read these by himself, but they were a bit too advanced.  Instead, we read a few pages a day together.

During the course of this review period, we read the entire iWitness Biblical Archaelogy book together.

While Bookworm found the book challenging, he really enjoyed it.

Although he’s been taught to believe the stories in the Bible, Bookworm loved that this book provided proof that the stories in the Bible really did take place.  While he has seen a crucifix in church since he was a child, to see an ankle bone with a nail through it in the iWitness Biblical Archaelogy book really drove home the brutality of Jesus’ death and crucifixions in general.

My Opinion on the Other Two Books

I read New Testament iWitness and Old Testament iWitness myself, and I found them just as interesting as iWitness Biblical Archaeology.

New Testament iWitness

New Testament iWitness explains the criteria that determined which books were included in the New Testament as well as what books were ultimately left out of the New Testament.  The latter half of the book explains the process of writing up the manuscripts as well as the different types of manuscript families for the New Testament.

Old Testament iWitness

Old Testament iWitness also goes into depth about the way manuscripts for the Old Testament were written.  What I found fascinating is that if the scribe made an error when copying the manuscript, he would NOT correct the error.  Instead, the entire copy would be thrown out.

Old Testament iWitness delves deeper into the history of the Old Testament including the covenants, prophets, and scrolls.

What We Liked about the iWitness Books

Bookworm liked that iWitness Biblical Archaeology provides accurate, unbiased descriptions of what was found at archaeological sites.

He also enjoyed see the proof that the Biblical stories were real based on evidence.

I enjoyed the layout of the books.  They are visually appealing and have excellent pictures as well as creative placement of the text.

What I Didn’t Like about the Books

Overall, I would highly recommend these books.  However, while the layout of the books is visually enticing, that same layout can make reading the books a bit of a challenge.  The print that is used is not standard, and while it looks pretty on the page, it does make reading the material a bit more difficult.  Also, some pages have a blurb of writing on the lower left hand side and on the upper right hand side.  Almost always, I went to the lower left hand side to read first, when I should have started with the upper right hand side.

I’ll be tucking these books away for Bookworm to revisit when he’s a bit older.  We’re planning to study ancient history in a few years, and I think these books would be the perfect complement for that course of study.

I’d highly recommend these books for kids ages 12 and up and most definitely for high school students.  They would also be excellent reading material for adults who would like a deeper understanding of the Bible or who have recently converted to Christianity.

I was one of 100 chosen to review these books.  Click on the link below to read others’ opinions.