Misreading Scripture with Western Eye..., E Randolph Richards
Misreading Scripture with Western Eye..., E Randolph Richards
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Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes
Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible

Author: E Randolph Richards, Brandon J. O'Brien

Narrator: Tom Parks

Unabridged: 8 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/26/2023

Synopsis

What was clear to the original readers of Scripture is not always clear to us. Because of the cultural distance between the biblical world and our contemporary setting, we often bring modern Western biases to the text. For example, when Western readers hear Paul exhorting women to "dress modestly," we automatically think in terms of sexual modesty. But most women in that culture would never wear racy clothing. The context suggests that Paul is likely more concerned about economic modesty—that Christian women not flaunt their wealth through expensive clothes, braided hair, and gold jewelry. By the same token, Western individualism leads us to assume that Mary and Joseph traveled alone to Bethlehem. What went without saying was that they were likely accompanied by a large entourage of extended family.

Biblical scholars Brandon O'Brien and Randy Richards shed light on the ways that Western readers often misunderstand the cultural dynamics of the Bible. They identify nine key areas where modern Westerners have significantly different assumptions about what might be going on in a text. Drawing on their own cross-cultural experience in global mission, O'Brien and Richards show how better self-awareness and understanding of cultural differences in language, time, and social mores allow us to see the Bible in fresh and unexpected ways.

About E Randolph Richards

E. Randolph Richards is Research Professor of New Testament in the School of Ministry at Palm Beach Atlantic University. His many books include Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, Rediscovering Jesus, Rediscovering Paul, The Story of Israel, and Paul and First-Century Letter Writing.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Robert on April 02, 2017

I'm sorry to say that, altho I expected much more of this book, I was disappointed. I am, myself, a European educated USAian, who has spent the last 30 years in evangelical theological education in the Arab World, so I was hoping to find orientation and insights. Unfortunately, I found a rambling on a......more

Goodreads review by Amy on October 04, 2020

This book will mess with your head, but in the best ways. It is smart, funny, fascinating, startling, and extremely readable. In fact, it's just the sort of book the church needs more of: a serious and thoughtful exploration of theology and hermeneutics, yet accessible to the average Christian, not......more

Goodreads review by Brian on December 16, 2021

I’m surprised how much I liked this. The authors are earnest, Bible-literalist Christians, but their educations in biblical languages plus their pastoral experience in Europe, Indonesia, and the USA, makes them interestingly self-critical about the cultural assumptions they bring to the text. They n......more

Goodreads review by Bob on March 14, 2013

All of us assume things that "go without saying." And, until we encounter other cultures, we tend to assume that the things that go without saying are universally true. Furthermore, we are not aware of these assumptions ordinarily. We don't see them, we see "through" them. Richards and O'Brien take t......more

Goodreads review by Eric on October 05, 2015

The book rescues itself somewhat in its final chapters. Prior to that, I would have given the book a much more negative rating. The first 3/4 of the books suffers from over identification with Indonesian culture and it itself appears to be a reading based on Western academic assumptions that the Wes......more

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