Table of Contents

1. What the Book Means to Me

While at first glance this appears to be an issues book, its really about a hermeneutical approach to figure out what is cultural and what is timeless or transcultural in the Bible for any given issue or text. A brief definition of hermeneutics may be in order. In academic terms, Bible study can be divided into two phases: 1) exegesis, or figuring out what the text meant to the original audience and 2) hermeneutics, or figuring out what it means to us by applying their background and situation to ours. You can never apply a text to a modern situation without first understanding the original situation. For those familiar with the excellent Fee & Stuart book, “How to Read the Bible for All its Worth”, I consider this to be part two of that book.

This book puts forth an approach to understanding God's use of scripture that lays a conceptual foundation for determining which components of scripture are core Kingdom values and which are cultural. He then spends the greater part of the book fleshing out 18 criteria (16 scriptural and 2 extra-scriptural) that can be used to systematically build a case that will lead the student to determine whether a given text is most likely cultural or transcultural. Within these 18 criteria are some that others have used which Webb exposes to show limitations of their application so that we may be careful in their use.

2. Outline of the book

• Introduction – Webb introduces the need for discerning cultural vs. transcultural (SEE LIST p. 14-15). Additionally, he introduces the basic approach of the book.

3. Chapter 1: Christian Response to Cultural Transformation

• – This chapter explores issues of culture and the transformation that cultures undergo over time. How do we as Christians respond to our changing cultures? When do changes deviate from God's plan? For each cultural changes, should we lead, follow, or fight the change? Often, the hardest part is determining which of our personal values are Kingdom and which are our own cultural baggage. Webb also points out that part of our confusion is due to the fact that scripture mingles Kingdom values with cultural ones that were relevant to the original audience.

  • Since culture is undergoing significant change in regard to women and homosexuals, this book explores whether Biblical passages dealing with these issues are cultural or core Kingdom values. To aid our study, he applies his same criteria neutral issues such as slavery that most Christians have accepted as cultural but which were once deemed to be Kingdom values.

  • To this end, he lays out some possible “ultimate ethics” for each issue. Which set of ethics a person uses should be determined by where they discover the Bible falling on the transcultural vs. cultural continuum (SEE PAGES 26-29).

4. Chapter 2: Redemptive Movement Hermeneutic

• Next, Webb introduces his major operating theme. He believes that scripture does not always lay out the ultimate ethic on a given issue but instead sometimes just starts moving the original audience towards an ultimate ethic that is not attainable in their culture. He terms this a “redemptive movement hermeneutic”. The RMH posits that God operates with people where they are but that he is always nudging them toward where they should be going and that this is reflected in scripture. It starts people moving towards an ultimate ethic and foreshadows the arrival of that ethic, but does not necessarily try to immediately impose it. This is not to say that there are not ultimate ethics in the Bible, but it does say that not everything in the Bible is taken as far as God desires. It is up to the reader to apply criteria such as he proposes to determine which texts flesh out the final say on an issue and which are moving people towards God's true desire. Key to the principle of the RMH is the word “Movement”. If scripture is moving us towards a goal, then it should be possible to chart a vector of that movement throughout scripture. Or to put it another way, scripture puts an ethical trajectory in place. Webb uses an X-->Y-->Z metaphor where “X” is the cultural ethic in place at the time of the writing, “Y” is the ethic stated in the text, and “Z” is the implied ultimate ethic that is reached by following the trajectory plotted from X-->Y and hinted at in various forms in scripture. He contrasts this with two other models of Biblical hermeneutics: static hermeneutics and a radical reader approach. The static model considers the Bible to be putting forth the ultimate ethic and leaves little room to move in ways that seem to leave the Bible behind whereas the radical reader approach considers modern culture to be a stronger authority than scripture. Both the static hermeneutic and the RMH look progressive from the perspective of the people in situation X. However, once society moves beyond X, they reach a point where the static hermeneutic's interpretation looks regressive (and it is). However, if they abandon that static approach and move towards the radical reader approach, then they risk missing the guidance in scripture. While they may move beyond scripture in some aspects, they introduce their own flaws and loose God's guidance by disavowing the relevancy and authority of scripture. Webb believes that the RMH charts a better course, continually pushing society towards more perfect implementations of God's will and helping us to become closer and closer to the image of God that we are supposed to be. (SEE CHART: p. 32 EXAMPLE p. 37) If the RMH is correct, then God's people should continually be striving to reform society along the lines set up by God's movement. We should be leading society instead of dragging along behind it because we missed God's movement. When the RMH discovers that a text is cultural at face value, it then attempts to come to the spirit behind the text so that the spirit may still be applied. In contrast, the static hermeneutic assumes that the words on the page are the ultimate ethic. Interestingly enough, you will be hard pressed to find a practitioner of the static hermeneutic who doesn't declare a few texts cultural. Sometimes, these texts occur in very close literary proximity to related issues that are upheld as timeless. The RMS is supposed to help us hang the “cultural” label in a more consistent, analytical manner.

