E. Randolph RichardsAnmeldelser

While emphasizing the relevance and applicability of the Bible, we often forget that the Bible is a text that was written during a specific time and place, and that the original audience would have had insights into the book that we (as western, individualist Christians) would not easily pick up on. Richards and James use their experiences living in collectivist cultures to show how we can misread scripture by applying our own individualistic worldview over a text written about and for a culture that was collectivist. The authors often illustrate certain concepts by telling anecdotes from their own experiences in collectivist cultures or the experiences of friends from those cultures. My only complaints are that at times it seemed repetitive, and that I didn’t always agree with their interpretation of certain scriptures. That aside, I found the book to be easy to understand and helpful in teaching me more about collectivist cultures during ancient times and today. I believe Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes is an important book and anyone endeavoring to study the Bible should add it to their reading list.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Die biblischen Texte wurden vor langer Zeit geschrieben, es ist erstaunlich wie aktuell viele Verse uns trotzdem erscheinen. Doch verstehen wir diese Aussagen überhaupt richtig, wenn wir nicht die Situation berücksichtigen, in die hinein diese Worte geschrieben wurden?

Die zwei Autoren dieses Buchs untersuchen verschiedene Aspekte unserer Kultur, um sie anschließend mit anderen Lebenswelten zu vergleichen. Viele Beispiele stammen aus Indonesien, da einer der beiden Autoren dort länger gelebt hat. Anhand vom Verhalten und Denken der Indonesier, zeigen sie, wie ein biblischer Text mit einem anderen kulturellen Hintergrund ganz anders verstanden werden könnte. Dabei gehen sie davon aus, dass diese asiatische Kultur der biblischen Lebenswelt näher steht als unsere eigene, zum Beispiel wenn es um Individualismus versus Gemeinschaftsleben oder Schuld versus Scham geht.

Was uns prägt, stellen sich die Autoren wie ein Eisberg vor. Nur wenig ist sichtbar, das meiste liegt so tief in uns verborgen, dass uns kaum bewusst ist, wie sehr unser Handeln von kulturellen Annahmen beeinflusst wird. Dabei sprechen sie beispielsweise unser Zeitverständnis an, oder das Gefühl, dass sich alles um uns drehen muss.

Neben dem Aufdecken von kulturellen Eigenheiten, besprechen die Autoren mehrere biblische Geschichten, und zeigen dabei auf, wo wir den Text mit unserer kulturellen Brille falsch verstehen können. Leider vermitteln sie dabei den Eindruck, dass ihr Verständnis dieser Stellen selbstverständlich richtig ist. Diese Voreingenommenheit der Autoren widerspricht eigentlich dem Anliegen des Buchs, was sehr schade ist.

Das trifft mich, wenn sie sagen, dass es ein Irrtum ist Bibelverse persönlich anzuwenden, die beispielsweise den Israeliten zugesprochen wurden. Oder wenn sie davon reden, dass ein reifer Christ nicht mehr um Kleinigkeiten, wie die Suche nach einem Parkplatz beten muss, da er nun selbstständiger geworden ist. Ich möchte mein Leben immer in der Abhängigkeit von meinem himmlischen Vater leben, und ich glaube fest daran, dass Gott durch Verse, die eigentlich an andere gerichtet waren, auch zu uns heute spricht. Ein weiterer Kritikpunkt ist ihre Überzeugung, dass Batseba Mitschuld an ihrer Vergewaltigung trägt.

Hilfreich sind beispielsweise die Gedanken über Zeit, über das Gemeinschaftsleben der ersten Christen, und mehr. Die Ratschläge zum Bibellesen und die Literaturempfehlungen am Ende des Buchs sind spitze.

Fazit: Interessante Überlegungen zum Verständnis biblischer Texte mit einigen Mängeln. Empfehlenswert für Menschen, die sich über ihre kulturellen Vorurteile Gedanken machen wollen, vor allem darüber wie diese ihr Bibelverständnis prägen.

