Tian Hattingh

Birds & Bibles in History (Color Version)

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Birds & Bibles in History is the most comprehensive scientific study of the birds mentioned in Christian Bibles ever. It is the result of author Tian Hattingh being both a Biblical Hebrew student and an amateur ornithologist. It was completed over a twelve year period which included a number of in loco visits to Israel. He investigated all 409 references to birds mentioned in Christian Bibles, ensuring that the original Hebrew and Greek texts are reproduced as accurately as possible. Part 1 covers the development of Ornithology from ancient times to this day. It focuses on the Biblical authors like Moses and Job, ancient writers like Aristotle, carries on through the Middle Ages, and right up to modern times. Influences from the likes of Darwin, Audubon, Gilbert White, and Eugene Marais are dealt with in detail. Relevant subjects like migration, extinction, bird-strikes, and nomenclature, are also dealt with. Part 2 deals with the development of all Bibles, and shows how this three thousand year long process influences the way that we have to deal with Bibles in general. It also shows how we should keep "textual criticism" in mind when dealing with the passages referring to birds in particular. Part 3 presents the reader with concise information about the thirty six bird species mentioned in Bibles, including the relationship of the different avian families to man through the ages. It shows how each reference should be translated to produce the "closest natural equivalent" of the original meaning. This includes for example twenty-five references to nine Owl species, and the most famous rooster in the world. As a result of his study, Tian has come to the startling conclusion that the Biblical authors, and not Aristotle as is generally accepted, were in fact the first Ornithologists. This conclusion is motivated in Part 4, by using the example of the Great Flood in Genesis 6-9, and the Ostrich in Job 39. The Indexes in Part 5 present the wealth of information in different formats, making it readily accessible and a useful source of reference to scholars and laymen alike. Even avian terminology like "feather", and "fly" for example, are included. Birds & Bibles in History contains no less than 120 colour photographs, adding an additional splendour rarely seen in a publication of this kind.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: The London Press
• Seitenzahl: 278
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Februar 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 254mm x 178mm x 18mm
• Gewicht: 780g
• ISBN-13: 9781907313707
• ISBN-10: 1907313702
• Artikelnr.: 35118969

Autorenporträt

Christiaan (Tian) Hattingh was born and raised in South Africa. In 1974 he completed a four-year training course as a forest manager from the Saasveld Forestry College, now part of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. He spent most of the next nine years as a training manager (sawmilling) in the Southern African timber industry. During this time, he studied the Zulu language, which is considered to be the lingua franca of the region, as a third language.In 1987 he completed a BA degree in psychology and philosophy at the University of South Africa. Starting in 1974, he studied biblical Hebrew for three years at the same university, and although he never achieved a formal qualification in the subject, he soon felt obliged to share his knowledge with others who were equally interested in learning more from the Hebrew Bible. As a result of this yearning, he later conducted part-time classes to beginners at the local polytechnic in Rustenburg, South Africa, where he was living at the time.He has been an avid birder for the past 42 years and is a founding member of the Rustenburg branch of BirdLife South Africa. He has been birding in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi, China, Thailand, and lately in Vietnam. He visited Israel several times, first as a Christian pilgrim and later to study the birds of the region more closely. Returning to South Africa in 2001, he presented talks on "Birding in Israel" at several BirdLife South Africa branches. In 2002 he moved to mainland China, where he became an ESL/IELTS teacher. In February 2012 he published Birds and Bibles in History, covering the history of the Tanakh, the history of ornithology, and all 409 references to birds in the Old and New Testaments. From September 2014 he conducted classes for beginners in biblical Hebrew in the city of Shenzhen in China until March 2016, when he relocated to Vietnam. He has been an ESL teacher, an IELTS instructor, and an online biblical Hebrew teacher there since then. Visit his personal website at www.tianhattingh.com for details of his BIBLICAL HEBREW ONLINE classes.