Posted by Carol on September 08, 2004 at 14:14:32
In Reply to: Re: The Bible and women posted by Oldtimer on September 08, 2004 at 13:22:00:
The Bible reflects the historic & culturally-biased beliefs, attitudes and values of the people who wrote it, edited it, and translated it. I think it's very important to understand the historic & cultural contexts in which scripture was written, redacted & translated. That includes understanding what the scripture writer intended his original audience to hear before interpreting its meaning for me today.
This problem, btw, is one of the main reasons I place the teachings & life of Jesus (the gospels) above all other scripture, including the epistles but most particularly the entire Old Testament. While the gospels also have distinct historic perspectives & cultural biases, Jesus' teachings and the story of his life, death & resurrection are ground zero, so to speak. Everything else in scripture is peripheral and secondary, imo.
I also beleive that the same Spirit Who led Paul to interpret the meaning of Jesus' life, death & resurrection in the context of a pre-scientific, first-century understanding of the universe also leads me and others like me to interpret the meaning of Jesus' life, death & resurrection in the light of what is known about the universe in the 21st century.