Before the Flood: The Biblical Flood as a Real Event and How It Changed the Course of Civilization

By Wilson, Ian
St. Martin's Press, 2004, Paperback, 352 pp., ISBN: 0312319711, $16.95

The noted historian and author of Turin Shroud and The Blood and the Shroud turns his trained, professional eye to a specific event from the Bible: the narrative of the Flood (cf. Genesis 6:5-9:17).

Despite the headline-grabbing style of the book's subtitle, the author's scholarly methodology examines serious archaeological, historical, meteorological, religious, and literary artifacts and issues. Building upon the groundbreaking hypothesis of William Ryan and Walter Pittman in Noah's Flood, Wilson posits the historical nucleus of the biblical Flood narrative on the flooding of the Black Sea by the Mediterranean Sea at the end of the last Ice Age, around 5600 B.C.E.

Faithful to the evidence, the author points out where gaps in the archaeological record do not currently allow us to establish definitively a direct causal link between the later literary accounts of the Flood in Genesis or The Epic of Gilgamesh and events at the Black Sea.

The author's style treats serious issues in a scholarly manner but is easily understandable and highly readable. Recommended for large public libraries. Library Journal