Richards, E. Randolph, and Brandon J. O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes. Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012.
In Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, Randy and Brandon pull from years of personal experience and faithful biblical study to present us with the stark fact that our cultural assumptions, when they go unnoticed, may cause us to misread certain sections of scripture. Speaking from a Western point of view, the authors show us that we all have hidden cultural assumptions – things that go unsaid (12). These assumptions influence the way that we read scripture. We often don’t even realize it. Sometimes the point or message the authors wanted to get across to the original author is lost on us as Westerners because our culture is vastly different from the culture of the Bible. When we come to realize this, we can read scripture more faithfully by becoming aware of our assumptions and learning to read scripture with the assumptions of the original hearers in mind instead.
Randy and Brandon refer to culture as an iceberg (26). There are the things above the surface that seem obvious but still affect our reading of scripture. These are mores (chapter 1), race and ethnicity (chapter 2) and language (chapter 3). Those these things seem like they can be clearly seen, there is much about these topics that still goes without being said and can distort our understanding of scripture. Then there are the things that are just above the surface. These include individual and group identity (chapter 4), honor and shame versus right and wrong (chapter 5), and perceptions of time (chapter 6). Left unacknowledged, these topics can lead to serious misunderstandings of scripture. Finally, there are things about culture that are so deep under the surface that without a book like this we might never see them. These are our understandings of rules and relationships (chapter 7), what makes virtue and vice (chapter 8), and our individual role in the plan of God (chapter 9). As illustrated in these chapters, these things can lead to disastrous mis-readings of scripture if left alone.
This book has a lot of strengths. First, it is highly accessible. You won’t find yourself lost in academic mumbo-jumbo. Anyone could pick up this book and be deeply impacted by what Randy and Brandon have to say. Part of what makes it so accessible is the abundance of personal examples, mostly from Randy’s time as a missionary in Indonesia. He draws from deep wells of personal ministry experience in crossing boundaries and trying to explain the gospel to people whose cultural assumptions are vastly different from his own. These anecdotes, paired with a myriad of examples from scripture, help the reader to understand exactly what the authors are trying to communicate.
Additionally, I feel that the authors do an excellent job of distilling often abstract, difficult to communicate subjects into definitions and clear explanations. Even difficult to grasp concepts like honor and shame have been distilled – without loosing any of their power – into definitions that can be understood by the average reader. Again, I appreciate deeply the accessibility of this book.
Finally, Randy and Brandon are not trying to label Western culture and assumptions as “bad.” Throughout the book, the authors consistently remind the reader that they are not proposing that one cultural outlook on the Bible is better than another culture. The intent is to show us (particularly to show Westerners) how the assumptions that we make shape our interpretation of scripture. In order to be faithful to the context and the original intent of scripture, we need to become aware of these assumptions so that we can do our best to step into the culture of the ancient world and better understand the intended message. It is clear that this is a process – there is no easy answer to removing cultural blinders. We must work diligently and with others from across different cultural backgrounds to understand what “goes without being said” for biblical authors and for us.
The only wish I had coming out of the book was that it had contained more examples – both Biblical and from personal anecdotes. I wish I could sit down with the authors and hear more of how they believe our Western assumptions lead us to mis-interpret Scripture. But, alas, a book can only be so long, and I suppose if they unpacked all the examples for me, there would be nothing left for me to practice this with.
Randy and Brandon acknowledge that there are not “three easy steps” for putting the lessons learned in this book into practice (211). No, this is a posture that we must cultivate over many, many years of Biblical interpretation and interaction with other cultures. However, they do leave us with some suggestions to get us started in the direction of developing that posture. Perhaps the most repeated suggestion is to read scripture cross-culturally. Whether this involves consulting resources written by those from a culture that is not your own or incorporating a variety of cultural backgrounds into your Bible studies, hearing the way another person talks about a passage of scripture helps us to see our own blind spots and weaknesses. Reading the Bible in a cross-cultural community is a good way to start to challenge the assumptions that we make.
The premise of this book is hugely important. The goal of studying scripture ought always to be faithful interpretation. Arguably the most important part of this is to understand the original culture and the culture in which you are hoping to apply what you read. We cannot do this faithfully without acknowledging the assumptions our culture and theirs make about the world. Randy and Brandon have given the church, especially the American church, a huge gift with this book. I hope to be able to spend time going back through the chapters, pondering their main points, sitting with the end-of-chapter questions, and considering more deeply where my assumptions may hinder my interpretation of scripture.
If you like to listen to podcasts, here is a link to a conversation between Randy and Preston Sprinkle on Theology in the Raw, where they talk about this book, Pheobe the letter carrier, and much more!