BESTIARIES, SYMBOLISM,
AND SIMILITUDES
Who Is Like God? How Shall
We Know Him?
Jesus came speaking in parables; He used common occurrences
such as a lost coin, a prodigal son, and a house built upon a
rock to teach people about their heavenly Father and the kingdom
of God. The prophets also used parables, symbols, and similitudes
to help Israel understand and remember God's messages. God's
people were His sheep; Jesus was the Good Shepherd; His followers
had to pick up their crosses. In "Everybody's Sermon,"
Charles Spurgeon, speaking on similitudes, taught, "Every
animal that you see, every spot you visit, has
a sermon for you." St. Paul taught that God's attributes
could be "clearly seen by the mind's understanding of created
things" (Romans 1:20 NJB). Medieval bestiaries were based
on the idea that God had created animals for our instruction.
During the Middle Ages, bestiaries were popular nature books.
They contained descriptions of real animals, fantastic beasts,
and other natural objects. Each entry had a moral or religious
lesson drawn from the author's understanding of that creature's
habits. By reading bestiaries, we can become familiar with animal
symbolism in religious art, literature, and architecture.
Except where otherwise indicated all scripture quotes are
from the NKJV.
© 1999-2004 by Suzetta Tucker
Learn More About Bestiaries
At:
- The
Aberdeen Bestiary Project
-
- Encyclopedia
Mythica Bestiary.
-
-
- Antlion Pit
Medieval Bestiaries and the Birth of Zoology
-
- Bestiary
- Wikipedia
-
- The Medieval
Bestiary
-
- The
Bestiary A Book of Beasts by T.H. White
-
- The Book of
Nature
-
- CATHOLIC
ENCYCLOPEDIA Bestiaries
-
- CATHOLIC
ENCYCLOPEDIA Physiologus
-
- Everybody's
Sermon (Spurgeon's Sermon About Similitudes
Nature Sites
- eNature.com
-
- WildWNC.org
Animals
MAY 2006: All links updated.
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