Culture and the Bible
So at Young Adults the other night, Hannah and I were discussing the impact that cultural issues of the day have on the bible. Unfortunately, Dad overheard us and challenged me to lead a thing on it one study. Hannah said she would give me a hand, but after about 2 seconds, we realised that it was a enormous undertaking with a crazy amount of things we could go into. So what better place to ask for help than the Internet; the best source of truth in the universe*!
Anyone have any suggestions for specific things we could look at and talk about that won't take the rest of the term/a team of rocket scientists to get something out of? Maybe a book I (Hannah) could read to get some sweet tips?
I realise that this might be a topic we leave for later (or never) but still, even if it was just for personal reading or thinking, input would be appreciated.
* NOT!! (hat tip: Borat)
11:42 PM
Yuss, first comment!
On second thought, I might have a misleading topic. What I really mean is "what things were happening at the time the scriptures were first written/thought up and how do they effect how we interpret the bible".
Part of that might be culture but there might be heaps of other things too. I'm interested to hear of those as well.
2:17 PM
Hi BAndy, sounds like good stuff. A good intro book is from Derek Tidball - "The Social Context of the New Testament". Online, I've found Bruce Winter's stuff pretty awesomely helpful for 1 Corinthians: http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Tyndale/staff/Winter/Staff.htm
Also you can hear sermons/lectures by him here: http://www.euroleadershipresources.org/speaker.php?ID=19&Tab=Topics
It's a start...
He's not the easiest to read though!
9:37 AM
I have some good books on Roman social history in the New Testament times if they would be helpful. Ankle tap me after the first service and I'll get them to ya.