vanitar's review
4.0
A good book on gaining cultural perspectives different from a Western point of view. There are different topics highlighted to increase awareness of how Westerners likely read the bible through a lens that has a tendency to distort the original meaning. Covers some important topics like shame/honour, time, individualism/communal life, etc.
bookzealots's review
1.0
using half of a verse to twist the meanings to fit your narrative is deceptive.
I'll be burning this book. It's absolute garbage.
I'll be burning this book. It's absolute garbage.
chloewakham's review
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Death
lstearns's review
4.0
This book was fascinating. I constantly felt torn between wanting to learn more about the cultural differences between modern Western culture and ancient Eastern culture but also feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of new information that pretty significantly changes a lot of scriptural implications. I don’t think any pillars of the faith are shaken by this book, but I do think the authors give you a lot to think about and reflect on. It’s difficult to be made aware of your own cultural norms because by their nature you are blind to them, but it’s even more difficult to be made aware of how those norms could be causing you to misinterpret Scripture. I thought this book was well written and served it’s purpose for getting the ball rolling on this topic. It’s definitely one to wrestle with.
theremightbecupcakes's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
sophiabarrygordon's review
4.0
Some notes on practice… but really fascinating from an academic (and for me, linguistic) pov!
reader_cheryl's review
4.0
In this informative book, the authors--E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien--take the reader through the multiple (but not all) ways Western Christians misread words written hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago, in cultures far removed from ours. This misreading is done by interpreting Scripture through the wrong lenses, and some of these lenses are: race & ethnicity, language, individualism and collectivism--where conduct isn't determined by an individual, but by a larger group--time, or virtue and vice.
The strongest chapter, for me anyway since it's one of my own pet peeves, is toward the end of the book and is titled "It's All About Me: Finding the Center of God's Will." In this section, the authors tackle the huge problem that is endemic in evangelical Christianity--the cult of "me." When Scripture is interpreted through the lens of "me", fundamental differences arise between current belief and what the ancient words actually mean. The authors state in the conclusion to this section: "[t]his cultural assumption about the supremacy of me is the one to which we Westerners are perhaps blindest...When we realize that each passage of Scripture is not about me, we begin to gradually see that the true subject matter in the Bible, what the book is really about, is God's redeeming work in Christ...I am not the center of God's kingdom work" (207-208.)
It's worth the price of the book if that is the only concept anyone walks away with.
While I don't agree with everything in the authors say--what they say is very much worth reading. When Scripture is read without consideration of, or knowledge about, the societies, cultures, and time periods these passages were written in, reading Scripture becomes a selfish act, one that ignores what is our spiritual heritage, lived out by our spiritual ancestors. Our history is rendered irrelevant, which leads back to the cult of "me."
The book is divided into chapters, with subheadings. Each chapter has a conclusion and a set of questions at the end, making this book ideal for group study.
The strongest chapter, for me anyway since it's one of my own pet peeves, is toward the end of the book and is titled "It's All About Me: Finding the Center of God's Will." In this section, the authors tackle the huge problem that is endemic in evangelical Christianity--the cult of "me." When Scripture is interpreted through the lens of "me", fundamental differences arise between current belief and what the ancient words actually mean. The authors state in the conclusion to this section: "[t]his cultural assumption about the supremacy of me is the one to which we Westerners are perhaps blindest...When we realize that each passage of Scripture is not about me, we begin to gradually see that the true subject matter in the Bible, what the book is really about, is God's redeeming work in Christ...I am not the center of God's kingdom work" (207-208.)
It's worth the price of the book if that is the only concept anyone walks away with.
While I don't agree with everything in the authors say--what they say is very much worth reading. When Scripture is read without consideration of, or knowledge about, the societies, cultures, and time periods these passages were written in, reading Scripture becomes a selfish act, one that ignores what is our spiritual heritage, lived out by our spiritual ancestors. Our history is rendered irrelevant, which leads back to the cult of "me."
The book is divided into chapters, with subheadings. Each chapter has a conclusion and a set of questions at the end, making this book ideal for group study.
narnianbrigette's review
3.0
This was an interesting book and a great topic to be more aware of, though I'm not sure it was always done well in this particular book.
It brings up a lot of interesting points, and I appreciate the questions they provide at the end of each chapter and the section at the end with a list of books for further reading. This is definitely a topic that requires much more thought and study than can be found in a 200 page book. The writers even state in the beginning that this is meant to just be an introduction to this topic, not a comprehensive be-all end-all book.
However, again, I'm not sure it always came across like that, or maybe the idea of this just being a rather short and general discussion was flawed to begin with, considering all the aspects they try to cover. Collectivism vs individualism, honor/shame vs right/wrong, rules and relationships… Even just in that list, there's a lot to cover, and I felt like some of it was generalized too much and forced into being opposites when there is some overlap between two viewpoints.
Not to mention the lack of a variety of cultures to give better examples of what they're talking about. It feels like they only really use a generalized view of American culture and a generalized view of Indonesian culture as their only real examples of “western” and “eastern” cultures. I understand they're both American, and one of them lived in Indonesia for a long time, so they're most familiar with them. But it just feels lacking to only use two major examples, and even then to generalize them to some extent, as if either country is just one big monolith of opinions and beliefs. I'm sure that wasn't their intention, and obviously covering every single set of beliefs would be nearly impossible, but I do still wish we had a better variety discussed.
I also didn't agree with their interpretation of the story with David and Bathsheba, but that's not really the point of the book, so that's more of a minor problem I guess.
Anyway, overall, this is a good topic to be aware of, and I think this may be a good starting point to dip one's toes in the idea that reading the Bible through “Western” perspectives can warp the original intent and context. But that's all it really is, a starting point. Not necessarily the best starting point, just a very basic surface-level one.
It brings up a lot of interesting points, and I appreciate the questions they provide at the end of each chapter and the section at the end with a list of books for further reading. This is definitely a topic that requires much more thought and study than can be found in a 200 page book. The writers even state in the beginning that this is meant to just be an introduction to this topic, not a comprehensive be-all end-all book.
However, again, I'm not sure it always came across like that, or maybe the idea of this just being a rather short and general discussion was flawed to begin with, considering all the aspects they try to cover. Collectivism vs individualism, honor/shame vs right/wrong, rules and relationships… Even just in that list, there's a lot to cover, and I felt like some of it was generalized too much and forced into being opposites when there is some overlap between two viewpoints.
Not to mention the lack of a variety of cultures to give better examples of what they're talking about. It feels like they only really use a generalized view of American culture and a generalized view of Indonesian culture as their only real examples of “western” and “eastern” cultures. I understand they're both American, and one of them lived in Indonesia for a long time, so they're most familiar with them. But it just feels lacking to only use two major examples, and even then to generalize them to some extent, as if either country is just one big monolith of opinions and beliefs. I'm sure that wasn't their intention, and obviously covering every single set of beliefs would be nearly impossible, but I do still wish we had a better variety discussed.
I also didn't agree with their interpretation of the story with David and Bathsheba, but that's not really the point of the book, so that's more of a minor problem I guess.
Anyway, overall, this is a good topic to be aware of, and I think this may be a good starting point to dip one's toes in the idea that reading the Bible through “Western” perspectives can warp the original intent and context. But that's all it really is, a starting point. Not necessarily the best starting point, just a very basic surface-level one.