Author: Robert Miller II OFS
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1782847545
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 119
Get Book
Book Description
The ancient Israelite authors of the Hebrew Bible were not philosophers, so what they could not say about God in logical terms, they expressed through metaphor and imagery. To present God in His most impenetrable otherness, the image they chose was the desert. The desert was Ancient Israels southern frontier, an unknown region that was always elsewhere: from that elsewhere, God has come -- God came from the South (Hab 3:3); God, when you marched from the desert (Ps 68:8); from his southland mountain slopes (Deut 33:2). Robert Miller explores this imagery, shedding light on what the biblical authors meant by associating God with deserts to the south of Israel and Judah. Biblical authors knew of its climate, flora, and fauna, and understood this magnificent desert landscape as a fascinating place of literary paradox. This divine desert was far from lifeless, its plants and animals were tenacious, bizarre, fierce, even supernatural. The spiritual importance of the desert in a biblical context begins with the physical elements whose impact cognitive science can elucidate. Travellers and naturalists of the past two millennia have experienced this and other wildernesses, and their testimonies provide a window into Israel's experience of the desert. A prime focus is the existential experience encountered. Confronting the desert's enigmatic wildness, its melding of the known and unknown, leads naturally to spiritual experience. The books panoramic view of biblical spirituality of the desert is illustrated by the ways spiritual writers -- from Biblical Times to the Desert Fathers to German Mysticism -- have employed the images therefrom. Revelation and renewal are just two of many themes. Folklore of the Ancient Near East, and indeed elsewhere, that deals with the desert / wilderness archetype has been explored via Jungian psychology, Goethean Science, enunciative linguistics, and Hebrew philology. These philosophies contribute to this exploration of the Hebrew Bible's desert metaphor for God.
Author: Robert Miller II OFS
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1802071806
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 101
Get Book
Book Description
The ancient Israelite authors of the Hebrew Bible were not philosophers, so what they could not say about God in logical terms, they expressed through metaphor and imagery. To present God in His most impenetrable otherness, the image they chose was the desert. The desert was Ancient Israels southern frontier, an unknown region that was always elsewhere: from that elsewhere, God has come -- God came from the South (Hab 3:3); God, when you marched from the desert (Ps 68:8); from his southland mountain slopes (Deut 33:2). Robert Miller explores this imagery, shedding light on what the biblical authors meant by associating God with deserts to the south of Israel and Judah. Biblical authors knew of its climate, flora, and fauna, and understood this magnificent desert landscape as a fascinating place of literary paradox. This divine desert was far from lifeless, its plants and animals were tenacious, bizarre, fierce, even supernatural. The spiritual importance of the desert in a biblical context begins with the physical elements whose impact cognitive science can elucidate. Travellers and naturalists of the past two millennia have experienced this and other wildernesses, and their testimonies provide a window into Israel's experience of the desert. A prime focus is the existential experience encountered. Confronting the desert's enigmatic wildness, its melding of the known and unknown, leads naturally to spiritual experience. The books panoramic view of biblical spirituality of the desert is illustrated by the ways spiritual writers -- from Biblical Times to the Desert Fathers to German Mysticism -- have employed the images therefrom. Revelation and renewal are just two of many themes. Folklore of the Ancient Near East, and indeed elsewhere, that deals with the desert / wilderness archetype has been explored via Jungian psychology, Goethean Science, enunciative linguistics, and Hebrew philology. These philosophies contribute to this exploration of the Hebrew Bible's desert metaphor for God.
Author: Robert Barry Leal
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9780820471389
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 374
Get Book
Book Description
Wilderness in many parts of the globe is under considerable threat from human development. This has important ramifications not only for fauna and flora but also for human well-being. Wilderness in the Bible addresses this ecological crisis from a biblical and theological perspective. It first establishes the context of a biblical study of wilderness and then passes to an analysis of the attitudes towards in the canonical biblical record. This provides the biblical basis for the development of a theology of wilderness for the twenty-first century. The Australian wilderness is taken as an illuminating case study.
Author: Kenneth E. Pomykala
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047432495
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 259
Get Book
Book Description
This collection of essays examines how stories from the biblical narrative of Israel in the Wilderness (Exodus 16-Deuteronomy 34) were interpreted by later Jewish and Christian writers (ca. 400 BCE-500 CE) as they sought to speak to their own circumstances.
