The Bible and the Land

by Gary M. Burge

Publisher:

Zondervan

, 2009

Overview

As the early church moved away from the original cultural setting of the Bible and found its home in the west, Christians lost touch with the ancient world of the Bible. Cultural habits, the particulars of landscape, even the biblical languages soon were unknown. And the cost was enormous: Christians began reading the Bible as foreigners and missing the original images and ideas that shaped a biblical worldview. Here, Gary M. Burge explores primary motifs from the biblical landscape—geography, water, rock, bread, etc.—and applies them to vital stories from the Bible. The Bible and the Land explores a series of primary cultural motifs that contributed to the ancient biblical worldview.

Scripture references are linked directly to Greek and Hebrew texts, along with the English Bible translations of your choice. For any word in any language, you can double-click on that word and your digital library will automatically search your lexicons for a match. That gives you unprecedented access to linguistic data, along with all the tools you need for exegesis and interpretation.

Key Features

• Context of Old and New Testament stories, parables, and events
• Exploration of how the motifs of land and culture give rise to important and overlooked lessons in the biblical story
• Maps, photos, and illustrations

Contents

Top Highlights

“Therefore, the land demands faith on yet another level. No national strategy, no economic policy, no army or model of government will permanently guarantee security. This land mentors its occupants to trust God with their histories.” (Page 33)

“The Lord is not a shepherd who cares for sheep in domesticated pastures. He is a wilderness shepherd. He leads his people through the wilderness, going there with them.” (Page 58)

“St. Cyril was bishop of Jerusalem from 349 to 384 and so had the privilege of presiding over the magnificent new church built above Christ’s tomb by the Christian emperor Constantine. He preached a series of sermons just steps from the tomb and there declared the difference of being in the Holy Land. ‘Others only hear, but we both see and touch.’ For Cyril, the land itself was a living source of witness to our faith (Catechetical Lectures 14.23). For him, the land virtually had become a ‘fifth’ gospel.” (Page 18)

“Can faith be compromised when people of faith live with cultural and religious diversity? When culture is homogenous, when there is little to challenge beliefs, rituals, and traditions, faith seems easier. But God placed his people in a land where this luxury did not exist, where faith had to be defined, examined, and reembraced on a regular basis.” (Page 35)

“Therefore this land required one thing. It required its people to trust God for their political welfare. The great temptation throughout the Old Testament was whether Israel would make alliances with other small tribal nations who lived nearby. Such coalitions were the hoped-for solution to local insecurity and weakness.” (Page 33)

Product Details

• Title: The Bible and the Land
• Author: Gary M. Burge
• Series: Ancient Context, Ancient Faith
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Print Publication Date: 2009
• Logos Release Date: 2012
• Pages: 112
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Bible › Geography; Bible › Criticism, interpretation, etc
• ISBNs: 9780310490531, 9780310280446, 0310490537, 0310280443
• Resource ID: LLS:BBLANDLAND
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-07-16T21:25:48Z

About Gary M. Burge

Gary M. Burge (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is dean of the faculty and professor of New Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary. He previously taught for twenty-five years at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Among his many published books are The New Testament in Seven Sentences, Theology Questions Everyone Asks (with coeditor David Lauber), A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion, Mapping Your Academic Career, The New Testament in Antiquity (coauthored with Gene Green), and the award-winning Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians.