The views expressed in this article are of the author only and do not necessarily represent those of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
The Victorians and the Holy Land: Adventurers, Tourists, and Archaeologists in the Lands of the Bible
Allan Chapman
Eerdmans (2025). 266 pp.
One might think, given the title of Chapman’s book, that it is primarily about Victorians and the Holy Land. This is not the case. Chapman says as much in the preface, in which he notes that while the Holy Land is a constant theme in this book, it chronicles the lands of the Bible beginning with the classical Greek authors through to the twentieth century (p. xi). Chapman goes on to suggest that his “title remains valid, for it was within the wider Victorian age of the nineteenth century that the Holy Land took on a real meaning for most people as a place existing in space and time, rather than merely a literary backdrop to the events described in the Bible” (p. xi). I think the title is still a misnomer given the that Victorians are not the subject of the book, but Chapman does convincingly convey this period as one in which the Holy Land becomes a concrete reality for many.
Chapman provides a sweeping and learned history of Western interaction with the Middle East at a very readable, sauntering pace, without the cumbersome scholarly apparatus that can make academic books such a slog. In other words, Chapman has produced a work of scholarship for educated, interested lay people to read at their leisure, aimed at a vanishing “general readership.” (The fact that Eerdmans published this generalist book by a British historian of science is a bit of a surprise.)
Chapman uses no footnotes or in-text citations but gives a handy bibliography for each chapter at the end of the book. He does provide images to elucidate some of his discussion, which is a nice touch for folks who have not been to some of the faraway places he recounts in intimate detail.
The book is more a collection of essays than a monograph, with chapter titles such as “From Pharoah’s Granaries to Measured Wonders,” “The French Diplomat, the London Law Clerk, and the Mounds of Mesopotamia,” and “Mummies and Museums.” Not every chapter of the book will appeal to every reader, but I think most pastor theologians would find one or another profitable.
The best parts of the book seem to be the secondary details and anecdotes that Chapman drops here and there. For instance, did you know that one widely held theory about the origin of the pyramids was that they “were built on the orders of Joseph when he was Jewish vizier of Egypt, to hold the surplus stores of grain during the seven years of plenty” (p. 6)? Or that even prior to the nineteenth centuries mummies were brought to Europe to make Tinctura Mummia, the ground flesh of two or three thousand-year-old mummies, which was then eaten or used to clean wounds (p. 160)? These historical curiosities—of which the book is full—make for good supper table conversation starters.
Chapman’s discussion of British astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth’s pyramidology is quite fascinating. He recounts that after Smyth measured the pyramids at length on the scale of the British inch, he was convinced it was “a sacred, God-given unit of measurement” and went on to argue “that God himself had revealed this unity of measurement to Noah, his son Shem, and his brothers in their world-changing enterprise of building the ark” (p. 128). Bizarre theories and wacky views are not limited to the twenty-first century.
Why might a pastor theologian want to read The Victorians and the Holy Land? One reason might be to get a sense of how Christians have viewed the Holy Land throughout history. Learning about the significant archaeological findings that have given credence to the claims of the Bible, while also seeing them alongside strange theories, will give one a better understanding of the importance of the Holy Land in the present. In addition, because pastor theologians are generalists by nature— studied in Scripture, history, ministry, and theology—they will be able to track with Chapman more than most, making The Victorians in the Holy Land a pleasant and instructive read.
Cole Hartin (PhD, Wycliffe College/University of Toronto) is an Associate Rector at Christ Church Episcopal in Tyler, TX. He is a member of the St. Basil Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
