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E. Randolph Richards
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Brandon J. O'Brien
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4.6 out of 5 stars 1,399 ratings
Bookwi.se's Favorite Books of the Year, Non-Fiction
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.
Some readers might assume that Moses married "below himself" because his wife was a dark-skinned Cushite. Actually, Hebrews were the slave race, not the Cushites, who were highly respected. Aaron and Miriam probably thought Moses was being presumptuous by marrying "above himself."
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 crosscultural 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.
Getting beyond our own cultural assumptions is increasingly important for being Christians in our interconnected and globalized world. Learn to read Scripture as a member of the global body of Christ.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Whether rules over relationships or correctness over community, respective Western and non-Western worldviews may differ on appropriate conduct, discretion, and exceptions. Randolph and O'Brien write with grace and clarity. Though evangelical, they steer clear of moral or political agendas and give no hint of anti-Western sentiments; they even suggest someone write a complementary sequel: Misreading Scripture with Eastern Eyes. Their extensive range of biblical and contemporary samples makes this an excellent resource for confessional Bible study contexts or an entry-level textbook in undergraduate courses on biblical interpretation."-- Martin W. Mittelstadt, Religious Studies Review 39, no. 2, June 2013
"Written in engaging prose, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes is a must-have for students of the Bible, and especially students of biblical apologetics. Any seasoned traveler knows that when someone visits a foreign country for the first time, he or she will be well served by a competent guide. When it comes to the social world of the Bible, Richards and O'Brien serve as tour guides par excellence."-- James Patrick Holding, Christian Research Journal 36, no. 5
"For many, [this] book will offer a dose of humility with hope. One is encouraged to admit, 'I don't know' while at the same time is spurred on to study the Bible more. Missionaries will be challenged to think more theologically and to listen respectfully to nationals who live around them. Theologians will be forced to consider how the adage 'context is king' applies to their own worldview. This is a perfect book to discuss within small groups at church or as teams on the mission field."-- Jackson Wu, Evangelical Missions Quarterly, July 2013
"This is an outstanding treatment of a complex and important topic. . . . This would make a good textbook for courses in hermeneutics or biblical interpretation, cultural studies, prolegomena, or theological method, as well as small-group studies in a local church. The book is written at a level that educated laypeople as well as pastors, teachers, and scholars will find helpful."-- Glenn Rl. Kreider, Bibliotheca Sacra, October–December 2013
"A politely confrontational book that bids you trade in your cultural spectacles and rethink how your worldview distorts your scriptural conclusions. Sex, money, food, self-focus, prejudices, and much more: developed with apt storytelling and enlightening examples."-- Worship Leader Magazine, May 2013
"A fascinating guide for any serious Bible reader! Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes reveals the 'habits of the mind' that might blind us to the Bible's intended message. Richards and O'Brien unpack the intricacies and nuances of cultural communication to help people better understand the Bible. To help you know--and live--the Christian life more faithfully."-- Nikki Toyama-Szeto, Urbana program director, coauthor of Partnering with the Global Church
"Richards and O'Brien open our eyes to the crosscultural nature of the Bible. Their book is a helpful resource in understanding Scripture on its own terms, without imposing our assumptions on the biblical authors and their first readers."-- Lindsay Olesberg, author, The Bible Study Handbook, and senior associate for Scripture engagement, Lausanne Movement
"The authors of Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes make a convincing case that those who trust in the Bible should (for biblical reasons) be more self-conscious about themselves. Their demonstration of how unself-conscious mores influence the understanding of Scripture is as helpful as the many insights they draw from Scripture itself. This is a good book for better understanding ourselves, the Christian world as it now exists and the Bible."-- Mark A. Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, coauthor, Clouds of Witnesses: Christian Voices from Africa and Asia
"Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes is an important book that comes along at a critical moment in global evangelical history. Helpful examples reveal our cultural tendencies and biases that could hinder a deeper reading of Scripture. The authors help us to recognize our blind spots and offer insight that honors the intention of Scripture to be read in the context of community. I am grateful to the authors for their effort to be self-reflective and engage in a critical examination of our engagement with Scripture from within Western culture."-- Soong-Chan Rah, Milton B. Engebretson Associate Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary, author of The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity
"This is a revolutionary book for evangelical Bible-believers. If its readers end the book motivated to ask the questions it invites and even inspired to identify other possible misreadings because of Western cultural blinders that have not been discussed, they will be more ready to live out the kind of biblically faithful, Christ-honoring and God-fearing lives that they desire to and that the world needs."-- Amos Yong, J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology, Regent University School of Divinity, Virginia
"Randy Richards and Brandon O'Brien have written a useful and enjoyable book, which makes excellent use of good stories to illustrate the points they make. The reader will leave the book with plenty of challenging questions to ask about approaches to Scripture. Interesting, thoughtful, and user-friendly."-- Philip Jenkins, distinguished professor of history, co-director for the program on historical studies of religion, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, author of The Next Christendom --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
About the Author
E. Randolph Richards (Ph.D., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is dean of the School of Ministry and professor of biblical studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is a coauthor of Rediscovering Paul and the author of Paul and First-Century Letter Writing.
