Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible

I first encountered the idea that Western individuals misread the Bible some ten years ago. Since then I've read various works covering different aspects of this important topic, from general concepts to specific treatments.

"Misreading" is a great overview, but it works through specific examples to illustrate and instruct how the Western mind "sees" things in scripture that aren't there and misses things that are. I found much here that was new and useful in my continuing studies on this topic and for applying to my own and group studies.

The authors are serious scholars of the Bible and their call for every Christian to take the Bible more seriously by uncovering and understanding our own cultural biases, to seek to read the Biblical text as it was expected to be read by its original audiences, and then seek to find applications that are faithful to the actual intent of the text, rather than imposing our own cultural expectations upon it.

As with any commentary or analysis of anything else written, we need to be sure to read the primary source first.

All things considered, this was very informative. I even mostly enjoyed it. In the last chapters there were some liberties taken with what scripture says which flirted dangerously close to moral relativism, so I would encourage folks to heed the authors warning at the beginning of the book to put any assumption or conclusion against what scripture as a whole says.

All things considered, this was good. But it is important to read thoughtfully and realize the authors, too, are just men, and not inerrant.

I really enjoyed this book. It was very revealing to see the cultural bias' that 21st Century Americans read into the Holy Scripture. It's helped me to be careful as I read, not to 'assume' my American mores into the text and at the same time desire to know more about the historical context of the passages that I'm reading. I recommend this book to all of my American brothers and sisters in Christ. Gospel Blessings!

This book is a fantastic introduction to the many hermeneutical questions we (as white westerners) need to be asking everyday. It provided clear examples and accessible understanding of cross-cultural complexities.

I found the book to very insightful. It has changed the way in which I approach scripture. It's taking many several months to read because after I read a paragraph or chapter, I have to take time to critically think about what has been explained in the book. Some concepts I have to wrestle with for quite a while before I get what is being said. That is not a bad thing by the way. I think this is a great book because as Westerners, we think everything must fall in line with our views as though the most important and best selling book of all time started in our land and language. Jesus was not a Westerner and we must view the Bible in view of a Middle easterner as best we can.
Please, write another book.

If you consider yourself a serious student of the Bible, this book is a must read. The perspective the authors provide on the impact of culture, especially Western culture, on our understanding of the Bible is powerful. I've already recommended it to several of my friends and have written a blog post about it. There are some things in the book that will challenge your thinking and perhaps make you question the authors' conclusions, but that's what makes it so insightful. I have it on my Kindle now, but it is one of those books that will definitely end up on my bookshelf.

If you consider yourself a serious student of the Bible, this book is a must read. The perspective the authors provide on the impact of culture, especially Western culture, on our understanding of the Bible is powerful. I've already recommended it to several of my friends and have written a blog post about it. There are some things in the book that will challenge your thinking and perhaps make you question the authors' conclusions, but that's what makes it so insightful. I have it on my Kindle now, but it is one of those books that will definitely end up on my bookshelf.

Superb. Read three times in first week and bought copies for friends. The breadth of the argument extends beyond Christianity and is in accord with my own experiences living overseas. Well worth reading.

Everyone who reads their bible, interprets it from where they are, who they are, where they live, how they were raised, what previous religious training they received.... and the list goes on.

The simple and wholly erroneous "The Bible says" is nothing more than an unintelligent attempt to demand the bible say what you want it to say, what I want it to say.

This wonderful book helps strip the binders away. A careful reading will convict every reader of some blindness proposed as truth. I had to put it down many times. My blindness caused me to bump into much of the furniture I had arranged in my mind to explain (interpret) the bible in ways that comforted me. Richards is to be commended for a continuing the work of healers: "bringing sight to the blind."

I found this book easy to read, entertaining, and offering an interesting view of an alternative cultural viewpoint. It helped me understand why the Bible says what it says, the way it says it.
The author uses his experiences as a missionary to Indonesia to contrast 21st century American culture with ancient Israel. While I have no doubt Indonesian culture is different than American, and that ancient Israel was different than America, I left the book not sure Indonesia is a valid analog for 1st century Christians.
I'm glad I read the book, I have recommended it to a friend.

This book is fascinating. I am a long-time student of the Bible with two Biblical degrees and I am eating up the information in this book. It has caused me to pause and question the unspoken assumptions I have imposed on the Biblical text. I appreciate the exposure to the context that the Bible was written in and the interpretations from non-western perspectives. At first I bought the book for myself. Then I bought a second copy for my mom. Now I'm going to recommend it to the leadership team at church and the theology professors at a local seminary.

This is simply a must read book. The thoughts that it provokes will help one understand their faith better, understand their relationship to Christians worldwide and help one advance their reading and interpretation of the Bible.

This book did for me exactly what the authors set out to do, which is to start to remove the cultural blinders that I've had in place when reading the scriptures. I found it completely fascinating in many places, and I was constantly reading passages to my wife, who was also quite intrigued. I plan to reread it and to take a little more time with it, but I'm currently reading "Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes" by Bailey, which is another good book for expanding the world view of Westerners.

The authors are very through in their analysis of what goes without being said in western cultures and how that completely leads us to miss vast riches in the Scriptures and even misapply various text. Filled with real life examples, it is a great read.

This is a fascinating book detailing some of the ways our 21st century culture might cause us to misunderstand or not completely understand scripture that was written to ancient cultures. The only "problem" is that it is not long enough--I wish the authors would write more on the subject. Their purpose, however, was to teach the book's audience to be aware of culture while reading the Bible and become better readers and interpreters of God's Word. They did a great job!

We westerners seldom examine our presuppositions and assumptions when we approach scripture from a vastly different time and culture. We tend to see Sarai/Sarah as an eavesdropper rather that the gracious hostess/wife for husband Abram/Abraham when we read of their entertaining guests. Many of us judge by our standards. Richards offers an entire study on learning to understand the cultural context from which scripture comes and help us move beyond our own limiting western culture and modern time. Most of the folks in my class recognize that the scriptural heroes and villains did not have cell phones, but fail to understand many customs, traditions, and practices of ancient cultures, both biblical cultures and those from the region, which clearly interact with the biblical cultures. This is a very useful book for anyone who wishes a deeper understanding of scripture or who wants to challenge a Bible class to a deeper understanding of scripture.