Removing Cultural Blinders

introduction to world, letters & theology

In my beginning years as a layman apologist, this book was a good starting point for me. It had opened my eyes to the idea that the Bible was not necessarily written to me, but written for me. The Bible is written from the perspective of the original author, to its current audience. I can then extrapolate God's word from a prescriptive/descriptive manner. Once I understood the author's culture better, I became a better Bible student.½

Excellent book looking at how we often misread Scripture with our western eyes. Nine differences we should be aware of - some that are obvious and less likely to cause serious misunderstanding through to those that are not obvious at all and dangerous for interpretation

Having trouble choosing what books to read for spiritual growth and development? Each month a member of our pastoral team will offer a book recommendation that has been meaningful to them in their spiritual journey. Here is Pastor Chris’s "Pastor's Pick" for March 2023.

“This has been a more recent read for me and I cannot recommend it enough. It is an eye opening look at how the modern western world (like every generation before us) has explicitly and implicitly remade Scripture in our own cultural image through cultural assumptions and “filling in the gaps” with our own western worldview. Because the text of Scripture is so easily accessible to us in a language we can read, we tend to forget that it was written to non-western people who lived thousands of years ago in a culture which was vastly different than our own. A quote from the text that I loved “We can easily forget that Scripture is a foreign land and that reading the Bible is a cross-cultural experience. To open the Word of God is to step into a strange world where things are very unlike our own.”
No matter how long you have been reading the Bible, this is an excellent read that may be quite eye-opening for you. I DEEPLY care about Scripture, and that demands not only that I read Scripture, but that I read it humbly, seeking to understand the message that God was speaking to the audience of the text, so that I determine the Truth claim being made and apply that to my own context.” – Pastor Chris Vasquez

4.5⭐️

This book is a good introduction to the idea that our cultural influences and modern paradigms can heavily shape the way we read and interpret scripture - an important thing of which to be aware if you want to really dive deeper into biblical study, interpretation, how interpretation influences what faith looks like in different circles around the world, and the relevant history. If you have not yet studied these topics much, it would be a good book with which to start. It's a book I would not hesitate to purchase for a friend interested in the topic.

The running theme throughout this book is that the values that are intrinsic to any culture go without being said. The things that go without being said in one culture can make it very difficult to relate to people of other cultures and make it hard to identify what exactly the problem is, since the ideas aren't foremost in our minds. They're just there.
The authors of this book approach reading the bible as a cross-cultural experience.

We want to unsettle you just enough that you remember biblical interpretation is a cross-cultural experience and to help you be more aware of what you take for granted when you read.

One of the authors had been a missionary in Indonesia and often illustrated his points with stories of cultural misunderstandings he had as he was acclimating to a culture that was new to him.
Each chapter covers a different aspect of how Western culture can create built-in assumptions to what we're reading in the bible. The book didn't offer easy answers but gave me a lot to think about. I liked the advice they gave in the conclusion.

We are likely misreading when our reading of the text requires us to lengthen the text, by pulling in other verses from other parts of the bible until we get all the pieces we need...We are likely misreading when our reading of the text requires us to ignore the context, to shorten the text to just this or that verse or part of a verse.

The book is fascinating and accessible and would be good supplemental reading for Sunday school classes, bible study groups or individual Christians who want to give some thought to how they approach reading the bible.

Summary: Shows how we may misread scripture if we do not reckon with the collectivist context in which it is written, and in which many cultures still live.

It was an eyeopener for me when I discovered that the “you” in many of the New Testament letters is often a plural you–“you all” or “y’all” if you are from the American South. It turns out that this was just the tip of the iceberg. So many of the narratives in scripture are understood very differently when understood in collectivist rather than individualist frameworks.

E. Randolph Richards and Richard James have lived in such cultures, and while each culture, including those of scripture, have their own nuances, the authors draw upon these experiences to help us read scripture through a new lens, a collectivist lens. They consider the social structures of kinship, patronage, and brokerage, and the social tools of honor, shame, and boundaries. Finally, they draw conclusions about why it matters, even in an individualist context.

