{"id":21683,"date":"2016-06-24T06:14:13","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T11:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/?p=21683"},"modified":"2018-08-09T11:19:03","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T15:19:03","slug":"niv-cultural-backgrounds-study-bible-an-interview-with-john-walton-and-craig-keener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/niv-cultural-backgrounds-study-bible-an-interview-with-john-walton-and-craig-keener\/","title":{"rendered":"NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: An Interview with John Walton and Craig Keener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"John<\/a><\/p>\n

Sometimes a little context is needed to discover the rich meaning behind the stories of Scripture. Reading the Bible could be compared to traveling in a foreign country. Having a faithful guide who reveals the surrounding culture offers a more complete understanding. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (website<\/a>)\u2014winner of the American Book Fest\u2019s International Book Award and ECPA\u2019s 2017 Christian Book Award\u00ae for Bible of the Year\u2014provides expert insight into the customs, culture, and literature of Bible times to help readers see behind-the-scenes of the ancient world and discover new dimensions to even the most familiar Bible passages.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/a><\/p>\n

[See Zondervan to Release NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n

Bible Gateway interviewed John Walton<\/a> and Craig Keener<\/a>, editors of the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Zondervan, August 2016).<\/p>\n

[See the Infographics The Tower of Babel<\/a>, The Good Samaritan<\/a>, and The Last Supper<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Even though people buy the Bible, research studies say they tend not to read it. Is that because of its ancient cultural perspective?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Craig Keener:<\/strong> The ancient cultural perspective is not the whole problem\u2014we’re a less text-oriented culture now\u2014but it’s a major problem. The Bible seems a foreign book to many readers because of the great cultural gaps between then and now. Even if we translate it into modern language, we still need to explain some of the culture and customs that throw modern readers off.<\/p>\n

\"Buy<\/a><\/p>\n

How can we know with certainty what the Bible\u2019s ancient culture was like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Walton:<\/strong> We have over a million cuneiform texts, as well as uncounted reliefs, tomb paintings, and papyri that reveal the ancient world to us. They give us windows to that world. When the spaceship Voyager was launched, people put a lot of thinking into providing digital material that would convey the essence of life on earth to any intelligent species who encountered the spacecraft. These were intended to provide windows that would allow others to know what our culture and thinking were like. The ancient texts do the same for us, even though what we find is more based on chance rather than intentional preservation. <\/p>\n

How do you respond to critics who say it\u2019s wrong to include in the Bible such extra-biblical content as the explanation of Egyptian idol worship, Sumerian legal texts, Akkadian epic stories, Mesopotamian genealogies, Canaanite deities, and Roman antiquities?<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Walton:<\/strong> The Bible itself talks about some of these things and we need to know how to enter the conversation. We can understand what the Bible is saying best when we recognize its cultural context, and all of those things are part of the cultural context. This is not imposing anything on the Bible any more than going to the Hebrew or Greek imposes something on the text. If we don’t read in light of the ancient world, we’re likely to impose our modern thinking on the text just like a translation imposes English on a text. Reading instinctively can be unreliable.<\/p>\n

Craig Keener:<\/strong> Biblical writers supplied such information when they knew their audiences were unfamiliar with it. Thus Mark<\/a> explains a Jewish custom for his audience in Mark 7:3-4<\/a> that Matthew<\/a> does not need to explain for his audience. The plagues were judgments against the gods of Egypt (Exod 12:12<\/a>; Num 33:4<\/a>), so we get more of a feel for what the Israelites felt if we know something about those gods.<\/p>\n