4.13: We Live in a Different Culture Than the Bible

The global nature of Christianity and the beauty of many cultures practicing the same faith

We look at how Christianity is changing as it shifts from being heavily Western to being far more global (as it was in its birth). What new things might we see and learn as other eyes come to the same text? What do the various cultures of the world have to offer each other as we practice the same, ancient faith?

• Reading we’ve found helpful on today’s topic:

  • Misreading the Bible Through Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien)
  • Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology​ (Timothy Tennent)
  • The Next Evangelicalism: Releasing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity (Soong-Chan Rah)

  (Note that we don’t endorse everything in these books, as we don’t with most things we link—but that particularly bears repeating when looking at theology.)

• Zencastr

• “SARCOPH▲GUS”, by GLYPTØTEK. Used by permission.
• “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. That Creative Commons bit is pretty great: it means you can do whatever you want with this theme wherever you live.

Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors:

• Andrew Fallows
• Jeremy W. Sherman
• Jeremy Cherfas

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