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THE BIBLE WINE TOUR
ChristianityToday.com
Sept 11 2013
Two highly imaginative experts explore viticulture, the Bible, and
Jesus' taste in wines.
Book Title: Divine Vintage: Following the Wine Trail from Genesis to
the Modern Age Author: Randall Heskett Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Release Date: November 13, 2012 Pages: 288
In January of 2011, archaeologists announced the discovery of the
oldest known facility for producing grape wine. Working in a network
of caves in Armenia, they found fermentation jars, a 15-gallon basin
for treading grapes, and the remains of crushed grapes, leaves, and
vines. They dated the site's age at about 6,100 years. This is not
the oldest evidence of grape wine-that would be the 7,400-year-old
chemical residues recovered in the Zargos Mountains in Iran. The
Armenian site, however, is the oldest known wine production facility.
Why mention this in Christianity Today? Because the "winery" was just
about 60 miles from Mount Ararat, where, the Bible says, Noah's ark
landed and thus near where he planted the first vineyard. "After the
flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard.
One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay
naked inside his tent" (Gen. 9:20-21, NLT).
In Divine Vintage,Hebrew Bible scholar (and former wine importer)
Randall Heskett joins with oenologist (and president of the Institute
of Masters of Wine) Joel Butler trace the Bible's "wine trail" from
Mount Ararat in the north to Egypt in the south. They devote the first
half of their book to the wine trail documented in the Bible and
other ancient texts, awakening the reader to the significance that
wine plays in the economy of the ancient world and in the religious
and economic life of Israel. The wine trail in the book's second
half is literal rather than literary: the authors visit contemporary
wineries in the lands of the Bible, providing a helpful guide for
wine tourists in the Middle East.
The authors argue that wine is "a key protagonist for the evolution
of society from rootless and nomadic to settled, spiritual, and
cultured." Wine, they say, "is the heart, soul, and body of Western
civilization." While they don't quite prove that exalted status,
they do link developments in ancient civilization to the evolution of
viticulture. Wine also played a very important role, both theologically
and culturally, in Israelite history. The authors have no time for
the conservative Christian belief that in the Bible, wine is always
a bane and never a blessing. (On the second page of the preface,
they announce that they simply will not treat "all of the pointless
claims that promote abstinence from alcohol or assertions that wine
in the Bible was not fermented.") Their ultimate, light-hearted goal
is to answer the question WWWJD: What Wine Would Jesus Drink? The
authors saved their answer for the end of the book-so I'll save it
for the end of this review.
In the Bible, wine appears far more frequently as a vehicle of God's
blessing than an occasion of human folly. When Noah planted a vineyard,
it was an act of faith in God's promises. So argues biblical scholar
Peter Green (currently pursuing a PhD at Wheaton College).
After the flood, the God who had just destroyed (or "de-created") the
earth promised to permanently establish regular agricultural seasons.
"As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night" (Gen. 8:22, NLT). A
vineyard requires at least three years to produce its first usable
crop of wine grapes. Planting one means betting on a long run of the
right kind of weather and climate conditions. So when Noah took up his
role as a second Adam to cultivate the garden and populate the earth,
he was demonstrating faith in God's blessing.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/september-web-only/bible-wine-tour.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
ChristianityToday.com
Sept 11 2013
Two highly imaginative experts explore viticulture, the Bible, and
Jesus' taste in wines.
Book Title: Divine Vintage: Following the Wine Trail from Genesis to
the Modern Age Author: Randall Heskett Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Release Date: November 13, 2012 Pages: 288
In January of 2011, archaeologists announced the discovery of the
oldest known facility for producing grape wine. Working in a network
of caves in Armenia, they found fermentation jars, a 15-gallon basin
for treading grapes, and the remains of crushed grapes, leaves, and
vines. They dated the site's age at about 6,100 years. This is not
the oldest evidence of grape wine-that would be the 7,400-year-old
chemical residues recovered in the Zargos Mountains in Iran. The
Armenian site, however, is the oldest known wine production facility.
Why mention this in Christianity Today? Because the "winery" was just
about 60 miles from Mount Ararat, where, the Bible says, Noah's ark
landed and thus near where he planted the first vineyard. "After the
flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard.
One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay
naked inside his tent" (Gen. 9:20-21, NLT).
In Divine Vintage,Hebrew Bible scholar (and former wine importer)
Randall Heskett joins with oenologist (and president of the Institute
of Masters of Wine) Joel Butler trace the Bible's "wine trail" from
Mount Ararat in the north to Egypt in the south. They devote the first
half of their book to the wine trail documented in the Bible and
other ancient texts, awakening the reader to the significance that
wine plays in the economy of the ancient world and in the religious
and economic life of Israel. The wine trail in the book's second
half is literal rather than literary: the authors visit contemporary
wineries in the lands of the Bible, providing a helpful guide for
wine tourists in the Middle East.
The authors argue that wine is "a key protagonist for the evolution
of society from rootless and nomadic to settled, spiritual, and
cultured." Wine, they say, "is the heart, soul, and body of Western
civilization." While they don't quite prove that exalted status,
they do link developments in ancient civilization to the evolution of
viticulture. Wine also played a very important role, both theologically
and culturally, in Israelite history. The authors have no time for
the conservative Christian belief that in the Bible, wine is always
a bane and never a blessing. (On the second page of the preface,
they announce that they simply will not treat "all of the pointless
claims that promote abstinence from alcohol or assertions that wine
in the Bible was not fermented.") Their ultimate, light-hearted goal
is to answer the question WWWJD: What Wine Would Jesus Drink? The
authors saved their answer for the end of the book-so I'll save it
for the end of this review.
In the Bible, wine appears far more frequently as a vehicle of God's
blessing than an occasion of human folly. When Noah planted a vineyard,
it was an act of faith in God's promises. So argues biblical scholar
Peter Green (currently pursuing a PhD at Wheaton College).
After the flood, the God who had just destroyed (or "de-created") the
earth promised to permanently establish regular agricultural seasons.
"As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night" (Gen. 8:22, NLT). A
vineyard requires at least three years to produce its first usable
crop of wine grapes. Planting one means betting on a long run of the
right kind of weather and climate conditions. So when Noah took up his
role as a second Adam to cultivate the garden and populate the earth,
he was demonstrating faith in God's blessing.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/september-web-only/bible-wine-tour.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress