The Difficulty Western Minds Have In Reading the Bible

I recently learned about the concept of sender and receiver cultures.

The idea is that in receiver cultures, typically more eastern, it is up to the person listening to accurately determine what the speaker is saying. If they misunderstand, it is their fault for not being able to interpret the language and accompanying social cues.

Whereas in sender cultures, typically western, it is the fault of the speaker if there is a misunderstanding. It is up to the speaker to effectively communicate to their specific audience.

As an American, it seems obvious to me that if the message didn’t come across meaningfully then the person speaking hasn’t successfully communicated and they should try again with more effort. In the same way, I know that I’m not as quick-witted as I wish to be, so I have spent a lot of time collecting good questions I can ask people, and often spend time planning for conversations beforehand if I know I’m going to have them. All so I can do my share of the work in communicating effectively and working toward good conversation.

But I do see the value in a receiver culture sometimes. If fact, I expect it when reading older writing that is harder to understand, poetry, or something written in a much different literary or historical context than my own.

Yes, it’s harder to read and more work on your part to gather meaning from the text, but that meaning is what makes it worth it. It’s why I love reading writers like C.S. Lewis and P.G. Wodehouse. Their writing contains so much meaning and wit (respectively) that it’s worth spending the extra time and thought to dig into.

We would hardly consider it poetry if we could understand all a poem has to offer on the first read through. Poetry is valuable because it has layers of meaning that take time to unfold. You have to sit with the text and read it multiple times. Sometimes coming back to it after a long time.

And we might not think about the different contextual background that a book has if we are reading it in our own language in the modern day, but a lot of authors write in different cultural, literary, and historical contexts. It’s very possible that you aren’t the intended audience for that writing, and that’s good to keep in mind.

Ancient Jewish Meditation Literature

One of the cultures we most interact with as Christians is ancient Hebrew culture in reading the Bible.

It may not seem like we have much interaction with this culture because we can choose our favorite English translation and the stories are so familiar to us, but none of the writings are written directly to us. When we read the Bible we’re reading ancient Hebrew poetry (which works differently than ours), letters to middle eastern churches, apocalyptic prophecy, masterfully scribed story telling, and more.

Tim Mackie, the scholar for the Bible Project, likes to say that the Bible authors are 'literary ninjas’. They have such a thoughtful and skilled way of telling the stories that take a lot of intentionality to understand. He emphasized that the Bible is ‘meditation literature’ and is meant to be meditated on continually to gain the wisdom and truth that it can teach.

Obviously, we want to read and meditate on the Bible correctly and there are many things that can help us do that. One of the fundamental things we can get right is to make sure we are operating in a receiver culture. We know that because the biblical writers have written in a very different context, the burden of interpretation is on us. It’s not that their work is poorly or sloppily written, but it can be confusing without tools or experience in interpretation since our experience is so different from theirs.

The work of exegesis is to determine what the author’s intended message is. It involves the study of the original audience, historical and cultural contexts, and analysis of the grammar and language that the book is written in.

Now this sounds like a lot to consider every time you read the Bible, but I don’t think that you should do an in-depth study every time you pick up your Bible. Just maybe that you keep in mind that you are reading an ancient religious text from a different culture.

A good habit to adopt is to have a time of studying the Bible and meditating on it in addition to a lighter and more regular reading. And the good news of living in our modern culture is that you don’t have to start from scratch when studying.

There are a great many commentaries and resources available to direct and enhance your understanding of the Scriptures. And also a great many pastors and scholars to listen to, who have already studied.

Reading the Bible as a Receiver

The Bible teaches us to love others and to do to others as you wish they would do to you. Despite growing up in more of a sender culture, I believe it is more loving to read as if in a receiver culture. To maintain intellectual integrity, we ought to read someone else’s work as we want someone to read ours.

In both sender and receiver cultures you can see how being on the side that is doing the interpretation is the more selfless option.

A good reader acts as in a receiver culture.

A good writer acts as in a sender culture.

So, to obtain the most from reading the Bible, we ought to put in ourselves in a ready position to interpret, and to understand the mind of the author.