Storytellers made history, and Jesus was the greatest of them all. But how can modern readers know what he actually meant in such iconic parables as the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan? Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller combines the readability of a popular novel and the authority of scholarship to uncover the hidden meaning of references too often misinterpreted or left shrouded in mystery. The first volume in the Ancient Context, Ancient Faith series drives to the heart of readers' desire to know the culture behind the Scriptures. Colorful maps, photos, and illustrations enhance the context of the times that shaped Jesus' vivid communication of core truths. This expert guide is an invaluable resource for study groups, teachers, leaders, and inquiring Christians who want to dig deeper and enrich their spiritual life.
When Lebanon's tragic civil war broke out in the early 1970s, I was a student at the American University of Beirut studying politics and Islam. I never realized what an indelible mark this year would put on me as this dangerous national tragedy unfolded before our eyes. Since the university witnessed sporadic closures, I began studying at Beirut's Near East School of Theology (an Arab-Armenian seminary) and there for the first time was exposed to the technical study of the New Testament (under the guidance of Middle Eastern Christian scholars). It seemed that from here my life found its twin navigational markers: the New Testament and the world of the Middle East.
Following graduation from Fuller Seminary in 1978, I completed a Ph.D. in New Testament at King's College, Aberdeen University, Scotland, where I worked under Professor I. Howard Marshall. In 1987 my research was published as The Anointed Community, The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition (Eerdmans) and this launched a long-standing interest in the literature of John which continues to this day in books and articles.
But in addition, I have also retained my passion for the Middle East and travel there regularly. Here too there has been evolution and specialization. Teaching the historical geography of Israel and working at dig sites has today become a specialized interest in first century Galilee. I have also had the good fortune of being befriended by many Palestinian Christian pastors and learning with dismay about the suffering of the Palestinian church in modern Israel.
In 1993 I wrote a study of this dilemma entitled, Who Are God's People in the Middle East? (Zondervan). I have also become active in an evangelical advocacy groups, Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding and Middle East Fellowship, which work to facilitate dialogue between Arab and western church leaders. In 2003 I wrote a second, more thorough volume on Israel/Palestine entitled, Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians (Pilgrim Press). And in 2010 I will publish Jesus and the Land. How the New Testament Challenges Holy Land Theology (Baker Academic). This last book studies how the New Testament views the Holy Land and raises difficult questions for many who invest too heavily in prophesy and the modern Middle East.

As I teach New Testament at Wheaton, I want my students to grasp how knowing the unique world of the Middle East in antiquity shapes how we read the New Testament today. This is the purpose of the small illustrated books The Bible and the Land (2009), Jesus the Middle Eastern Story Teller (2009), and Encounters with Jesus (2010). These books retell well-known stories with an eye to ancient culture. (Scholars will recognize this as a popular treatment of contextual exegesis. For more details, go to: http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Authors/Author.htm?ContributorID=BurgeG&QueryStringSite=Zondervan.)
Jesus' cultural reflexes were different than ours and unless we understand him in his world, we risk misrepresenting his story. The setting of first century Palestine must be the lens through which we read the gospels. This has been the passion of my career since the 1970s and I want my students to inherit it.
Gary M. Burge, Ph.D.
Wheaton College & Graduate School