In collective structures, our kinship group tells us who we are–and who we marry. Remember Jacob and Laban? He wants Rachel, but he is given Leah first. That’s the way it is done in family. Then there is patronage. When Paul speaks of being saved by grace through faith, he describes a good patronage situation. God extends grace through Christ, literally charis or gift, and we both trust and are loyal to our patron, God. Finally, there is brokerage, where a third party mediates between two others. What else is Jesus but a broker or mediator between God and humans?

Then there are the social tools that enforce values in collective cultures. One’s honor is one’s greatest asset. Many of the challenges to Jesus are challenges to his honor, and thus his authority to teach. David gained honor in the conflict with Saul, not merely for being a good shot, but for trusting God in the conflict. In the West we consider one who sins guilty. In other cultures, the issue is shame. We have come to think that shame is always bad, but in collectivist societies shame comes with a path to remove it. Confronting a person with whom you have a grievance minimizes shame–allowing the person to remove shame without others knowing about it. Then there are boundaries, ones that define groups, ones that define how men and women relate, or don’t. When we choose a group, we accept their boundaries.

The authors show how each of these collectivist elements function at their best and worst, and explore how they may be engaged redemptively. While there are important insights individualists see in scripture, there is much we learn when we read with collectivist eyes. More than that, we discover dimensions of our collective life in Christ. Our salvation isn’t just about me but we. We are part of a people, a family, with new boundaries and new values. Sometimes our individualist outlook not only leads us to misread the Bible, but also misleads us in our participation in Christian community. At very least, we misunderstand Christians in other cultures. At most, we miss out on dimensions of life in Christ and others miss out on what we bring to the family.

____________________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Opened my eyes to things I've been feeling but couldn't pin down. This is a great opportunity to how to read the Bible and get out of it what we should, not what we want.

I approached Richards’ and O’Brien’s Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes a bit skeptically, as “Western” implies a binary East-West dichotomy that can be superficial. And I’m not crazy about dual-authored books, where frequent first-person musings such as “When I (Randy)…” or “I (Brandon) recall the time when…” are cumbersome and detract from the narrative flow. But the “Misreading” part was hugely appealing, drawing on my familiarity with Eco’s Misreadings, Bloom’s A Map of Misreading, and indeed the entire corpus of the hermeneutic and critical theory enterprise: is there such a thing as “correct” and “incorrect” readings? (Even an interpretationally liberal critic such as Eco argues this in the affirmative in Interpretation and Overinterpretation, but I digress).

Richards and O’Brien begin their work with a Bible passage well known to many Christians: Revelation 3:15-16. Speaking to the church of the Laodiceans, the risen Jesus says:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

The point of this verse appears straightforward, but the authors note (based on a trip there in 2002) that Hieropolis, a city to the north of Laodicea, was known then (and still is) for its hot springs, whereas Collossae, to the south, was known for its cold spring. Water from both, carried by aqueduct to Laodicea, was lukewarm by the time it arrived. “I suspect the Lord’s warning was clear to the Laodiceans. He wished his people were hot (like the salubrious waters of Hierapolis) or cold (like the refreshing waters of Colossae). Instead, their discipleship was unremarkable” (10).

The book is broken into three parts (“Above the Surface”, “Just Below the Surface”, and “Deep Below the Surface”), each comprised of three chapters. The book is peppered with examples of anecdotal differences between so-called “Eastern” and “Western” modes of Biblical interpretation (one of the authors was a missionary in Indonesia). Each chapter contains a headlined “Conclusion” and is followed by a “Questions to Ponder” section.

