Biblical geography is a branch of biblical studies studying the historical geography of a region in which events of biblical history and geographical representations of biblical authors took place. In " EEB " the founder of biblical geography " as a scientific discipline " is named the American biblical exegetical theologian Edward Robinson [1] .
Science Research Subject
Biblical authors use applied geography, they are forced to designate places in which natural phenomena occurred, events of war, go over the boundaries of possessions, etc. In biblical ideas about the world, the shape of the Earth is not clearly defined. Biblical characters are oriented in space according to the apparent path of the sun and the cardinal points are indicated from the position of a person facing the east. There was a link to local landmarks - mountains, plateaus, ridges, rivers, valleys, as well as to human works - roads and settlements. [2]
A key area of biblical geography is the study of the historical geography of Palestine. The sources are biblical and non-biblical texts, materials of toponymy and physical geography, as well as data from biblical archeology. The reconstruction of the geographical context of biblical history allows researchers to draw conclusions about the routes of movement and migration of the peoples that inhabited Palestine in antiquity, about the boundaries of the territories of individual tribes, about the geographical conditions in which the peoples lived, about administrative division (provinces, lands, cities and their subordination) , about any types of activities and processes unfolding in space (trade relations, wars, relocations). [2]
Notes
- ↑ Robinson, Edward // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
- ↑ 1 2 Belyaev L.A. Biblical Geography // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2005. - T. X. - S. 649-652. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-016-1 .
Literature
- Belyaev L.A. Biblical Geography // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2005. - T. X. - S. 649-652. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-016-1 .
- Igor Tribelsky. Geography of the Old Testament . Around the world . vokrugsveta.ru (2008, May). Date of treatment July 7, 2018.