A few weeks back, I gave a brief preview of a book that I’ve been reading through lately. The book is entitled Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, co-authored by Randolph Richards and Brandon O’Brien, and it gives a good introduction to the discipline of hermeneutics, or helping us better grasp how to interpret, understand and apply Scripture.

In specific, there are 9 chapters which consider 9 different blinders we might have when interpreting Scripture. And, so, I want to post an article exploring the particulars of each ‘blinder’.

Firstly, I need to remind us that the book is broken down into 3 sections, mainly likening these blinders to the picture of an iceberg. With an iceberg, one can see a bit of the ice mountain poking out of the ocean, but below the surface lies a massive structure, mostly unseen by the human eye. And, so, the first 3 chapters deal with 3 issues that are more easily detected. So remember this, as some of these issues early on won’t seem too earth-shattering.

Chapter 1 considers the topic of mores (pronounced mawr-eyz). Basically, these are the fundamental moral values of a group that go without saying. These moral values wouldn’t need any detailed explanation, as they are simply given within a particular people’s setting.

Such mores are to be found within the Bible as well, mainly because the biblical text was written to particular people within a particular culture and setting. Certain things were already clear to them, but not to us.

When approaching Scripture, we as westerners, including myself, can forget that we find ourselves in a far-removed world, both in culture and time. Our worldview is quite different from those of the ancient near eastern world in which Scripture was written.

Knowing this, Richards and O’Brien remark:

Author, Brandon O’Brien, relates a story within his own denomination where the evils of alcohol were regularly preached. Coming myself from the southeastern Bible-belt of America, I can relate. Of course, most Christians now recognise that drinking such beverages is not sinful in and of itself. It’s actually a celebrated act in Scripture at times (as seen in the midst of the Old Testament feasts or at the wedding at Cana). But we can still easily project our own cultural mores onto Scripture.

But the whole issue of drinking alcoholic beverages is only one matter to consider. Richards and O’Brien follow-on by examining the two topics of sex and money within the Bible:

Of course, both authors (and I, as well) believe the Scripture teaches on areas of sex and sexuality. Yet, for instance, particular dress-code statements (e.g. 1 Tim 2:9-10) come not to challenge those wearing ‘revealing’ clothes, but rather to encourage economically-conscious dress.

Another example the authors give is that of food. We might be disgusted by the idea of certain Asian cultures eating rat or dog meat. It makes us nauseous and we consider such people uncouth. Even more, it’s possible that we import a lesser morality upon such people for their eating habits. I still cannot fathom how horse meat is a specialty in Belgium. I don’t think I’ve yet tasted it (though I’ve had goat meat since being here, cooked by Kenyan friends).

The same stands true in biblical times, but from another angle. We’d be easily disregarded if people knew our western love for certain foods. For instance, a well-known story would be that of Peter’s vision. We find a sheet containing ‘all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds’. In one sense, I think many of us today would simply say, ‘Come on, Peter. Get over yourself!’ But this was deeply settled within the ancient Jewish culture. Richards and O’Brien suggest this would be similar to the Lord giving us a vision of a sheet carrying puppies, bats and cockroaches. How could you?!

There are all sorts of cultural givens within a particular group of people. It’s easy to miss those in the Scriptural context because they are distant from us in both time and culture. Plenty of our given mores might not hold water from a biblical context. For example, Richards states that, in the church he grew up in, it was completely unacceptable for a deacon to smoke, but that same person could be racist. Of course, decades later, we would argue that any form of racism is unacceptable. Still, such a more can and does exist in our world. And it wouldn’t be too difficult to find some groups who do not anathematise smoking.

There could be all types of mores – unspoken moral values – that we believe are Christ-like, but just might not be. Or there are certain mores that might seem truly Christian by some groups, but these same mores are completely unacceptable amongst a group of people on the other side of the world. Again, think about clothing, economics, politics, food, etc.

This isn’t an exact science and, thus, we must stay humble as we study Scripture in helping to form our moral values.

What are some other mores that we need to be aware of as not being inherently Christian? What are some that might be acceptable in our culture, but could possibly be identified as non-Christian?