In the book’s conclusion, titled “Three Easy Steps for Removing Our Cultural Blinders?” (phrased in the form of a question, as one of the authors’ international friends pointed out the “Westernness” of declaring three easy steps), Richards and O’Brien devote a few paragraphs to each of the following topics: “Embrace Complexity”, “Beware of Overcorrection”, “Be Teachable”, “Embrace Error”, and “Read Together”. They state their agenda: “We’re trying to help you become a certain kind of reader: the kind of reader who is increasingly aware of his or her cultural assumptions” (212). There are a few endnotes, and a very helpful “Resources for Further Exploration” organized by chapter, as well as a Scripture index.

While Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes lacks overt or scholarly hermeneutic principles or theory, its general message of looking beyond the meaning of the text for signs of cultural influence is one about which all Bible readers and interpreters should be vigilant.

Dare I say this was a delightful book. Would it be better to say it is insightful?

There are perhaps half a dozen ways that westerners misread scriptures clearly explained in this book.

It is definitely worth rereading as a reminder to think of other meanings in the Biblical text. The kindle edition is so inexpensive that it would be easy to get it even though we already have the paperback edition.

“C. S. Lewis in his now-classic introduction to Athanasius’s On the Incarnation. Lewis advises readers to read at least one old book for every three new ones. Here is his reason: “Every age has it’s own outlook. It is especially good at seeing certain truths and especially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. … Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes.” (Page 49)

Summary: Takes on the charge that there are many problems with Paul, among which that he is racist, pro-slavery, anti-woman, homophobic, and hypocritical, and suggests that while he behaves badly, it may be in different ways than we might think.

This is the third in a series of “behaving badly” books, the previous titles of which are God Behaving Badly, and Jesus Behaving Badly. As in the previous works, the authors take some of the common objections raised about Paul in a way that both takes the objections seriously, and shows through careful study of the biblical text and cultural context what may and may not be warranted in these objections.

The authors show that Paul indeed behaves badly, but not in the way one might think. While not coming out against slavery, his affirmation of slaves as brothers and sisters and his instructions to masters were quite counter-cultural and would have raised great objections. While he seems at points to make racist comments, he in fact made ground-breaking strides to build bridges to the Gentile world, and that any apparent anti-Semitism was really directed to a very specific group of Judeans (“Jews” in the narrowest sense) who tried to impose circumcision and legal observance on the Gentile churches Paul and his team had planted.

Their treatment of women and homosexuality are perhaps the chapters to which many will first turn. While I would have liked to see more of a treatment of 1 Timothy 2:9-15, which the authors leave open to differing interpretations on the matter of women teaching, they observe the radical ways in which Paul elevated women as ministry partners, in how they were to be treated by husbands, and the very fact that they were permitted to learn. Likewise, while the authors clearly see Paul speaking against same sex relationships, they are careful to point out that Paul recognizes that persons who have been involved in these relationships are in the church, and contrary to Jewish practice, neither requires their expulsion nor execution. They also observe the difference between contemporary focus on orientation to focus on specific acts between people, and in some passages, between those who penetrate, and are penetrated, which may often be the case in master-slave relationships, particularly between masters and boy slaves in the Roman context. In summary, they write:

“When Paul denounced homosexual practice both for the active as well as the passive partner, he was behaving badly in Roman eyes. But when he welcomed both into the church as sinners in need of a savior (like the rest of us), he was behaving badly in Jewish eyes. Paul did indeed behave badly in the eyes of his culture and sometimes in the eyes of other Christians” (p. 195).

The book also addresses criticisms that Paul was a killjoy, eliminating pleasure wherever he found it. They take on the charge that Paul was a hypocrite, as in the example of circumcision, where he takes a strong stand against it, and then circumcises Timothy (in this case the answer seems to be Timothy’s partially Jewish heritage, where to not be circumcised would be a repudiation of that heritage, and an obstacle to mission in Jewish circles).

Finally, the authors deal with how Paul handles scripture, which to modern eyes often seems to be a twisting of scripture. They show, rather, that Paul was using the accepted interpretive approaches of his time–literal, midrash, allegory, and pesher among them, that would not have raised the eyebrows of his Jewish listeners.

