Description

When we read Scripture we often imagine that the world inhabited by the Bible’s characters was much the same as our own. We would be wrong. The biblical world is an ancient world with a flat earth that stands at the centre of the cosmos, and with a vast ocean in the sky, chaos, dragons, mystical mountains, demonic deserts, an underground zone for the dead, stars that are sentient beings, and, if you travel upwards and through the doors in the solid dome of the sky, God’s heaven – the heart of the universe. Robin Parry takes the reader on a guided tour of the biblical cosmos with the goal of opening up the Bible in its ancient world. He then goes further and shows how this very ancient biblical way of seeing the world is still revelatory and can speak God’s word afresh into our own modern worlds. Robin A. Parry is an editor at Wipf and Stock Publishers. Hannah Parry is an archaeology student. ‘Delightful. Robin Parry takes the reader on a fascinating tour of biblical cosmology and theology. If you want to enter the minds of the biblical writers, this book will guide you with wit and sound learning.’ Gordon Wenham, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, University of Gloucestershire. ‘A masterful exposition of the sacramental worldview of the Old Testament. If you figure that the Old Testament is simply incompatible with the Christian Platonism of the Christian tradition, you just may be startled by the insights of this book.’ Hans Boersma, J.I. Packer Professor of Theology, Regent College, Vancouver.