• Approach of the Redemptive Movement Hermeneutic:

  • Examine movement between original culture and scripture

  • Assess whether the movement is preliminary or absolute

  • If preliminary and further similar movement along the same trajectory would produce a more fully realized ethic, then we should follow it.

• Approach of the Static Hermeneutic

  • Find comparable situation to original text and apply (i.e. Slavery become Employment). This can produce problems due to “wooden” application. I.e., employees should suffer beatings from employers.

• (SPEAK TO EXAMPLE p. 38, 40)

• Women's issue has preliminary movement (later chapters will backup that claim) whereas homosexual issue has absolute movement.

• RMH has a multi-level ethic. That is, not everything in scripture has the same level of ethical development.

• The Bible was not designed to establish an immediate Utopian society but rather to start people on the path of improvement and greater consciousness.

• One may ask why God wouldn't put forth the ultimate standard for all cultural values up front. The reasons, according to Webb, are all based in the wisdom of God:

  • Pastoral component: God tries to stretch people as far as they can grow without pushing them past their breaking point.

  • Teachability: You cannot teach someone to run before they can walk. A good teacher progresses only as fast as their students can handle. God teaches to the common cultural level of development.

  • Fallen humanity: Jesus's Matt. 5 list of “It has been said (OT texts)... but I tell you...” demonstrate redemptive better applications by reaching for the spirit behind the OT texts.

  • Evangelistic components: Some cultural improvement is delayed to ease the Christian mission. Social improvement is less valuable than spreading salvation and repairing mans' relationship with God. If a social improvement would make the gospel unpalatable or threaten government structures, then it may be minimized.

  • Embedded-values components: Some imperfect values have beneficial secondary implications. I.e., slavery acted as a form of welfare.

  • Ancient world components: Some factors in their situation required values that are no longer necessary. I.e., primogeniture (firstborn inheritance) was necessary to keep farms at efficient sizes, etc.

  • Social science componet: God spoke to his people in terms that they could understand even if they weren't the most accurate. I.e., they didn't understand that men could be infertile as well as women.

  • Idealism vs. Realism: Pure idealism produces disillusionment while pure realism traps us in the present. God must balance the two to help us advance.

• Webb maintains that both radical reader and static hermeneutics make cultural decisions, but they are guided by the background of the reader as opposed to a methodical approach.

• In determining the spirit of a text, the reader must look at how the text produces movement against the backdrop of the ANE/GR (Ancient Near East/Greco-Roman) settings and how it moves over time throughout scripture (esp. from the OT --> NT epochs).

• Webb also develops the concept of a “ladder of abstraction” which he proposes as a substitute to static application but which I'm not going to cover.

5. Chapter 3: Overview to System of Criteria

• lays out the basic criteria used to distinguish cultural vs. transcultural. Webb freely admits that his approach will never yield 100% certainty and is not a simple process, but he does maintain that the use of broad spectrum of criteria will yield a high degree of certainty for many issues. He also seems to be proposing some criteria that are commonly used merely to expose their weaknesses so that people do not try to use them without consideration.

  • General Approach:

    • Develop rationale that appear to indicate that a text is cultural

    • Develop rationale that appear to indicate that a text is transcultural

    • Weigh the strengths of each argument and come to a conclusion

  • Criteria: Webb presents 18 criteria, 16 of which are scriptural and 2 of which are extra-scriptural and for each issue he studies, he further subdivides the lists into whether they are persuasive, moderately persuasive, or inconclusive for a given issue.

  • For each criterion, he will then proceed to apply it to neutral examples followed by women and homosexuals.

• Criterion 1: Preliminary Movement.

  • A component of a text may be culturally bound if scripture modifies the original culture in a way that suggests further movements is possible and advantageous.

  • This also asks whether movement is preliminary or absolute.

  • To judge this criterion, the reader must evaluate the following:

    • Foreign movement: Compare the texts to the ANE/GR cultures.

    • Domestic movement: Compare to the culture that is receiving the message.

    • Canonical movement: Compare the Biblical messages across broad Biblical epochs.

  • For example, Webb shows that Biblical texts hold a higher standard of treatment of slaves and women than ANE/GR cultures. Additionally, both groups receive greater treatment in the NT than in the OT. On the issue of homosexuality, however, the Bible is more restrictive than the ANE/GR world and there is no change from the OT to the NT.

6. Criterion 2: Seed Ideas.

• A component of a text may be cultural if “seed ideas” are present within scripture that hint at further movement or an ultimate ethic.

• Seed ideas are not fully developed but instead appear in an abstract, almost offhand manner. An example is Gal. 3:28: “...neither slave nor free, male nor female”.

• See ideas do not tell the audience to change, but instead hint at some change to come.

7. Criterion 3: Breakouts

• A component of a text may be culturally confined if social norms reflected in that text are “broken out of” in other Biblical texts.

