Duvall & Hays Chapter 5 - Essay Example

Bible through Historical-Cultural Context Bible is important in religion especially in Christianity. Christianity’s guiding principles in its religion are based on the scriptures in the Bible. However, some people have difficulties in reading the Bible because they cannot understand what the scriptures are implying. In this dilemma, studying historical-cultural context of the Bible helps a lot in understanding the Bible. “Journey into God’s Word” helps people read the Bible in a wiser way through historical-cultural context.

When people read the bible without understanding the historical-cultural context, they might misunderstand some metaphors from the Bible (Duvall and Hays, 2008). For example is the book of Ecclesiastes wherein it says that life is meaningless in the first chapter. If one would only consider the scripture and not the historical-cultural context, there might be misunderstanding that life is indeed meaningless where in truth, it specifies that life is meaningless without God. Another example is the parable of Good Samaritan in New Testament.

The reader would more appreciate it if the reader knows how dangerous and a lengthy walk is Jerusalem to Jericho (Duvall and Hays, 2008). Bible offers a lot of learning but sometimes hidden in its words that are most of the time based on old language like Latin and Greek. In this time wherein people want immediate applications, it is easy to bypass some hidden meanings of the scripture due to time availability. However, if providing some guidebooks or introductions to the Bible books would encourage people to read historical-cultural context of the scriptures (Duvall and Hays, 2008).

Providing some everyday schedule would also attract people to give time in reading scripture because of organization in reading. In a religion such as Christianity, Bible is an important book wherein everyday reading is sometimes required. Reading it every day is only fulfilling if it is accompanied with understanding.ReferenceDuvall, J. S. & Hays, J. D. (2008) Journey into God’s word: your guide to understanding and applying the Bible. Michigan: Zondervan.