The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia refers to two different versions of a Bible encyclopedia: a 1915 fundamentalist edition, and a 1979–1995 revised evangelical 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.[1] 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 discoveries, the language and literature of Bible lands, customs, family life, occupations, and the historical and religious environments of Bible people.