Brandon J. O'Brien is editor-at-large for Leadership and an instructor of religion at the College of DuPage. He is completing his doctorate in theological studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. O'Brien is the author of The Strategically Small Church.--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
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Product details
ASIN : B00BL3JXYE
Publisher : IVP Books (July 31, 2012)
Publication date : July 31, 2012
Language : English
File size : 629 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 241 pages
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Top reviews from the United States
James Veihdeffer
2.0 out of 5 stars Misreading Indonesian Culture with Western EyesReviewed in the United States on July 12, 2018
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While very earnest and well-meaning, this book would be more aptly titled: "Misreading Indonesian Culture with Western Eyes." This is because the book continually references Indonesian culture with Western culture in order to show how things — words, events, customs — can mean very different things in different parts of the world. This is certainly an admirable goal and the book makes a very strong case for multicultural understanding. But it’s basically Anthropology 101. This would be great if we were studying anthropology, but the book promises, and mainly fails to deliver, much in the way of understanding biblical scriptures in any meaningful way. (There is at least one notable exception…below). Lack of a subject index is particularly vexing, esp. considering there is an author index, a scripture index and footnotes.
The authors, both well-credentialed evangelistic theologians, have each spent significant time in various locales ranging from Arkansas (Brandon) to Indonesia (Randy) and use their experiences in far-flung stations to make good points about how an expression in one place is interpreted quite differently in others. “The most powerful cultural values are those that go without being said” (12). Unfortunately, most of the cross-cultural examples come from 21st century Indonesia (Randy), not 1st century Palestine. Arguably, the collectivist, family-oriented Indonesia of 2002 is a good place to make a case for not assuming that all people understand things the same way, but gives little insight into what may have been going on in Nazareth 2,000 years ago. Although there are hundreds of scriptural references, from Genesis to Revelations, very few of them actually provide any insight into how we moderns are supposedly misreading scripture based on our 21st century mores. And many of the putative insights are little more than minute, nitpicky differentiations, as in the discussion of 1st C “modesty” where they make a big deal out of the difference between “sexual modesty” and “public modesty” in the matter of women covering their heads (43). Another notable example is the discussion of what it means to be “first” (relating to Paul’s letter about Adam being born first and thus having authority over women in teaching). The authors claim that it’s our modern understanding of ‘first’ as meaning “better” which leads us astray, since in biblical times the rules of primogeniture simply meant the firstborn received the greater inheritance, the family title, assumed responsibility etc.….the authors say (13). But if that doesn’t somehow mean “better” or “preferred” it’s hard to know what would. In fact, its seems to the modern reader to be a rather dodgy apologetic for giving women 2nd-hand status.
