The Bible In Cross Cultural Perspective

The Bible is not a Western book, and the world of the New Testament is not our world. The New Testament world was preindustrial, Mediterranean, and populated mostly by nonliterate peasants who depended on hearing these writings read aloud. Only a few of the literate elite were part of the Jesus movement, and they knew nothing of either modernity or the Western culture we inhabit today. This means that for all North Americans, reading the New Testament is always an exercise in cross-cultural communication. Travelers, diplomats, and exchange students take great pains to bridge the cultural gaps that cloud mutual understanding. But North American readers habitually suspend cross-cultural awareness when encountering the Bible. The result is that we unwittingly project our own cultural understandings onto the pages of the New Testament. Rohrbaugh argues that to whatever degree we can bridge cultural gaps between ourselves and New Testament writers, we learn to value their intentions rather than the meanings we create from their words. Rohrbaugh's insightful interpretations of Gospel passages go a long way toward helping to span distances between the New Testament world and the present.

Some Questions are Universal. Where did I come from? What happens when I die? Am I important? Across the world, these questions are answered in a vast range of ways, shaped by our worldview, and our specific cultural context. Cross-cultural workers, seeking to engage people at the point of these questions, can offer a rich dialogue between cultural assumptions and biblical truth, but only if they can reach into the cultural framework underlying a particular context. The Bible in Cross-Cultural Perspective explores this cultural framework, tackling different aspects of the “Biblical worldview’s” interaction with both “Western/secular” and a “traditional/animist” worldviews. With topics ranging from the physical and metaphysical perception of the universe, to the significance of names, Loewen unpacks cultural construction in all of it’s layered complexity, allowing us to visualize where the Gospel will interact with people’s beliefs, regardless of their context. Jacob Loewen, the author of Culture and Human Values, draws on multiple years of experience—across several continents—as a field missionary, anthropologist, linguist, Bible translator, and missions researcher. The Bible in Cross-Cultural Perspective, originally published in 2000, is Loewen’s culminating work in missionary anthropology and it remains a useful and relevant work today.

14th Annual Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year, Cross-Cultural Category From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is a crosscultural book. Scripture is full of narratives of God's people crossing cultures in pursuit of God's mission. Biblical texts shed light on mission dynamics: Sarah and Hagar functioning in an honor-shame culture, Moses as a multicultural leader, Ruth as a crosscultural conversion, David and Uriah illustrating power distance, the queen of Sheba as an international truth-seeker, Daniel as a transnational student, Paul in Athens as a model of contextualization, and much more. Missionary and missions professor Marvin Newell provides a biblical theology of culture and mission, mining the depths of Scripture to tease out missiological insights and crosscultural perspectives. Unlike other such books that are organized topically, this text is organized canonically, revealing how the whole of Scripture speaks to contemporary mission realities. Comprehensive in scope, filled with biblical insight and missional expertise, this book is an essential resource for students and practitioners of crosscultural ministry and mission.

"This new edition includes reflections on themes that have emerged since the book's initial publication in 1979. It takes on squarely the task of helping both outsiders and insiders understand the hidden language of culture and learning how culture affects a people's appropriation of the person and message of Jesus Christ."--BOOK JACKET.

Duane Elmer asked people around the world how they felt about Western missionaries. The response? "Missionaries could be more effective if they did not think they were better than us." The last thing we want to do in cross-cultural ministry is to offend people in other cultures. Unfortunately, all too often and even though we don't mean it, our actions communicate superiority, paternalism, imperialism and arrogance. Our best intentions become unintentional insults. How can we minister in ways that are received as true Christlike service? Cross-cultural specialist Duane Elmer gives Christians practical advice for serving other cultures with sensitivity and humility. With careful biblical exposition and keen cross-cultural awareness, he shows how our actions and attitudes often contradict and offend the local culture. He offers principles and guidance for avoiding misunderstandings and building relationships in ways that honor others. Here is culturally-savvy insight into how we can follow Jesus' steps to become global servants. Whether you're going on your first short-term mission trip or ministering overseas for extended periods, this useful guide is essential reading for anyone who wants to serve effectively in international settings with grace and sensitivity.

The central purpose of this book is to show that cannibalism has been practiced under certain conditions in a variety of cultures throughout the world. Twenty-five different cultures are presented in this book. The types of cannibalism covered include: exo-cannibalism, judicial, survival, endocannibalism, human sacrifice, biting, infanticide, funeral, slave, and Windigo and cannibalism. The origins and philosophy of cannibalism as well as cannibalism's relationship with food taboos and religion are also discussed. David A. Ezzo has been involved with the study of Native American Indian history and culture for over twenty-five years. His interest in the subject matter frist began when he earned his Indian Lore merit badge from Mr. Ronald P. Koch when he was 15 years old. His interest in the topic continued when he served as an Indian Lore counselor at Camp Turner for four summers in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983. David began his academic study of Native Americans when he earned a BA degree in Anthropology from SUNY Fredonia in 1985. While at Fredonia he wrote two published articles and co-wrote a third article with one of his professors, Dr. Alvin H. Morrison. This article was presented at the 16th Algonquian Conference and was published a year later in 1986. David earned his MA in Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma in 1987. During his time at the University of Oklahoma he presented several papers including one at a Frontier Conference at OU in 1986 and also a paper at the Algonquian Conference. His MA thesis was also written on a Native American topic. The title of his thesis "Female Status in Northeastern North America" was a historical survey of the roles of Native American women in a number of Algonquian societies. During subsequent years David continued to attend and publish papers at Algonquian Conferences. He also continued to serve as a BSA Indian Merit badge counselor. In June of 2005 David earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Richardson University. Also in August of 2005 he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Erie Community College (North Campus). In July of 2007 David published his first book "Papers on Historical Algonquian and Iroquois Topics" which he co-authored with Michael H. Moskowitz. This book was also published by Dog Ear Publishing.