Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-225) and index.

Introduction: Coming to terms with our cultural blinders -- Part one. Above the surface -- Serving two masters : mores -- The Bible in color : race and ethnicity -- Just words? : language -- Part two. Just below the surface -- Captain of my soul : individualism and collectivism -- Have you no shame? : honor/shame and right/wrong -- Sand through the hourglass : time -- Part three. Deep below the surface -- First things first : rules and relationships -- Getting right wrong : virtue and vice -- It's all about me : finding the center of God's will -- Conclusion: Three easy steps for removing our cultural blinders?

Because of the cultural distance between the biblical world and our contemporary setting, we often bring modern Western biases to the text. For example, when Paul exhorts women to "dress modestly," we automatically think in terms of sexual modesty. But Paul is likely more concerned about economic modesty -- that Christian women not flaunt their wealth through expensive clothes and gold jewelry. And Western individualism leads us to assume that Mary and Joseph traveled alone to Bethlehem. What went without saying was that they were likely accompanied by a large entourage of extended family. Biblical scholars Randy Richards and Brandon O'Brien shed light on the ways that Western readers often misunderstand the cultural dynamics of the Bible. They identify nine key areas where modern Westerners have significantly different assumptions about what might be going on in a text. Drawing on their own crosscultural experience in global mission, O'Brien and Richards show how better self-awareness and understanding of cultural differences in language, time and social mores allow us to see the Bible in fresh and unexpected ways. - Back cover.

What was clear to the original readers of Scripture is not always clear to us. Because of the cultural distance between the biblical world and our contemporary setting, we often bring modern Western biases to the text. Biblical scholars Brandon O'Brien and Randy Richards shed light on the ways that Western readers often misunderstand the cultural dynamics of the Bible. They identify nine key areas where modern Westerners have significantly different assumptions about what might be going on in a text. Drawing on their own crosscultural experience in global mission, O'Brien and Richards show how better self-awareness and understanding of cultural differences in language, time and social mores allow us to see the Bible in fresh and unexpected ways.