Social-Historical Context of the Bible


What is called the social-historical approach to understanding the Bible is becoming increasingly popular among Biblical scholars. We all know there are arguments about the context of individual passages in the Bible. Mostly, context refers to written material before and after the one being discussed.

For example, the passage "I knew you in the womb" is used against abortion. In context it was referring to one person being discussed in that part of the Bible and not every Christian.

If the concept of context is broadened to include a geographical part of the world where a bit of the Bible was written and approximately when it draws back the curtain of mystery even further. Non Biblical sources telling us a little about what was going on at that time and place plus hints in the scripture itself about that time period help us understand what motivated writers back then. There is a simple and practical way to read the Bible, remember those who wrote it had in mind a particular audience of that time and a specific goal of the writer.

There is an irony among Bible readers. A set of people who consider themselves very knowledgeable in what the Biblical writers intended and who eschew taking passages out of the context of surrounding passages also aggressively protest considering the sociological or historical context in attempts to understand passages. This is logical is one believes the Bible was written by or passed down from their god. It is not logical if one wants an objective effort to understand what ancient writers were trying to accomplish.

This limited context group wants to believe writers were directed by a force external to their own lives, experiences and time period. To admit writers were merely reflecting the culture and concerns of local communities at that point in time destroys the myth of an all knowing and all powerful God.

The Bible is far more interesting when read as a sociology book than as a book on theology or history.

Comments

  1. little helperApril 6, 2020 at 7:54 AM

    Nothing new here. However, your "destroys the myth"; is an opinion only, as is your; "...when read as a sociology book than as a book on theology or history" by ignoring the various genres in the "book" itself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jon LindgrenApril 6, 2020 at 1:31 PM

      helper--"..ignoring the various genres in the book itself."

      I agree there is some of that. There is some history in the Bible. It is the historical context of those who wrote it and how that may have influenced what writers wrote and/or what they wanted to accomplish with their writing.

      Delete
  2. Ardy BApril 7, 2020 at 5:29 PM

    Jon,
    “Forty authors wrote the Bible over a period of 1,500 years.” They were from different societies and cultures, under different governments, some separated by centuries of time. They were kings, shepherds, physicians, fishermen, and other vocations. https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/who-wrote-the-bible

    “The universal rule, then, in interpreting Scripture is to accept nothing as an authoritative Scriptural statement which we do not perceive very clearly when we examine it in the light of its history ... such a history should relate the environment of all the prophetic books extant; that is, the life, the conduct, and the studies of the author of each book, who he was, what was the occasion, and the epoch of his writing, whom did he write for, and in what language.”, Benedictus de Spinoza, “Of the Interpretation of Scripture”, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, chapter vii.

    ReplyDelete

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