Play Book Tag discussion

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by Richards and and O'Brien
4 Stars
Audiobook

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: 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. 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.

As a minister, all too often the problem with books on reading scripture is that they take the approach of telling the reader how they should interpret certain verses. They take a singular dogmatic doctrinal view and try to force all readers to accept that view. A major selling point of this book for me is the focus on concepts instead of particular interpretation.

Some of the concepts explored included: Individual vs. Collective; Right/Wrong vs. Honor/Shame; Sexual Modesty vs. Monetary Modesty; and Themes vs. Chronology as a structure for writing.

Clearly, the book focuses on reading scriptures as a Christian, but it also presents an interesting take on the values of our western culture that touch on where we are today with politics, the pandemic, entertainment, and general interactions.

This quote captures one of the themes so well and is extremely relevant outside of just how we read scripture:

"Western societies are, by and large, individualistic societies. The most important entity in an individualistic culture is the individual person."

My only reason for giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that it felt a bit repetitive towards the end. Overall, the book is well written, the narration is well done, and the book is quite thought provoking.