What I most appreciated is that this is not a whitewash on Paul. The authors observe how he could be stubborn, as when he resisted prophetic counsel that he not go to Jerusalem. We should not put him on a pedestal, though we may learn from him, such as how he avoided financial entanglements, and for his courage in “behaving badly” by going counter to culture in the cause of Christ, sometimes at great personal and physical cost.

This can be a helpful book if you have a hard time reading the Pauline works, or know friends who object to Paul. We tend to see Paul through our own cultural lenses and this work helps us see Paul in his own context, and goes beyond particular verses to the whole character of Paul’s work. No alabaster saint here, but rather a very human person, whose indeed “behaved badly” at times, but in ways that we may end up admiring rather than censuring.

An exhortation to Biblical scholarship and the exercise thereof.

The first couple of chapters of this book read less as a "little book for new Bible scholars" as much as "an appeal for Bible students to enter higher education to become Bible scholars," focusing on why it is important to study the text in depth and how learning more about the Biblical contexts and cultures can not only enhance Biblical interpretation and thus exposition but also keeps the student from engaging in various fallacies and falling for plausible sounding yet erroneous readings. On account of this the book would be of some value to the person who fancies him or herself a strong Bible student but could use the training and honing which can come from pursuing a more serious curriculum of study...but would such a one know this book is for them as well based on the title?

The last half of the book is more aligned with the title: warning students against allowing their knowledge to give them a bigger head, an (obligatory) exhortation for greater diversity and inclusivity in Biblical studies departments, and exhortation toward perseverance and faithfulness in study.

The book would have value for the potential Bible scholar or young Bible student who may be considering higher education, should consider higher education, or is beginning their pursuit of higher education.

**--galley received as part of an early review program

David Capes, Rodney Reeves, and E. Randolph Richards are three biblical scholars from three different institutions (Houston Baptist University, Southwest Baptist University, and Palm Beach Atlantic Univerisity, respectively). They have previously collaborated on a book about the apostle Paul, Rediscovering Paul: an Introduction to His World, Letters and Theology (IVP Academic, 2007). They are back at it. Their new book from IVP Academic is Rediscovering Jesus: An Introduction to Biblical, Religious and Cultural Perspectives on Christ.

Don't let the academic publisher or their resumés scare you. This is an engaging and interesting and accessible read! I had fun with this book. To me, this is really two books in one. Part I is a romp through the biblical images of Jesus, uncovering what is distinctive about the portrait of Jesus in Mark, Matthew, Luke and Acts, John, Paul's epistles, Hebrews, in the non-Pauline epistles and Revelation. Part II examines extra-biblical images of Jesus. Capes, Reeves & Richards look at the Gnostic Jesus, the Muslim Jesus, the Historical, demythologized Jesus, the Mormon Jesus, the American Jesus and the Cinematic Jesus. In each chapter, after exploring the distinctive portrait of Jesus in the Bible or culture, they ask, "What if this were the only Jesus?" The result is they showcase the important contribution of each Bible writers picture of Christ, and show how cultural depictions of Jesus, while sometimes illuminating, often obscure our perception of who the Jesus really is.

While there is some first-rate biblical theology and cultural analysis here, this is a completely practical and non-technical text about Jesus, appropriate for undergrads (or even a Christian high school). Part I is helpful because it reveals how the entire New Testament, all the books together, gives us our picture of who Jesus is. The Jesus of Mark appears on the scene, binding the strong man and fighting the religious establishment, but there is no mention of Jesus' virgin birth, his post resurrection appearances, his great commission or ascension. Luke's Jesus was more politicized, and didn't even give a theological account of the atonement (71). Matthew's Jesus is firmly connected with Israel's God and has the most developed ethic. John's Jesus is not of this world and focuses more on the after life than this life. "Christians who read too much of John's Gospel and not enough of Matthew's might talk abut eternal life but not about caring for the least of these" (86). Paul's high Christology is almost devoid of biography (how Jesus lived). If the Priestly Jesus of Hebrews were our only Jesus we'd focus on purity, perfection and completion. The non-Pauline epistles are immersed in Jesus' teaching but without the Gospels you wouldn't know that the origins of John, Jude, Peter and James' words are found in Christ's teaching. The apocalyptic Jesus is the disquieting image of the warrior lamb and the glorified Christ. Each of these images enlarge our picture of Christ. Any image that is excluded from our portrait of Jesus would result in bias and incomplete vision.

