Misreading Scripture With Individualist Eyes

Author : E. Randolph Richards
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 0830843795
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes written by E. Randolph Richards and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bible was written within collectivist cultures. When Westerners, immersed in individualism, read the Bible, it's easy to misinterpret important elements—or miss them altogether. In any culture, the most important things usually go without being said. So to read Scripture well we benefit when we uncover the unspoken social structures and values of its world. We need to recalibrate our vision. Combining the expertise of a biblical scholar and a missionary practitioner, Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes is an essential guidebook to the cultural background of the Bible and how it should inform our reading. E. Randolph Richards and Richard James explore deep social structures of the ancient Mediterranean—kinship, patronage, and brokerage—along with their key social tools—honor, shame, and boundaries—that the biblical authors lived in and lie below the surface of each text. From Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar to Peter's instructions to elders, the authors strip away individualist assumptions and bring the world of the biblical writers to life. Expanding on the popular Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, this book makes clear how understanding collectivism will help us better understand the Bible, which in turn will help us live more faithfully in an increasingly globalized world.

Author : E. Randolph Richards
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 0830863478
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes written by E. Randolph Richards and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2012-07-31 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 100,000 Copies Sold Worldwide! ECPA Bronze Sales Award Bookwi.se's Favorite Books of the Year 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.

Author : Jeremiah L. Alberg
Publisher : MSU Press
ISBN 13 : 1609173643
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Beneath the Veil of the Strange Verses written by Jeremiah L. Alberg and published by MSU Press. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jeremiah Alberg’s fascinating book explores a phenomenon almost every news reader has experienced: the curious tendency to skim over dispatches from war zones, political battlefields, and economic centers, only to be drawn in by headlines announcing a late-breaking scandal. Rationally we would agree that the former are of more significance and importance, but they do not pique our curiosity in quite the same way. The affective reaction to scandal is one both of interest and of embarrassment or anger at the interest. The reader is at the same time attracted to and repulsed by it. Beneath the Veil of the Strange Verses describes the roots out of which this conflicted desire grows, and it explores how this desire mirrors the violence that undergirds the scandal itself. The book shows how readers seem to be confronted with a stark choice: either turn away from scandal completely or become enthralled and thus trapped by it. Using examples from philosophy, literature, and the Bible, Alberg leads the reader on a road out of this false dichotomy. By its nature, the author argues, scandal is the basis of our reading; it is the source of the obstacles that prevent us from understanding what we read, and of the bridges that lead to a deeper grasp of the truth.

Author : Dan Gibson
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 083085858X
Total Pages : 118 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Besides the Bible written by Dan Gibson and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2012-01-04 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: So many books, so little time. How do you decide what to read? Walking into a bookstore, a library, or looking online can be an intimidating and overwhelming experience, to say the least. With so many options and not knowing what's best for you, it's easy to just end up making an impulse buy or giving up on reading altogether. We barely spend as much time reading as we'd like, and then we often end up completely frustrated by what we chose to read. Besides the Bible is a guide to the really great books that you should read—ones that matter. Covering a wide array of subjects and authors, from Christian bookstore best sellers to classics of Christian history and more, you'll find yourself agreeing with some titles, shaking your head at others, and even shocked by a few. This isn't a dry catalog with dull summaries of books authored by a bunch of dead guys. Dan Gibson, Jordan Green, and John Pattison, along with an all-star team of today's most interesting Christian thinkers—including Donald Miller, Derek Webb, Phyllis Tickle, Steve Taylor, and William P. Young— will re-ignite your love for reading or if you're a little lazy, give you enough information to make it seem like you're incredibly well read.

Author : Dean Flemming
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 0830874798
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Contextualization in the New Testament written by Dean Flemming and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2009-09-20 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of a 2006 Christianity Today Book Award! Honored as one of the "Fifteen Outstanding Books of 2005 for Mission Studies" by International Bulletin of Missionary Research From Cairo to Calcutta, from Cochabamba to Columbus, Christians are engaged in a conversation about how to speak and live the gospel in today's traditional, modern and emergent cultures. The technical term for their efforts is contextualization. Missionary theorists have pondered and written on it at length. More and more, those who do theology in the West are also trying to discover new ways of communicating and embodying the gospel for an emerging postmodern culture. But few have considered in depth how the early church contextualized the gospel. And yet the New Testament provides numerous examples. As both a crosscultural missionary and a New Testament scholar, Dean Flemming is well equipped to examine how the early church contextualized the gospel and to draw out lessons for today. By carefully sifting the New Testament evidence, Flemming uncovers the patterns and parameters of a Paul or Mark or John as they spoke the Word on target, and he brings these to bear on our contemporary missiological task. Rich in insights and conversant with frontline thinking, this is a book that will revitalize the conversation and refresh our speaking and living the gospel in today's cultures, whether in traditional, modern or emergent contexts.