That said, one excellent insight has to do with the use of the Greek word 'makarios' in the Sermon on the Mount (the Beatitudes), usually translated as “blessed” or “blessing.” But the Greek more properly translates as “a feeling of contentment” or “when one knows one’s place in the world and is satisfied with that place” (75). The English language prefers clear subjects for its verbs, so it goes without saying (for us) that God blesses people. So we interpret the verse at Matt 5:9 as “If you are a peacemaker, then God will bless you.” But what the Jesus figure really meant was: “If you are a peacemaker, then you are in your happy place.” In other words, you will experience the feeling of contentment with your life if you are a peacemaker. This is part of a discussion on the important Whorfian hypothesis (aka Sapir-Whorf) to account for how our language shapes our worldview and in turn filters what we notice and how we interpret reality (71). Unfortunately, having made the point about makarios, the book doesn’t then go ahead and relate this wonderful theme to the actual subject matter of the book. We do however get a delightful example of the many distinctions of the word ‘rice’ in Indonesia compared to Western society (73) — as well as the Indonesian ideas of “privacy” and “quiet time.”
Interestingly, we also learn that the term 'Galatae' (as in the epistle to the Galatians) was used by the Greeks to denote Celtic tribes in the 270s BCE. The "Land of the Celts" is the Latin transliteration of the Greek 'celtica.' However, the authors don’t even get this quite right, calling the Roman term for Galatia a “mispronunciation of the word Celts” (57).
Alas, along the way the authors make what we might politely call “rookie mistakes,” considering that one (Randy) is a Ph.D. and dean of the School of Ministry at Palm Beach Atlantic University and the other (Brandon) is completing his doctorate in theology. For example, they try to introduce a point saying, “assuming the first gospel was written by the disciple Matthew” (79) — yet most biblical scholars acknowledge, and have for decades, that Mark was the first gospel composed (despite the conventional order presented in the N.T.) . Furthermore, Matt is usually dated toward the last quarter of the 1st C, attributed to a Greek-speaking anonymous Jew in Syria, not an Aramaic-speaking contemporary of Jesus. This is first-year theology school stuff.
Another oddity has to do with the question of whether there were female apostles in the early church. The authors bring up Junia and co-laborer (or husband?) Andronicus, whom the authors say are “both called apostles” in Rom 16:7. The effort to show how our modern culture clings to “rules” rather than “relationships” is laudable but once again their scholarship is lacking. They do acknowledge that scholars hotly debate about Junia/Junias, but then make the wild claim that “scholarship has now shown conclusively that Junia is a feminine name” (172). But that’s either a red herring or simple lack of awareness of the debate since the question has never been whether ‘Junia’ is feminine, but whether the Greek word Paul uses is <I>᾿Ιουνιᾶν</I> or <i>᾿Ιουνίαν</i> [‘iounia(s)] and is therefore best translated as Junia or Junias. Further, the real debate questions whether Paul was saying “of note among the apostles” to mean “prominent among” or “well known to the apostles.”
This IVP publication is full of gross over-generalizations (“In the West, rules must apply to everyone and they must apply all the time”) (168) and, many people thought the world was going to end in 2000…so we called it Y2K (145); and Westerners think mainly in terms of 'chronos' (like clock time) whereas ancients thought in terms of 'kairos' (seasons, situations) (142). Of course we get an excellent Indonesian example of the difference there (139).
Nevertheless, while the concept of this book is excellent — because the Middle Eastern bible was written in terms of collectivism, honor and shame, and family expectations, we need to be sensitive to the differences in cultural outlooks — there are much better treatments of the theme like Spong’s <i>Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy</i> or his <i>Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes.</i> or Scott Korb's <i>Life in Year One</i>. These (and others) address the “misreading” issues in a much more scholarly and on-topic way with fewer diversions into well-meaning but generic Intro to Anthropology discussions.
Finally, a style note. Because there are two authors with different missionary experiences, the authors chose to write incessantly in first person mode with “I (Randy) was often struck that telling stories for Indonesians…” (147) or “My (Brandon’s) acting career…” (100). This was fine for a while but after about a hundred instances, we yearn for a simple 3rd-person style: “Brandon’s acting career…”
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M.A. Singa
1.0 out of 5 stars Completely ridiculous, a major disappointmentReviewed in the United States on December 3, 2018
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I was really excited to get this book, but the absolute best part is the Introduction. As the book progressed, I found myself wondering how on earth people who so seriously misunderstand basic gospel principles ended up teaching at a Bible college (one of the authors) or teaching world religions at a secular college (the other author). For example, they try to say that the reason anyone mentioned where someone was from in the Bible is because they were racist - I’m sorry, but Rebecca does not bring up the place Esau’s wife is from because she’s racist, she brings it up because it means they are not the same religion, and Esau has therefore married outside of the covenant! They twist things in scriptural passages so intensely (both in what they think most people understand them to say and in what they claim the passages “really” say) in their effort to make a point, that I could barely finish the book. There are so many missed opportunities to point out differences in Eastern and Western thought, it’s almost absurd that the authors focused on what they did. This book is completely ridiculous, a major disappointment, and ultimately a waste of money. Definitely do NOT recommend.
