Brandon O'Brien and Randy Richards shed light on the ways that Western readers often misunderstand the cultural dynamics of the Bible. Identifying nine areas where commonplaces of modern Western thought diverge with the text, the authors ask us to reconsider long-held assumptions about our most beloved book.

The Bible was written within collectivist cultures, and it's easy for Westerners to misinterpret-or miss-important elements. Combining the expertise of a biblical scholar and a missionary practitioner, this essential guidebook explores the deep social structures of the ancient Mediterranean, stripping away individualist assumptions and helping us read the Bible better.

Many young Bible scholars are passionate for the Scriptures. But is passion enough? Randolph Richards and Joseph Dodson encourage students of the Bible with wisdom from years of experience. Full of warmth, humor, and an infectious love for Scripture, this book invites a new generation of young scholars to dig into the complex, captivating world of the Bible.

Informed by the historical evidence and with a sharp eye for telltale clues in the Apostle Paul's letters, E. Randolph Richards takes us into his world and places us on the scene with Paul the letter writer offering a glimpse that overthrows our preconceptions and offers a new perspective on how this important portion of Christian Scripture came to be.

Randolph Richards and Brandon O'Brien explore the complicated persona and teachings of the apostle Paul. Unpacking his personal history and cultural context, they show how Paul both offended Roman perspectives and scandalized Jewish sensibilities, revealing a vision of Christian faith that was deeply disturbing to others in his day and remains so in ours.

In Acts 8:26-39 we read the story of the Ethiopian eunuch who longed for someone to come and assist him in understanding the ancient writings of Scripture. The Holy Spirit sent him the apostle Philip whose explanation led to the eunuch's conversion to Christianity. In June of 2013 eight scholars convened at Tyndale House, Cambridge, England, to devote a week to the discussion of how to interpret the Bible. Our vision in the book before us is to come alongside and join in the reading and interpretation of Scripture, so that we can all gain a better knowledge of its meaning and represent that meaning in our lives and relationships. The fruit of our discussions from that summer appear in the following chapters. Five of our number devoted themselves to the production of two chapters each. These deal with a range of subjects related to biblical interpretation in the twenty-first century. The result is a multi-dimensional introduction to the subject for the Bible reader who wishes to know how to approach some of the vexing problems of the biblical text and, more importantly, simply to read the Bible in such a way as to gather the most from this experience.