Landscapes of Memory: How the Land Makes the Bible Come Alive | Dr Emma Austin
Katie Haldane sits down with Dr Emma Austin of Alphacrucis University College, who completed her PhD in 2024 on the Bible, nature and the geography of the land. Her thesis, When I See, I Will Remember, is now a book: Landscapes of Memory. Emma also spent five semesters living and studying at Jerusalem University College on Mount Zion, and she shares how that changed the way she reads Scripture.
You'll hear:
• What it's like to call Jerusalem home, and why the Old Testament started to feel like "a close friend"
• How a reluctant 17-year-old who thought Israel was "one big desert" had her view of the Bible turned upside down
• A Pentecostal's journey from judging icons to learning from the Orthodox Church at the Holy Sepulchre
• Where the idea for Landscapes of Memory came from: Nazareth Ridge and the Jezreel Valley
• Why the rainbow and the stars act as memory cues in Genesis
• What "green pastures" in Psalm 23 really looked like for a shepherd in ancient Israel
• Why "the valley of the shadow of death" hits differently when you've been lost in the wilderness
Chapters
00:00 Welcome Dr Emma Austin 01:17 Living and studying in Jerusalem 02:55 "Israel is just a big desert": a 17-year-old's first trip 05:29 A Pentecostal rereading of icons 11:30 Landscapes of Memory: the book 12:44 Where the idea began: Nazareth Ridge 14:26 The memory of the land 17:55 The rainbow and the stars: memory cues in Genesis 25:23 Psalm 23: what "green pastures" really means 31:29 The valley of the shadow of death 35:31 Where to learn more
Mentioned in this episode
• Landscapes of Memory by Dr Emma Austin
• Jerusalem University College, Mount Zion
• The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
• The seven churches of Revelation (Turkey)
• Nazareth Ridge, Luke 4 and the Jezreel Valley
• The rainbow after the flood (Genesis 9) and the stars promised to Abraham (Genesis 15)
• Isaiah 5 (the vineyard) and Psalm 23
• Dr Cindy Parker's book on the footsteps of Jesus
New to The Bridge? It's the podcast from Trash Your Bible where real biblical scholarship meets plain language. Academics for the average Joe.
