English translation
The Bible (Greek: biblion = book) is a collection of texts that emerged over the course of about 1,200 years in the cultural region of the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. Depending on the count, it comprises 66 or 73 books. Also known as the “Word of God” or “Holy Scripture,” it is regarded as a testimony to God’s revelation and has played a decisive role in Jewish and Christian religious life since the 2nd century CE.
The Old Testament (= “Testimony”) forms the first part of the Christian Bible. Most of its books were originally written in Hebrew. They speak of God, who is far greater than humans can imagine. They recount how He revealed Himself to the people of Israel, made a covenant with them, led them from Egyptian captivity to freedom, and gave them a homeland and a way of life there. In doing so, the biblical texts depict in very different ways how people have experienced God, and they express this through stories, riddles, myths, legal statutes, words of wisdom, poems, songs, and prayers.
In Judaism, this collection of texts is commonly known as the Tanakh (TaNaK). It reflects the customary three-part division of the Holy Scriptures into Torah ( “Instruction”/“Law”), Nevi’im (“Prophets”), and Ketubim (“Writings”).
The New Testament constitutes the second part of the Christian Bible. In 27 writings, it proclaims Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God and the Messiah (Greek: Christos), foretold many times in the Old Testament, who brings salvation to Israel and the entire world. The four Gospels recount the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
The Acts of the Apostles recounts the spread of the Christian message throughout the known world at that time. Twenty-one letters to Christian congregations address theological issues and deal with questions of church governance, and the Apocalypse (Revelation) contains the prophetic visions of John. The writings were composed in Greek between 50 and 120 CE.
Plants played an important role in the daily lives of people at that time, as the Bible makes very clear. Agriculture shaped the social structures, livelihoods, and domestic lives of the population. Terms such as root, flower, fruit, seed, harvest, etc., are therefore often used in the Bible as vivid figurative language.
The Biblical Plant Trail explains a selection of biblical plants within their cultural-historical and theological context. Students of Catholic Theology developed it for you on behalf of the Chair of Biblical Theology in cooperation with the Botanical Garden.
Text from the information panel in the Botanical Garden, © Chair of Biblical Theology (Catholic) and Dr. Barbara Ditsch