When reading the Old Testament, we need to strive to go beyond our cultural perspective of the Western Society. The Ancient Near Eastern society was nothing like the one we live in. It functioned different. Relationships meant something different. Life was drastically different. It is easy to read the O.T. from today's perspective since that is what we know best, but to get the fullness of God's revelation, we need to dig a bit deeper and put on a new set of lenses.
For instance, here are just two quick differences to note:
1.) Modern West - primary responsiblility to self and individual potential vs. Ancient Near East - primary obligation to others and the development of the group. (ie. me centered vs. we centered)
2.) Modern West - strong personal identity vs. Ancient Near East - strong family identity (i.e. I am my own persons vs. people see me first as part of my family before they see me.)
There are many others that we will be exploring over the summer. I just wanted to wet your appetite a bit.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
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2 comments:
Hmmmm. I guess that would explain why begat is such a popular word in the OT. Oh, and thank you for again giving me a topic to cover in 45-50 minutes that has yet to be resolved over thousands of years of books, dissertations, seminars, lectures, discussions, sermons, and essays. Seriously, it should be an great class, I am looking forward to it. See you Sunday.
Mr. Rudolph,
It is my pleasure to give you an hour to cover a lifetime!
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