Biblical scholars today find themselves giving more attention to wilderness in the Bible, but for many readers beginning with the Bible and then trying to relate it to life is not always the best starting point. Does the Bible, for instance, understand by wilderness what we understand by wilderness?
Sometimes, therefore, it helps to clear our mind on where we are: the world we have grown up in and the ‘wilderness’ we take for granted. Can Wilderness for example, have a much wider meaning than we often imagine, and could that wider understanding enrich our grasp of scripture and might scripture have something fresh to contribute to our ‘wilderness experience’?
There are many ways we can attempt to find an answer.
The first six studies focus on personal experience, with Wilderness providing a backcloth to a series of human encounters with God as we explore a variety of different emotions with varying consequences.
The second six address broader attitudes and concepts, exploring the wonder, diversity, unity and wholeness of God’s creation, in some cases through the eyes of biblical writers and characters and always with at least one eye on our own situation as we try to appreciate God’s wilderness in the 21st century, including specific references to the impact of biblical wilderness on contemporary issues relating to the environment.
John Muir, often described as one of the greatest naturalists of all time and founder of the National Parks in the USA, was second to none in his admiration and exploration of wild places. He was no biblical scholar but much of what he wrote chimes in with and enlightens much biblical comment on the same subject and for this reason we shall occasionally doff our hat to him as we go along.