Author: Kenneth B. Alexander
Publisher: eBookIt.com
ISBN: 145661813X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 63
Get Book
Book Description
Introduction to Numbers The fourth book of the Hebrew Torah (The Law) called the "Pentateuch" in Greek, is the Book we know as "Numbers." In the Hebrew Bible it is called "be-midbar" meaning "in the wilderness." In the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible (LXX) it is called "Numbers," and this name is now the usual title of the book. It is so called because it contains a record of the numbering of the people in the wilderness of Sinai (Chs. 1a 4), and of their numbering afterwards on the plain of Moab (Ch. 26). The Book takes up where Exodus left off in the saga of Israel in the wilderness. The Hebrew name for the Book "in the wilderness" is a better title for the Book. Although the book is noted for its two censuses, important events took place in the wilderness which relate to the present time. We will go through the book with the historical developments discussed first. The priestly elements and the censuses will be discussed at the later portion of the study. The Book explains why Israel had to stay in the wilderness for forty years. It was an 11 Day journey from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. But spies sent in to access the land brought back a bad report and God in His anger punished all of Israel. The whole of Israel's stay in the wilderness generally portrays an unhappy people blaming Moses for their unhappiness. Time and time again Moses had to defend himself against unwarranted accusations. Ultimately it was God who had to stand up for him calling him "the humblest man to ever walk the earth." Time and time again God purposed to destroy the people for their grumbling and accusations. Each time Moses had to implore the Lord not to do that. Nevertheless God would send judgments among them in the form of plagues, fiery serpents and other expressions of His wrath. Thousands were killed. Moses had to stave off the extent of the destruction by bargaining with God not to completely destroy the people. This clearly shows that, even in this day, we should not grumble against God as He deals with our hearts. His chastenings are just. They are designed to get us into our Promised Land the Kingdom of God. We should follow New Testament quotations that relate to difficulties in our walks with God. For instance, as James said of the Christians of his day, which should have applied to Israel in the wilderness: "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance [steadfastness]. And let endurance [steadfastness] have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4). And Peter said: "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;" (1 Peter 1:6-7). And it was said of Christ Himself: "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). The people of Israel had such great promises from the Lord but they, like us, sometimes could not endure with joy the hardship that is the Lord testing our faith. The complaining began in Exodus. They complained that the Egyptians came after them. They complained until Moses parted the Red (Reed) Sea. They complained on the other side because they had no water or food. In short their faith in God was at "zero" despite what God had done in delivering them from slavery and protecting them from the Plagues he brought against Egypt. Nevertheless the next generation made it to the banks of the Jordon River poised, after forty years, to possess the Land. OUTLINE OF CONTENTS The Book of N
Author: Terry Lynn Burden
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Get Book
Book Description
Author: Sharon Moughtin-Mumby
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191528838
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Get Book
Book Description
Sharon Moughtin-Mumby considers the often unrecognised impact of different approaches to metaphor on readings of the prophtic sexual and marital metaphorical language. She outlines a practical and consciously simplified approach to metaphor, placing strong emphasis on the influence of literary context on metaphorical meaning. Drawing on this approach, she read Hosea 4-14, Jeremiah 2:1-4:4, Isaiah, Ezekiel 16 and 23, and Hosea 1-3 with fresh eyes. Her lucid new readings reveal the way in which scholarship has repeatedly stifled the prophetic metaphorical language by reading it within the 'default contexts' of 'the marriage metaphor' and 'cultic prostitution', which for so many years have been simply assumed. Readers are encouraged instead to read these diverse metaphors and similes within their distinctive literary contexts in which they have the potential to rise vividly to life, provoking the question: how are we to respond to these disquieting, powerful texts in the midst of the Hebrew Bible?
Author: Alfred Edersheim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Get Book
Book Description
Author: O. Palmer Robertson
Publisher: Mentor
ISBN: 9781845504779
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book
Book Description
What is the Church? New Testament writes about the body of Christ and the Kingdom of God. For the writer to the Hebrews, the Church of today finds its most proper definition in terms of the historical experience of the old covenant people of God 'in the wilderness' during the days of Moses.
Author: Jamie Korngold
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0767929071
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 162
Get Book
Book Description
Rabbi Jamie Korngold has always loved the outdoors, the place where humankind first met with God. Whether it’s mountaineering, running ultramarathons, or just sitting by a stream, she finds her spirituality and Judaism thrive most in the wilderness. In her work as the Adventure Rabbi, leading groups toward spiritual fulfillment in the outdoors, Korngold has uncovered the rich traditions and lessons God taught our ancestors in the wild. In God in the Wilderness Korngold uses rabbinic wisdom and witty insights to guide readers through the Bible, showing people of all faiths that, despite the hectic pace of life today, it is vital for us to reclaim these lessons, awaken our inner spirituality, and find meaning, tranquillity, and purpose in our lives.
