Bible interpretation

does not occur in a cultural vacuum. When one reads the Bible, one reads it from a perspective that one has been taught to read from. That perspective is more often than not colored by the cultural norms and standards ingrained in one's psyche.

Trouble arises when one believes that Bible passages must be interpreted by the norms and standards of one's culture even if they are far different from the norms and standards that the biblical authors experienced and practiced.

Such a belief is a product of Ethnocentrism, which is defined as "the natural tendency or inclination among all people to view reality from their own cultural experience and perspective. In the course of doing so, the traditions, behaviors, and practices of people from other cultures are often considered inferior, strange, abnormal, and/or deviant."

In their book Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien make this observation: 

“Christians are tempted to believe that our mores originate from the Bible. We believe it is inappropriate or appropriate to drink alcohol, for example, ‘because the Bible says so.’ The trouble is, what is ‘proper’ by our standards – even by our Christian standards – is as often projected onto the Bible as it is determined by it. This is because our cultural mores can lead us to emphasize certain passages of Scripture and ignore others... Our hierarchy of what behaviors are better or worse than others is passed down to us culturally and unconsciously.  We might assume that our mores are universal and that Christians everywhere have always felt the way we feel about things. But they aren’t, and they haven’t..."*

In his commentary Authoritarianism and Truth, Christian theologian Jason "Jay" Mallow explains how certain parties within Christendom use a philosophy taught by Plato to justify their ethnocentric interpretations of the Bible:

"In order to prescribe a certain culture as 'Biblical' that is normative apart from people’s culture or experience or even reason, you simply have to put your prescription in Platonic form. You must say that whatever cultural preferences you are prescribing somehow transcend a mere cultural moment where a myriad of factors helped to make that 'normal'. There MUST be a 'form' for marriage, family, gender, sex that is eternal, immutable, and unquestionable. 

It’s a 'chicken AND egg' proposition, 'What we perceive as ‘normal’ must be representative of the eternal and immutable and therefore must simply be submitted to as ‘truth’ divinely revealed. Those questioning it simply are either unenlightened or irrational.' ...

The problem that lies at the heart of these 'Platonic' assumptions is that people simply do not merely act as passive recipients to information. Culture, education, family, socio-economic status, and a plethora of other factors affect how we receive and in fact choose what to consider 'authoritative.'"

If one is committed to participating in the Lay Servant Ministries of the United Methodist Church, then it is befitting that one make a conscious effort to guard against ethnocentric thinking. That could require one to be formally educated in social sciences beyond what one is taught while in high school. For example, this writer was introduced to the concept of Ethnocentrism when he took a college course in Cultural Anthropology.  

One can also become better educated by reading books that elaborate on how the Bible was written. 

Other than the one already quoted, three theology books that have given this author biblical insight are as follows:

Bloom, H., & Rosenberg, D. (2004). The Book of J. Grove Press.

Coote, R. B., & Coote, M. P. (1990). Power, politics, and the making of the Bible: an introduction. Fortress Press.

Friedman, R.E. (1997). Who Wrote the Bible? HarperOne.

Post's Author:

David W. Robertson,

Member of The Tapestry United Methodist Church, Owasso, Oklahoma,

Certified Lay Speaker, Northeast District, Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church.

X.com: @ davidwrobertson

Bluesky: @davidwrobertson.bsky.social

*Quote Source: Richards, E.R., & O’Brien, B.J. (2012). Misreading scripture with western eyes: Removing cultural blinders to better understand the Bible. InterVarsity Press.