Understanding the concept of land in the Old and New Testament: The importance of a personal factor

Abstract

Since the early times of the calling of the patriarch Abraham, the land of Israel had a very important place in the Old Testament. Some say that the concept of land was “Christified” in the New Testament era and has since lost its importance. Others regard this approach as spiritualising and stress the sociological importance of the concept of land in the Old and New Testament. Some interpreters even advocate a theology of ecology. This article points out the important place of the personal factor with regard to land in the Old Testament and attempts to indicate how this line of thought also pervades the New Testament. It is only when this factor is borne in mind, that the theologian and preacher can see the different aspects of the concept of land in their true relation to each other.