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Browning
1.0 out of 5 stars About Indonesia and not Ancient Near EastReviewed in the United States on August 17, 2018
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I thought this would give a good new prospective on the themes surrounding the writings of the New Testament instead, I got The West is wrong in pretty much everything and other cultures got it right. Plus, they go very near total multicultural PC hating on the West. They do not actually prove that other cultures are correct instead it is inferred. Heck they even brought up how they were "Both White Males" and therefore couldn't understand other cultures. It appeared more of a "you are wrong and therefore should just shutup and listen to how others do it" vibe. Not what the title presents this book as. Beware.
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James M. Brennan
1.0 out of 5 stars The Title is a Lie.Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2018
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My men's group was excited to dig into this one, but quickly grew disappointed and annoyed. The title is a misnomer. While there are a few examples of how folks with a Western way of thinking sometimes misunderstand specific passages of the Bible, that's not what this book is about. These authors have a very clear agenda of how they think Christianity should be more collectivist, and it's cultural relativism gone too far. Over and over, they talk about how other cultures do things (most prominently Indonesia), and infer that the Western way is not just different, but wrong. They're welcome to think that. And some of it is interesting. But it doesn't support the premise of the book. It's really too bad, because we were looking forward to being challenged and shown how some passages can be read in a new (old) light. But there's actually very little scripture quoted in the book. More often, the authors make a claim that scripture says 'such and such', but then don't back it up, or they quote some verses that clearly don't mean what they are inferring. Instead, they give more examples of how other cultures do things, as if that backs up their premise of what they claim the Bible says. If anyone is misreading, it's the authors. They should read the title of their book.
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Mr R J Madeley
5.0 out of 5 stars An essential book for real biblical studyReviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2019
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This is a superb book for anyone who is seriously interested in studying the bible to discover what it really teaches. It looks at all the context elements that can lead us to misread biblical passages. It addresses the elements that "go without being said", either for the historical writers but not us (which mean we are missing vital pieces of the jigsaw to help our understanding) or for us (which means we layer our own world view on top, distorting the meaning). In the course we also see how our western world view and assumptions are not the same as those held by the many non-western christians - leading to differences in our understanding of scripture. Particularly informative are the sections on Honour / Shame cultures, which characterised biblical times but which are mostly misunderstood by modern western readers. The explanation of the story of David and Bathsheba in these terms is like scales falling from your eyes.
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LunarE
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book! Of course it cannot cover every verse ...Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2018
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Excellent book! Of course it cannot cover every verse in Scripture that Western eyes may misread, but it encourages the reader to think again when he reads the Bible and not just adopt the "obvious" view. Some parts are truly eye-opening when one realizes how far removed the Biblical culture is to ours today. Recommended read to anyone, not just Bible scholars, teachers and students!
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stefanus
4.0 out of 5 stars good for the laymanReviewed in the United Kingdom on November 18, 2020
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it was fine, great for the layman or someone with little or no knowledge of scriptural back ground, i would recommend it anyone starting out. But there is nothing new in there that i snot readily available elsewhere. I would however highly recommend the books by Kenneth Bailey which are excellent even for the more mature Scripture reader
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D. C. Bowen
5.0 out of 5 stars A transformationalReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2019
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If you are interested in understanding how the world you grow up in influences how we interpret the bible, how their society affected how and what the disciples wrote: and how to understand it then this is the book for you.
Well written, engaging and thought provoking this is the book that can ignite a real voyage of discovery.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars An important development in Social Science Biblical CriticismReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2019
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Although mainly writeen for a United States audience, this is an important book and developes and balances the work of the Context Group by widenning the scope to include social reality as well as cultural trends.
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