I’m now reading Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible
It’s a good book. The authors are former missionaries to Europe and Indonesia, and so they have real experience with the difficulties of communicating across cultural differences.
The book is liberally illustrated with anecdotes that very well make the authors’ points. The authors cover some very challenging concepts with a light touch and humor, and the book is just a very enjoyable read. It would be a good study for any Bible class or small group.
Now, did you notice how far I got without saying “hermeneutics”? This is a book about hermeneutics, because it’s about how to read the scriptures more accurately by being more aware of the culture of the biblical authors — and yet despite all that, it’s not a hard read at all.
I have but one complaint. The authors go to a lot of trouble to carefully and interestingly explain and illustrate each of nine cultural barriers. But when they get through explaining each concept — which they do quite well — there is often only one or two examples of how that principle applies to the scriptures.
Personally, I’d prefer a little less explanation and a lot more application — but that’s really a nit. After all, the evident goal of the authors is not to interpret the Bible for us but to give us a new set of tools that equip us to do a better job of reading the Bible for ourselves. And that’s quite all right. It just means we readers have to do a lot of the heavy lifting for ourselves.
In the book’s introduction, the authors give an example that stuck with me. For American Christians, the Parable of the Prodigal Son is surely one of the most familiar of all biblical passages. The authors have asked students in classes across the globe to summarize the parable, and they noticed this interesting fact: in the West, no one ever mentions the famine. Outside the West, everyone mentions the famine.
“Famine,” you ask. What “famine”? Well, that was my reaction, and I’ve since mentioned this to a class of bright 20-year olds who were raised in church. Not a one remembered a famine. Not one.
Here it is —
(Luk 15:13-15 ESV) 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
To a Westerner, the famine is invisible because we don’t feel it. We’ve never experienced a famine. We’ve heard of famines — happening somewhere else — but we have no fear of famine. We have no memories of famine.
Therefore, to us, the parable is about the irresponsibility of the son. V. 13 tells the story: “he squandered his property in reckless living.” To us, the way people become destitute is by being irresponsible. Responsible people don’t miss meals.
But as Jesus tells the story, the son was not actually in need until a famine arose. He lost everything, but he could support himself well enough without his inheritance — until the famine came.
When the famine came, then he was reduced to the shame (for a Jew) of feeding unclean pigs, and then, because of the famine and resulting poverty, his wages weren’t enough to buy food for himself.
Hence, to an Easterner, the story is all about the famine. The famine drove the son to shameful living, and the famine ultimately drove the son back to his father. Many an Easterner sees the famine as God’s hand — his Providence — forcing the son to confront his need for his father.
That’s a very different lesson from what Westerners find. We Westerners read a lesson about irresponsibility. Many an Easterner reads a lesson about God’s hand in bringing wandering children back to their father.
Who’s right? Which point was Jesus making? Well, Jesus spoke the line about wasting his inheritance. The son had to throw that away to come to himself and realize his need for his father. But the famine reduced him to feeding pigs and near starvation.
And so I figure both lessons are there. Neither interpretation is wrong. But the West is blinded by its affluence and comfort to a very important lesson — a lesson obvious to people who live in fear of famine. They notice that part of the story, and they have reason to seriously reflect on what famines mean in a world where God is in charge. (It’s a harder concept, isn’t it?)
And so our culture — the elements of our world too obvious to even notice — dramatically affect how we read the text. It’s not so much that we read it wrong but that we fail to see all that was intended. We lose some of the richness and power that the Spirit put there for us.
It’s a good book.
Is verse 14 in the cofC Bible? I am not sure I ever heard it. Generally, that parable was used to tell sinners (Israel) they could repent and come back and God would receive them. Sadly, It was also used to justify preventing anyone from having too much freedom by saying that everyone with too much freedom and no supervision would wind up in the houses of ill repute.
Now, I will never be allowed to preach. However, I always wanted to use that parable to focus on why the other brother who worked hard and minded his ps and qs was so upset. He had been genuinely good (by keeping the Law) and saw his brother get to squander half of their father’s holdings and then be welcomed back with open arms, which made things worse. I think many people see themselves as just that, genuinely decent and hard working. We are not told, but I would bet the brother feared that the father’s remaining assets would be split in half upon his death, thus the good brother would have gotten half of what he planned on getting and the wild brother would get half the second time.
It seems to me the Jesus parables were his efforts to bring a change of thought structure to his
audience. Each element had significance. They certainly could identify with famines and with
wayward sons and the blessing of reconciliation. But we know this parable was about redemption
from the curse of sin. Jesus gave them hope for not only relief from famine but a glorious reunion
with a loving patient Father.
