Dictionary of Biblical Imagery by Leland Ryken

Dictionary of Biblical Imagery by Leland Ryken

Christianity Today Book of the Year

Explore the Rich Visual Language of the Bible

Every reader of the Bible has encountered the powerful, comforting and sometimes puzzling imagery of Scripture. These concrete pictures like milk and honey, mountains and valleys, and covenants and feasts have hidden force and have struck sharp and lasting impressions on our minds. Their imprint has etched itself on the language and grammar of Christian faith and Western culture.

Why then do traditional Bible dictionaries and reference works offer so little help to explorers of the Bible's galaxy of verbal pictures? They excel in describing the climate, borders and location of Galilee or Sinai.But they often overlook to the artistic expressions and musical meanings that echo from within the world of the biblical text.

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery is the first contemporary reference work dedicated to exploring the images, symbols, motifs, metaphors and literary patterns found in the Bible. Moreover, it examines the Bible's universal archetypes, including the plot motifs and character types that recur throughout life, literature, and the Bible.

Thisunique dictionary explores many ways in which the Word of God is dressed in clothes of everyday life by:

• tracing the trail of images from Eden to the New Jerusalem.
• capturing the plotted patterns of biblical narrative.
• surveying the imaged texture of each book of the Bible.

This volume is an inviting, enlightening, and indispensable companion to the reading, study, contemplation, and enjoyment of the Bible.

Leland Ryken (University of Oregon Ph.D.) is an emeritus professor of English at Wheaton College, where he has taught since 1968. He is the author of almost fifty publications, including How to Study the Bible as Literature (Zondervan), Words of Delight: A Literary Introductory to the Bible (Baker), Windows to the World: Literature in Christian Perspective (Wipf & Stock), Effective Bible Teaching (Baker), A Comprehensive Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible (Crossway), and Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (IVP).