Product Description

This book celebrates the plants of the Old Testament and New Testament, including the Apocrypha, and of the Quran. From acacia, the wood of the tabernacle, to wormwood, whose bitter leaves cured intestinal worms, 81 fascinating chapters—covering every plant that has a true botanical counterpart—tell the stories of the fruits and grains, grasses and trees, flowers and fragrances of ancient lore. The descriptions include the plants' botanical characteristics, habitat, uses, and literary context. With evocative quotations and revelatory interpretations, this information is all the more critical today as the traditional agrarian societies that knew the plants intimately become urbanized.

The unusually broad geographic range of this volume extends beyond Israel to encompass the Holy Land's biblical neighbors from southern Turkey to central Sudan and from Cyprus to the Iraq border.

Richly illustrated with extensive color photography and with a foreword by the incomparable Garrison Keillor, this delightful ecumenical botany offers the welcome tonic of a deep look into an enduring, shared natural heritage.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94833 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Review

"This is an engaging book, knowledgeably bringing together the worlds of plants, food, agriculture, history, and religious belief."

SciTech Book News (SciTech Book News )

“. . . [an] interesting and worthwhile book. Musselman takes more than 80 plants and discusses how each is mentioned in the Bible or Koran, its habitat, and its traditional and current uses, plus he often adds more interesting information about everything from almonds to garlic and frankincense to rose of Sharon. I highly recommend it”

Christian Science Monitor
(Christian Science Monitor )

"This is a fun one. I'm always interested in plants that have literary and historic connections." Garden Rant (Garden Rant )

“. . . a readable and relevant book for our times. For those gardening with the plants of the Mediterranean, the book will be a treasured resource.” (Katherine Greenberg Pacific Horticulture )

Review
"A readable reference work for preacher and scripture reader alike. Beautifully illustrated."—F. Nigel Hepper

From the Inside Flap
This book celebrates the plants of the Old Testament and New Testament, including the Apocrypha, and of the Quran. From acacia, the wood of the tabernacle, to wormwood, whose bitter leaves are the flavor of absinthe, 81 chapters cover the more than 100 plants in the sacred texts that have true botanical counterparts.

Especially fascinating are the surprises and mysteries, such as why the fruit of Eden may not have been an apple and why Babylon's weeping willows were probably another tree entirely. These stories of the fruits, trees, grasses, grains, flowers, and fragrances of ancient lore include botanical characteristics, plant habitats, and traditional uses. Each account interprets evocative quotations to reveal the fast-disappearing collective wisdom of the ages.

Grounded in reverence for the region, this handy reference covers a broad geographic range beyond Israel, encompassing the biblical Holy Land from southern Turkey to central Sudan and from Cyprus to the Iraq border. "It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey," as Deuteronomy describes it, and so much more, a region as unique for its diverse flora as for its historical and religious significance.

Richly illustrated with extensive color photography and with a foreword by the incomparable Garrison Keillor, this delightful ecumenical botany offers the welcome tonic of a deep look into an enduring, shared natural heritage.

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Customer Reviews

An extraordinary book!
First, start out reading a rib-tickling introduction by Garrison Keillor. Keillor grew up in the same church with the author and that's an interesting story, Even more entertaining is Keillor's effort to describe myrrh, his reflections on the Song of Solomon(!), and his thoughts on rue! If that doesn't leave you smiling your face is broken!

Second, if you have any interest in plants or gardens and the Bible (or the Quran) you will be thrilled with the photos of biblical plants as they are grown, prepared and enjoyed today in the lands of the Bible. Musselman has spent good stretches of time in several areas of the Middle East, and local folks have joyfully shared their ongoing practices with him. His photos are extremely valuable in their beauty, their ability to set plants of the Bible and Quran in their contemporary setting, and to show us their blossoms, fruit, and leaves in case you decide to create a faith garden and hope to choose other similar plants. Even if you don't have a big interest in Bible plants (as I do) you will enjoy the many, many beautiful full-color photos!

Third, if you ever thought about growing plants from the Bible or the Quran, Dr. Musselman gives you a wonderful guide for selecting the plants. Not only does he present an interesting and extremely thorough study of which plants are in these sacred books (Musselman teaches Biblical Botany at Old Dominion College). He shares the process by which he made his choices. Some are identical to the best of his predecessors in identifying plants in the Bible, and some well-argued that differ. Keep us thinking!

Finally, if you teach faith to children at home or at your place of worship, the photos and stories about plants in the Bible will be a wonderful way to help your students start a hands-on experience of faith. Children in churches, synagogues and mosques around the world are growing faith gardens - raising their own watermelons, lilies, grapes, wheat, figs, and up to 100 other plants that bring faith to life. Classes and families are learning and growing, feasting and drawing, worshipping and playing in faith-nurturing gardens - while learning to care for creation! Google "Biblical Gardens" and discover some of the many ways people are teaching faith to their children. Then get a copy of Figs, Dates, Laurels and Myrrh right away and start your own faith garden!

I feel a special gratitude to Dr. Musselman. Our church and others have been growing and promoting faith gardens for 25 years. He has encouraged us along the way and his work gives us all a beautiful, well-studied resource to take us to real people today who, like people in Bible times, are growing gardens and growing faith! May he be blessed, as you will be, through his lovely book!

The Rev. Marsh Hudson-Knapp is the co-founder of the Biblical Gardens at the First Congregational Church of Fair Haven, VT, U.C.C., webmaster of a Biblical Garden website, and author of several publications about Biblical Gardens including the Selection Guide for Planning Your Biblical Garden. hkfamily@sover.net

figs dates laurel and myrrh - plants of the bible and the quran
This hardcover book is beautifully illustrated on the research of the individual plants discussed. It is well written,interesting and easily understood. It is a valued addition to my library of bible plant literature.Thank you amazon for your speedy and efficient service.
Tom

Just what I hoped for; a fantastic encyclopedia of biblical plants
I'm a landscape designer with a starry-eyed interest in ancient lives and texts, so when I saw this book had come out from Timber Press, my favorite Horticultural publishers, I had to pick it up.

It's exactly what I hoped for - an encyclopedic reference, with many photos, of the plants in the Quran and Bible, with references to the actual text in which they are mentioned, and their historical context and info.

I learned all about what the plants were used for, what they represented in the texts, how people processed them and interacted with the plants in ancient times, and saw photos of the relevant plant parts and the plants in the wild and even used in a modern context.

Even for an atheist like me, there is a huge amount of historical information and interest in this book. I loved the concise yet thorough information and all the photos. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in history, religious texts, or plants. It's not dry at all as I had feared.