What of Jesus' cultural images? Capes, Reeves and Richards focus on images of Jesus that have a great deal of cultural pull. They profile the esoteric gnositic Jesus, the localized prophet of Islam, the Post-Enlightenment historical Jesus, the American hero, and the movie star. They observe (writing as one voice):

Jesus outside the Bible can on occasion help us rediscover some aspect of Jesus that has been ignored or sidelined. More commonly, though, these nonbiblical images influence and color our biblical image. Understanding these images helps reveal ideas that need to be expunged from 'my Jesus.' While I found themes and emphases from the various biblical images of Jesus that needed to be reintroduced into my picture of Jesus, I also found other themes and emphases from nonbiblical images that needed to be extracted from my portrait of Jesus. both of these processes help me to rediscover Jesus. (261)

The disparity between cultural images of Jesus and the Jesus of the Bible is highlighted well throughout part II. Perhaps it is the 'Cinematic Jesus' which highlights how much a depiction of Jesus for a particular era says more about that culture and time than it does about the real Jesus (244-245).

This is a fun, thought-provoking book that deserves a wide readership beyond the classroom. I give it five stars

Notice of material connection: I received this book from IVP Academic in exchange for my honest review.

This is an easy reading book dealing with the challenges of properly understanding the Bible from a foreign culture. This is not at all about being “culturally relevant,” but it is a study of the fact that, "reading the Bible is a cross-cultural experience."

Living in a third-world country, I can now understand better just how much a difference “culture” can make in how a person interprets what he sees, reads, or hears! Before living here in Brazil, I would probably have laughed at many of the cultural differences he discusses - our tendency is to assume we are right and others are just “ignorant.” For example, Brazilian inefficiency and lack of time management has driven me crazy, but to a Brazilian, Relationship trump schedules and it’s far more important to “be friendly and neighborly” by stopping to chat than to “rudely" hurry past a friend in order to get where you’re going on time! So, who is right? :) Instead of just scorning the “unlearned natives” I have to admit that many times they do have an equally valid point.

The authors focus on cultural aspects that “just go without needing to be said.” It’s these areas where we can easily mis-read the Bible by assuming the characters involved had the same values that we do. You can understand better the difficulty when you consider the phrase, “Fido was a good dog.” If you live in the Scottish Highlands you’ll interpret that to mean that Fido handled sheep well; if you live in America, you’ll understand that Fido didn’t chew your slippers; if you live in Indonesia, you’ll acknowledge that Fido was perfectly seasoned...

There are many “values” that are so revered for us as americans (Efficiency, Individuality, Planning, Predictability, Self-Sufficiency, Free Market) that we read them into scriptures and determine they must be “right,” but many of these are foreign concepts to other cultures and the culture of the Bible! (Has it ever occurred to you that Paul was completely unfamiliar with, and would have probably opposed, the idea of a free-trade market?)

Of course I have to write a disclaimer. The book has a few heresies, (at one point he seems to argue that David was not bothered by an internal conscience but only by external shame. I understand David’s greater emphasis on the public shame, but based on Ps. 32:3 and 51:2, I argue David did have an internal guilt as well)

But I think the book can be helpful if read, not as a source of new doctrine or a radical change from what you believe (they even warn against that) but as a challenge to your way of thinking. Having grown up in church, it’s so easy for us to look at a passage and mentally “sum it up,” but I think it’s good to take another look and reconsider what it meant to the original readers at that time. So, this book is definitely a good place to start challenging yourself to understand the Bible as it was written - not merely as a 21st century middle-class american.

