BIBL 104-D81
March 31, 2014

Forum 1 (Modules 2 and 3): Historical-Cultural Context

1. Historical-Cultural Context - According to Duvall & Hays, in Journey Into God’s Word; the first step in understanding the bible, or any historical text for that matter, is understanding the text as it relates to the original author and his or her specific audiences. If a reader doesn’t have a good grasp of the circumstances surrounding the introduction of the text at the time of authorship, how can he or she begin to understand the author’s original intent? Was the author relating a story to elicit particular feelings or emotions, laying down edicts to be followed without waiver, or just providing a narrative description of actual events? Furthermore, historical and cultural context give us a framework for looking at a passage or literary piece, and applying the information based upon the changes in the current conditions as they exist today. Duvall & Hays use the New Testament passage referencing the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven as a perfect example of the miss-application of historical context. For years children have been taught of a gate in the walls of Jerusalem called the ‘Eye of the Needle’ that was so narrow camels had to thread their way through very carefully. Unfortunately, there is no record of any such gate actually existing; therefore, even though the imagery is poignant, interpreting the meaning of the passage using this false historical context leads readers down a path not necessarily intended by the original author.

I’ve spent nearly a lifetime as a Russian translator, and I’ve seen countless examples of translators using their personal cultural backgrounds to provide context for their translation work. Unfortunately, in most cases this leads to very inaccurate translations. A good example would be the translation of the Russian word ‘zlojradstvo’ (pronounced zloy-radstva) – this is a close equivalent to the German word ‘shadenfreude’. Literally, the Russian word could probably be translated as ‘evil-joy’. Understanding the historical context – the poverty extant during soviet times under Stalin, and the cultural context – having more than your neighbors made you the subject of scrutiny and suspicion; is essential to a proper understanding of the true meaning of the word. The story defining the word goes something like this, ‘Two very poor farmers live next door to each other. One farmer has a cow. One day the farmer with no cow is weeding his garden and digs up an old lamp. He rubs the dirt from the lamp to clean it up and a genie appears. The genie tells the farmer that he will grant him one wish – anything in the world his heart desires. The farmer looks at his neighbor’s farm and sees the cow, and then he looks at his own farm and sees that he has no cow. The farmer thinks for a moment and announces his wish to the genie, “I wish…my neighbor’s cow would die.” Without understanding the historical-cultural context of the word of ‘zlojradstvo’, and I don’t think it would be possible to render an accurate translation.

2. Shedding Light on Meaning - Many years ago in high school I remember doing a research paper on the Exodus. I recall that at that time there was an ongoing debate over the proper translation of the name of the sea crossed by the Israelites as they fled out of Egypt. Traditionally, the story has always been that Moses parted the Red Sea during their flight. Some translators/historians at that time thought the sea crossed might actually be the Reed Sea. Since the choice of names has a significant impact on the route of the Exodus, the historical context of the journey is directly affected by which translation of the name of the sea is accepted.

3. Importance of Historical-Cultural Context – We look to the bible to provide guidance on what we need do to achieve ultimate salvation, but the bible is also a wonderful roadmap for how we should live our secular lives so that we can coexist with the world and people around us. The challenge with using the bible as a general blueprint for how we live that secular existence is that many of the lessons provided in the Old and New Testaments were specifically addressed to people living in very different cultures and historical times. As an example, Jesus lets us know that we are all sinners by relating a story that had specific relevance to that historical and cultural time period. While we no longer stone people for their sins in civilized society, if we understand the cultural norms that existed during the time he spent walking among us, we can transpose the lesson of not ‘casting the first stone’ into one of forgiveness and apply it to our lives today. Without understanding the historical context, we might decide that it’s okay to throw those rocks - as long as we’re not the first to do so.