Having an interesting and thought provoking time reading “Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes - Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible” by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien.
It’s a challenge to us to spotlight ‘what goes without saying’ in our own culture hence adds to the decolonisation conversation.
It throws up a specific linguistic argument against my own denominational forebears in the sphere of classical liberal theology, who argued that Jesus never claimed to be divine. The authors claim that by missing a bridging metaphor used throughout the Hebrew and Christian books of the Bible, significant connections are missed and real misunderstanding is at stake.
I’m looking forward to the next section, which counterpoints western individualism against collectivism.