An excellent reminder for people to think about their cultural assumptions and how they shape how they read the bible. Our modern ways of thinking are not always similar to the cultural ways people often thought in the time scripture was written. Worth the read if this is a subject that interests you.

The authors of this book challenge their readers to identify prejudices that are brought to their reading of Scripture simply because of their Western worldview. Citing numerous examples, they show how other cultures read Biblical stories differently because of cultural differences. The book is highly readable for both laity and Biblical scholars and will generate good discussion whether used in a Sunday School or in a college classroom.

It seemed to me the authors focused more on the many cultural differences (mores) of the world rather than the misreading of Scripture. As a cross-cultural worker living in a different country I appreciated the many illustrations and stories the authors used to compare the differences between eastern and western cultures. They did give plenty of examples of how often we inject our own cultural mores into our interpretations of Scripture, which too was very helpful. Ironically, much of the Bible was written from a people of eastern culture, which after having understood that culture more, the Bible seems to come more alive for me. Excellent book that I highly recommend especially to western missionaries doing cross-cultural ministry in eastern cultures.

Definitely an eye-opening, challenging book. Would recommend it to anyone who is interested in understanding how cultural bias affects everything we do - even how we interpret/view the Bible.

David Capes, Rodney Reeves and Randolph Richards collaborated upon a textbook that could be utilized within the undergraduate setting with two primary goals. First, due to the plethora of textbooks on Paul and the New Testament writings, the authors desired one textbook that would concisely cover the key aspects of Paul, including his background, his letters, his ministry and his theology (p. 15). Second, there was a personal desire of the authors to rediscover Paul within the proper socio-historical setting of first-century Judeo-Christian faith, so as to “imitate him as he imitates Christ” (p. 20). The chapters accomplish the outset of these intended goals well, with the exception of a few conservative assumptions made in the beginning and an improperly arranged chapter placement which will be discussed further.
In the beginning chapter, the authors attempt to un-package the Westernized mindset of readers upon Paul and his writings, and introduce the reader to the first-century Mediterranean world in which Paul existed. In doing so, this writer was introduced to the plurality of gods, a “dyadic personality”, an honor and shame society and the importance of rituals within the first-century culture (pp. 25-35). This sheds light on a proper exposition of Paul’s opposition with Peter in Galatians 2 in regards to an honor and shame battle.
In the following chapter, the authors give an extensive treatment of the practice of letter writing within the culture discussing a standard outline of a letter, the use of secretaries and the communal technique of writing letters. An assumption made within this textbook that must be understood is the traditional conservative view of Pauline authorship. These authors believe that all thirteen of the letters are from Paul, assuming Paul utilized secretaries for his writing. This undergirds the defense of Pauline authorship and forces the uses of secretaries to account for the stylistic and grammatical differences used in Paul’s books (pp. 72-77). It is interesting to note that the section concerning “Paul’s Legacy” which deals with the canonization of Paul’s letters is placed after the analysis of his letters and not coupled with this chapter. Perhaps this sheds light upon a careless assumption of Paul’s use of secretaries to account for stylistic, grammatical and even chronological discrepancies in the text.
The chapter on Paul’s conversion, call and chronology was by far one of the most intriguing and challenging chapters of the text. In particular is the conclusion of the authors that Paul did not have a conversion experience in Damascus, but a call to a new vocation (pp. 84-87). This is supported by the fact that Paul did not leave his Judaistic faith, but now “believed Jesus to be God’s Messiah” (p. 93). A helpful section of this chapter is the chronological analysis of Paul’s writing in an attempt to date Paul’s life and ministry within the book of Acts, and connecting it with key primary dates given for external evidence. There is little discussion upon the conflicting views of the North and South Galatia debate, though it is apparent from the text that an early date is favored for the book of Galatians. The conservative mindset has again attempted to place all of Paul’s writings in an exact chronology of Acts to confirm Pauline authorship. This difficulty forces one to overlook the distance and time that would have to be maintained to assume Pauline authorship in such a chronology.
In the following chapters of the textbook, the authors do a good job at giving a good introduction to each of Paul’s writings and synthesizing the key elements of each of the books. The ordering of the chapters is upon Paul’s itinerant ministry and his imprisonment, which are those addressed to the churches and then those addressed to individuals. The authors pick up on several key elements and discussions that are noteworthy for students and debatable issues within the text, examples like the interpretation of Galatians 2:16 (Galatians), discussion of rapture (Thessalonians), baptism (Romans), the household code (Colossians), etc. Throughout the text, there are many sidebars dispersed to help the student dig deeper into thought and discussion on topics, such as the key elements of the Colossian Heresy (p. 221). The text seems to build upon itself, in that it utilizes the early concepts of the Mediterranean world in its discussion of the chapters. One example is the explanation of 2 Thessalonians 3, when the authors state that “the apostle is using social pressure to shame them into compliance, a good technique in a dyadic culture but no so effective in our modern individualistic one” (p. 140). This emphasizes the use of honor and shame society and the dyadic culture introduced earlier in the discussion.
In the final chapters of the book, there is an emphasis upon the theology of Paul and the implication of his writings to our present day society. The authors conclude that the center of Paul’s theology is “Christological monotheism”, but the chapter would have been better aligned at the beginning of the text where the students could see how Paul’s theology affected his writings throughout the period (p. 272). One of the most beneficial chapters for applying the Pauline corpus was the contemporary analysis of Paul’s writings upon the issues of race, division, poverty, politics and sexuality.
The text is a good introduction for the undergraduate student and will provoke thought and question one’s previous interpretation of Paul in regards to the socio-historical setting, but fails to challenge the conservative mindset seen by so many different authors. All of the suggested reading at the end of the chapters leans to the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, which doesn’t give much variety as to the outside authorship of non-conservative thought. This reviewer would like students to be challenged to make his or her own interpretation of the Pauline corpus by being presented the two differing views of conservative and non-conservative scholarship.