A friend who has traveled extensively in Africa and Asia helped me to be aware of western cultural blinders in understanding Scripture. When reading about David and Bathsheba for example many American Christians wonder why Bathsheba would have exposed herself by bathing on her roof in the middle of the day. I was already aware that that would have been a normal time for her to bathe as the men would ordinarily be out in the fields or pastures working. But my friend pointed out that, even today, in countries like India people bathe routinely in rivers and streams in full view of others and it is not considered immodest. Everyone in those cultures understands that you avert your eyes and don’t look at people bathing in the only place available to them. Above all they understand that you certainly don’t stare and that to do so is to invite a rude and possibly violent reaction. So David’s aggression began by his staring when he knew full well that he shouldhave looked away.
alreadybeen2 said “Each element had significance.” What was the significance of the famine in this parable, and yes there was one, but does anyone know what it was? Think about it, I am sure you will come up with the right answer.
Maybe I’m unusual then in being cognizant of the famine mentioned though anyone who has read the Old Testament should be aware of the general occurrence of these events in the region. Mid-40s, raised in flyover country with farmers on both sides on the family. Grew up hearing about the Dust Bowl and reading the Grapes of Wrath.
Personally, I find it heartbreaking watching fields and woods plowed under and leveled out to make room for mini-mansions as people want to get out “into the country” by making it more like the city.
And finally a suggestion, a book I found helpful in understanding the non-Western point of view was Abraham Rihbany’s The Syrian Christ written in the early 20th century.
Since either no one knew, or they just didn’t bother to answer, this is the answer to why Jesus pointed out there was a famine at this time.
Jesus was pointing out the fact that he could not even count on gleaning the fields, during a famine there were no fields to glean. There was not much he could do on his own, he needed help, as we all do from time to time. We need to swallow our pride and go home.
Lev 19:9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
Lev 19:10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather [every] grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I [am] the LORD your God.
Sometimes we don’t readily grasp the meaning of what Jesus said, but it always refers back to something God has said. Not necessarily referring to society of the time or place.
I believe Jesus’ message was intended for all of us, and for all to understand.
Toddes wrote,
Thanks for the recommendation! The Syrian Christ: Son of The East
is available as a 99 cent download for Kindle on Amazon.
It can be had for free, in electronic form, at Project Gutenberg.http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40285.
I’ve only had time to glance at it, but it looks to be excellent — and remarkable for a 1916 publication.
Rihbany, Abraham (2012-07-18). The Syrian Christ: Son of The East (pp. 4-6). ePrometheus. Kindle Edition.
I’m anticipating a great read.
Jay, sometime back I told someone that it occurred to me that the Recession that we were living in had brought a deep clarity to what truly is important..Many people have lost all their worldly possessions … It seemed likely that perhaps we were not living in a Recession but a Revival.. Famines can be good… looking back.
Laymond
Jesus during his early ministry gave the people parables or hints at what was
to come. His disciples could not understand them without his explanations
later. The parables were word pictures the common men and women could
understand and relate to. But the inner message was the coming kingdom, the
new covenant God would make with all peoples through Jesus.
And everything Jesus did was on the Father’s schedule or timetable. The written
record came much later. We have snapshots of Jesus only through the glass
darkly as his brother James explained.
The heartbreak of God with his chosen people was beyond our imagination. In the
fullness of time his beloved son, Israel’s last hope at redemption entered earth’s
atmosphere to find and save the “lost sheep”, a metaphor for the pure in heart.
God’ patience with Israel was coming to an end. The prior covenant had been
violated beyond repair so God was essentially saying, OK I warned you, I gave
you ample time to kneel but you stood and turned aside. Now if you resist my
Son I will reject you as my prophets told you over and over.
The prodigal nation had left God behind and settled in sinful cities participating
in their sin; wallowed with pigs. Could God still take them back?, Yes! Come home
my children! I will take you back into my arms!
Only know that this is the last time.
Al
Want to see how it used to be, go visit an Indian Reservation.
I can definitely see the lesson of the famine in the parable. But I also believe we must be watchful of ourselves lest we start “hoping for the famine on others who need to learn their lesson and come back home”.
Marks’ final sentence that “Famines can be good-looking back”, is wisdom to keep in the back of our minds as we try to read the happenings around us. Yet, we should very careful that we do not start WAITING for the fall. When that happens we become hateful prophets and harsh judges of what takes place in the lives of others.
Over the years I have seen a mind set in many legalists that is quite disturbing. They first see another person’s suffering as punishment, which then becomes the belief, “If a person leaves the Lord, their lives are supposed to fall apart. And if they don’t, then they must be something else that’s wrong to keep them from falling apart”.
I believe that most of us parents, like the father in the parable, would be thankful beyond words for the return of a wandering child; but we know that love, even tough love, would never let us wish to see them in a pigsty.
John,
Price said that, not me.
My apologies. Old eyes, I guess.
In my Christ and Culture seminar, I point out that Americans focus on the fiscal irresponsibility of the Prodigal, Russians (and others) focus on the famine, and many Africans focus on the dangers of being away from one’s people when hardship comes. [“And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.” (Luke 15:16)] Of course no one gave him anything… he was away from his tribesmen!