This is my first summary but I've finished the first two weeks of the ten week class. We read Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes in that time. In these two weeks, I've learned:
We interact with Scripture and read it through several lenses, probably the most significant is that of our culture.
Reading Scripture through my cultural lense limits me sometimes. The example the book shared was about how, in retelling the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), Westerners often forget to include the detail about the famine. We have never experienced famine, so it does not stick out. When compared to the retelling by Russians, they almost always included that detail and saw the story actually as an example of God’s sovereignty to bring his children back to himself vs how we tend to see it: the loving, open arms of the forgiving Father (both are accurate but the difference of take-away based on culture is interesting).
Both Old and New Testaments were written by people from a collectivist society to people in a collectivist society. So, when I read it from the context of my individualistic society and apply it to my individualistic society, I can actually misinterpret or misapply or simply miss out on what the text meant. I realized I need to slow down my tendency to apply scripture personally and really read it deeply to ensure that was the intent of the author.
That's just a quick download of these two weeks. Let me know if you have questions! Click here and drop a comment or question for clarification (I'm testing out a blog!).