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Review: Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes

Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes book cover on blue background

This is one of the books that I will need to get a print copy of due to how incredible its content was in helping me better understand some of the Bible passages it covered. Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes by E. Randolph Richards and Richard James is a must-read when it comes to cross-cultural knowledge and biblical application.

Book Synopsis

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.

Source: Amazon

Book Thoughts

Imagine my delight at discovering that there was a follow-up book written after Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes! This book was such an eye-opening and insightful analysis of stories and events that are familiar from the Bible, but where we may be missing a few pieces of the puzzle from fully understanding it due to our own cultural context. There were countless moments where I had to stop and rethink of certain accounts and reinterpret them from a new lens, precisely what the authors succeeded in doing when recounting details from collectivist cultures.

I appreciated gaining newfound revelations of Abraham and Sarah's story and that of the Prodigal Son, shedding light on circumstances that vastly differ from individualistic ways of thinking where honour, patronage, shame, and so many other concepts are not as prominent in our daily life. Not only did the authors point out societal norms that made the stories make more sense, it provided a deeper meaning to what it meant for God to send His Son into the world the way that He did. Readers who love studying cultural nuances and the bearing they have on how people act and why they do what they do will find this book most enriching when studying the Bible.

Book Summary

  • Format of book: 🎧
  • Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Recommendation: 👍
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