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    Book Critiques Western Eyes

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    C.R. Brown
    The book critique provides a summary of and analysis on the text "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes" by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien. The authors argue that Western Christians often misinterpret the Bible by viewing it through their own cultural lenses rather than considering the original cultural contexts. They divide the book into three parts like an iceberg, addressing explicit and implicit cultural influences on interpretation. The critique analyzes how the authors draw on their missionary experiences to illustrate this problem and encourage readers to be aware of their own cultural blinders.

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    Book Critiques Western Eyes

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    C.R. Brown
    203 views6 pages
    The book critique provides a summary of and analysis on the text "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes" by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien. The authors argue that Western Christians often misinterpret the Bible by viewing it through their own cultural lenses rather than considering the original cultural contexts. They divide the book into three parts like an iceberg, addressing explicit and implicit cultural influences on interpretation. The critique analyzes how the authors draw on their missionary experiences to illustrate this problem and encourage readers to be aware of their own cultural blinders.

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    Book Critique of Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes

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    The book critique provides a summary of and analysis on the text "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes" by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien. The authors argue that Western Christians often misinterpret the Bible by viewing it through their own cultural lenses rather than considering the original cultural contexts. They divide the book into three parts like an iceberg, addressing explicit and implicit cultural influences on interpretation. The critique analyzes how the authors draw on their missionary experiences to illustrate this problem and encourage readers to be aware of their own cultural blinders.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    203 views6 pages

    Book Critiques Western Eyes

    Uploaded by

    C.R. Brown
    The book critique provides a summary of and analysis on the text "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes" by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien. The authors argue that Western Christians often misinterpret the Bible by viewing it through their own cultural lenses rather than considering the original cultural contexts. They divide the book into three parts like an iceberg, addressing explicit and implicit cultural influences on interpretation. The critique analyzes how the authors draw on their missionary experiences to illustrate this problem and encourage readers to be aware of their own cultural blinders.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 6

    LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY

    Book Critique of Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes

    Submitted to Dr. Myron Kauk


    in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of

    NBST 610-D04
    Hermeneutics

    by

    Caleb R. Brown
    July 23, 2017

    Contents
    Summary…….………………………………………………………………………………….iii

    Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………….iv

    Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….v

    Bibliography………….………………………………………………………………………..vii

    Summary
    E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien’s text Misreading Scripture with Western

    Eyes title alludes to much about what the text is about, that is there is much that the church in the

    west needs to take in account when the Bible is read in relation to interpreting the Bible.

    Richards and O’Brien practically divide the text into three parts in many ways like the picture of

    an iceberg. The text is written in an attempt to remind the readers of the Bible the cross-cultural

    nature of biblical interpretation.1 Richards and O’Brien practically divide the text into three

    parts in many ways like the picture of an iceberg. They bring to light the ideas of cultural mores

    and values and even state that the most powerful ones are the ones that go without being said.2

    The importance of understanding this is that when there is something that is missed about what

    went without being said and the reader projects or substitutes that with what goes without being

    said in their own cultural context there is great risk in misreading Scripture.3

    Analysis

    The authors text comes form the perspective of two biblical scholars that are drawing

    from their time in missions abroad and the cross cultural experiences that they were a part of.

    1
    E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing
    Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible, (Downers Grove: IVP, 2012), 12.
    2
    Ibid.
    3
    Ibid., 13.
    The heart of the text is to bring awareness to the instinctive reactions that everyone has to draw

    from their own cultural context when reading and trying to understand it.4 Because of their

    perspective, that being western Christians from America, they are able to practically

    communicate how and why everyone, from every place and time always has the challenge to

    interpret what the Bible says from their own cultural context. The text is not so much one to

    teach the reader how to interpret as much as it is to make everyone who reads it aware of our

    cultural blindness. That is what makes the text so practical in that it is explicitly experiential

    from both authors. One of the introductory ideas of the text is an explanation of cultural mores.

    Brandon J. O’Brien talks about his experience growing up in the south and being taught about

    the evils of alcohol.5 That personal story is then used as an example of how western Christians

    can often believe that their own mores can originate from the Bible because their was a focus on

    certain passages of Scripture while others are ignored.6 This first section logically flows as the

    authors each continually give examples on all the obvious misinterpretations that occur like the

    iceberg that sticks up above the water. The next step the authors take is to move the eyes past

    the obvious distance of cultures and languages to the distance of time. E. Randolph Richards

    gives a great example of how other the Indonesian culture has a much different view of time than

    the west.7 Richards mirrors back to previous chapters that explained how cultures will have

    specialized vocabularies that reveal and give evidence to what it is that they value.8 All of these

    chapters logically flow and communicate the ideas of how and why westerners misinterpret the

    Bible. Not only are each of the arguments clear, when reading their text one can very practically

    4
    Richards and O’Brien, 11.
    5
    Ibid., 33.
    6
    Ibid.
    7
    Richards and O’Brien, 133.
    8
    Ibid., 138-139
    understand the implications. Their experiences teach principles simplicity and the closing of

    each section then gives the reader questions to ponder that allow one to apply the implicit

    principle.

    Conclusion

    In summary, the Richards and O’Brien text is of great value not only for the seminary

    student to read, but also for a Sunday School/Small Group leader as well as the believer who

    would like to better understand basic principles to interpreting the Bible. A new believer that is

    of older age, i.e. not a child, can get as much benefit as someone who has been a believer for

    many years. The reason is all should read it is, it does communicate the importance of proper

    interpretation through the authors personal experiences which makes it easily relatable. One of

    the most practical teachings that the text gave was in it’s concluding chapter. The supremacy of

    me is one of those fundamental character flaws that has plagued the human race since the fall of

    man and it is one that Richards and O’Brien believe that Westerners are possibly the blindest.9

    This observer could not agree more and I believe it is the most important teaching that the text

    communicates three steps that help take the focus off of us, and on God and His people.10

    9
    Ibid., 207.
    10
    Richards and O’Brien, 208-209.
    Bibliography

    E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes:
    Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible. Downers Grove: IVP, 2012.

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