Author : Gary Yamasaki
Publisher : James Clarke & Company
ISBN 13 : 0227901703
Total Pages : 163 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Perspective Criticism written by Gary Yamasaki and published by James Clarke & Company. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perspective Criticism sets out a new and illuminating biblical methodology designed to help the reader of biblical narratives in which there is a character engaged in action but no explicit indication from the storyteller on how the action is to be evaluated. Gary Yamasaki argues that in these cases we are receiving cryptic guidance from the author through the narrative technique of point-of-view. In such cases the methodology of Perspective Criticism may be applied to reveal this abstruse guidance. Gary Yamasaki provides a series of frames of analysis within the theory of Perspective Criticism which may be applied to biblical stories: the spatial, psychological, informational, temporal, phraseological, and ideological perspectives. Because the majority of the point-of-view devices found in biblical narratives are also used in cinematic storytelling, the book includes accessible analyses of film scenes, providing pop-culture illustrations of the workings of the point-of-view perspective. Gary Yamasaki concludes by applying his method to two case studies: the New Testament story of Gamaliel, and the Old Testament story of Gideon. In his work Yamasaki creates a valuable foundation for the deeper understanding of biblical narrative, a gift to anyone who has struggled with the concealed messages that should be divined in biblical point-of-view narratives.

Author : E. Randolph Richards
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 0830873325
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Paul Behaving Badly written by E. Randolph Richards and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The apostle Paul was kind of a jerk. He was arrogant and stubborn. He called his opponents derogatory, racist names. He legitimized slavery and silenced women. He was a moralistic, homophobic killjoy who imposed his narrow religious views on others. Or was he? Randolph Richards and Brandon O'Brien explore the complicated persona and teachings of the apostle Paul. Unpacking his personal history and cultural context, they show how Paul both offended Roman perspectives and scandalized Jewish sensibilities. His vision of Christian faith was deeply disturbing to those in his day and remains so in ours. Paul behaved badly, but not just in the ways we might think. Take another look at Paul and see why this "worst of sinners" dares to say, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."

Author : Andy McCullough
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1725269279
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.79/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Bethlehem Story written by Andy McCullough and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-04-14 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but why Bethlehem? Why should God purpose to become man somewhere so marginal, so insignificant? This book follows the unfolding story of Bethlehem through the Bible, from the death of Rachel to the birth of Jesus, uniquely combining four perspectives: a) the Bible as one developing story, b) the Bible as a Middle Eastern book, c) insights from contemporary Palestinians from Bethlehem, and d) what this means for mission. Suffering Rachel, refugee Rahab, vulnerable Ruth, overlooked David all have a connection with Bethlehem. If Bethlehem shelters refugees, then so must we. If Bethlehem welcomes strangers, so must we. If Bethlehem weeps at injustice, and takes a stand against empire, so must we. What we see in Bethlehem’s story, we apply to our own stories. We enter into Bethlehem’s story with as much cultural and geographical colour and flavour as we can muster in order to feel the crises, taste the dust, hear the lambs bleating on the hillside. And there we find the Christ-child, son of David, the Good Shepherd, Lion of Judah, Bread of Life, Lamb of God, fulfilling all the recurring themes, taking his inevitable place as rightful king.

Author : Douglas S Earl
Publisher : James Clarke & Company
ISBN 13 : 0227902149
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Joshua Delusion written by Douglas S Earl and published by James Clarke & Company. This book was released on 2011-06-30 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Christians wrestle with biblical passages in which God commands the slaughter of the Canaanites - men, women, and children - and the book of Joshua in particular showcases the genocidal violence which saturates the Old Testament. The issue of the morality of the God portrayed in these passages is one of the major challenges for faith today, leading many Christians to cast doubt over what, if any, theological value can be gleamed from such accounts and how they can even be called Holy Scripture. In this bold and innovative book Douglas Earl grasps the bull by the horns and guides readers to new and unexpected ways of looking at the book of Joshua.

Author : Stephen W. Smith
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 0830844287
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Inside Job written by Stephen W. Smith and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2015-06-05 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leaders work hard to succeed, but often at the cost of their own souls. Stephen W. Smith helps leaders set aside the life-draining values of power and position and instead explore the life-giving qualities of building character. There is a better way to live than the craziness of our driven world. This is your invitation to journey inside and do the work within your work.