Paul and First Century Letter Writing is a valuable contribution to any study of Paul the apostle. Because so much of what we know about Paul we learn from his letters, understanding the practice of letter writing in his culture is vital to understanding Paul. This is not only true for understanding the meaning of his letters, but also for the issues that bother some academics-did Paul write Ephesians? Is 2 Corinthians one letter? Or two or three combined into one?

Though commentaries on Pauline letters or biographies of Paul may discuss aspects of these issues, full treatments of the issue of ancient letter writing and its implications for the study of Paul's letters are harder to find. Here, Richards offers just such a book. He describes the materials involved in drafting letters, how ancient letter writers used sources, the procedure of letter writing, the time involved, the use of secretaries, the detection of interpolations, the use of letter carriers, and the distances and means of travel of those carriers. Richards then draws out the practical effect of this knowledge. For example, he explains why letter writing was so expensive and does a convincing job of determining the cost in present-value dollars. He also explains the significance of co-authorship on Paul's letters. Though many of Paul's letters were co-authored, many scholars seem to all but ignore this fact in their study of the theology and language of Paul's letters. This is a mistake. A co-author of a letter would have had a substantial impact on the content and theme of "Paul's" letters. The use of different secretaries and even letter carriers too may have affected the content of Paul's letters, though to a lesser degree.

In support of his conclusions, Richards draws on a vast amount of first-century writings, including many non-Christian letters from the ancient Mediterranean. This is a welcome use of sources and counters any suspicion that Richards is simply striving to reach a particular result. He also gives a good account of prior efforts to gauge the impact of ancient letter writing.

Finally, the book is well written. Richards writes clearly and simply. He also does a surprisingly good job of placing the read back in Paul's time, on the streets of ancient Greek cities, or in courtyard of a middle-class apartment. Furthermore, the book is well organized. He builds his case in each section and makes his argument. He then ends each section with a clear statement of his conclusion. You may not agree with his conclusions, but you can see how he reached them.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in better understanding Paul and his letters.

Christian

Logos Library