• While movement (criterion 1) is a mere modification of standards and seedbeds are are theoretical, a breakout is glaring exception to the apparent norms.

• To be meaningful, seedbeds and breakouts need to be in the same direction as the preliminary movement.

• While a breakout may appear markedly different than or at odds with a piece of Biblical legislation that upholds an expected social norm, at the same time, it may be an extension of the direction that the legislation was headed relative to the original audience.

• Neutral examples:

  • Prohibition on long hair on men vs. the Nazarite vow

  • Primogeniture vs. Jacob and Esau, et al.

• Women examples:

  • Deborah

  • Huldah

  • Priscilla

  • Junia

  • Sexual realm in marriage (SEE p 100)

8. Criterion 4: Purpose/Intent Statements

• A component of a text may be culturally bound if by practicing the text one no longer fulfills the text's original intent or purpose.

• Caveats:

  • A text or issue may have multiple purposes, some of which may be culturally bound while others may be transcultural.

  • Explicitly stated purposes are more compelling than implicit ones.

• Examples:

  • Any text that states “...so that others may believe”. If practicing the same text today instead produced a stumbling block to belief, then it is probably cultural. The cultural practice should be modified to a form that fulfills the stated purpose.

  • Holy Kiss

  • Accepting slavery

  • Women being subservient to an unbelieving husband

9. Criterion 5: Basis in the Fall/Curse

• A component of a text may be transcultural if it is rooted in the fall of humanity or the curse.

• Specifically, they are transcultural to the extent that they effect all cultures.

• This criterion is really to complex to deal with here, but a big question he raises is this: “Is the curse imperative or indicative”? Does the curse say what is or what God wants us to maintain? If the latter, then we should stop fighting weeds and pain in childbirth.

• Webb also deals with interesting questions as to whether the curse introduced hierarchy or aggravated a previously existing one. He makes a strong case for the former.

10. Criterion 6: Basis in Original Creation, Section I: Patterns

• A component of a text may be transcultural if its basis is rooted in the original-creation material.

• This criterion deals with whether the patterns that are show in the Garden are transcultural or not. To that end, he explores several creation patterns and notes that some appear to be transcultural (permanency of marriage), some that appear to follow the Redemptive Movement (monogamy which was lost by the Israelites and only later reemerged), some that appear to have a significant cultural component and are heavily modified today (Sabbath, farming as occupation, procreation command) and some that are not followed at all (walking as transportation, etc.).

• Webb also deals extensively with whether the creation patterns relating to women show an equal footing or hint at some form of patriarchy.

11. Criterion 7: Basis in Original Creation, Section II: Primogeniture

• A component of a text may be transcultural, if it is rooted in the original-creation material and, more specifically, its creative order.

• Webb believes that the rationale of several scriptural dictum (cf. 1 Tim. 2:13) is based on the concept of primogeniture. Primogeniture is the concept that the firstborn (male) inherits the kit and caboodle. As incomprehensible as this is to us today, it did make a lot of sense in the ANE/GR world. Primogeniture prevents farms, herds and grazing lands from being broken down into such small units that they are no longer efficient. It is also the same concept behind dynastic rule in monarchies.

• Since primogeniture seems to be socially confined to an ancient agrarian society and since it itself exhibits several cultural appearing criteria (i.e. breakouts), Webb concludes that primogeniture is not an appropriate gauge of transcultural status.

12. Criterion 8: Basis in a New Creation

• A component of a text may be transcultural if it is rooted in new-creation material.

• I'm probably butchering this, but Webb generally seems to be promoting the concept that we had the original creation, followed by a fall, but with Christ, the world experienced a new creation that is attempting to return to God's perfect desire. The old creation is passing away to be superceeded by the more fully realized ethic received from Christ. Because of this, aspects of NT thoughts that are steeped in a “new creation” may tend to be transcultural. This is especially apparent in the “new” passages (e.g. Eph 2:15 and others (all the old self/new self passages)).

• He does make it a point to mention that that doesn't make all things transcultural, just those that appeal to a dramatic change (another example is Gal. 3:28).

13. Criterion 9: Competing Options

• A component of a text is more likely to be transcultural, if presented in a time and setting when other competing options existed in the broader cultures.

• Since homosexuality is condemned in the Biblical societies yet accepted in surrounding cultures, it is more likely to be a transcultural prohibition.

• However, there are no historical examples of a matriarchy and of the more egalitarian historical societies, none were near the ANE. While this doesn't make the scriptural prohibitions cultural, it does open the door to that possibility. Other examples include heliocentric and abolitionist perspectives which did not occur in the ANE/GR.

14. Criterion 10: Opposition to Original Culture

• A component of a text is more likely to be transcultural if it counters or stands in opposition to the original culture.

• When a text seems to be coming from the viewpoint of the culture in which it resides, then it is less likely to be transcultural. Instead, God may be working with people where the are or using concepts that they understand.

• The inverse is even stronger. If the text is speaking out in direct opposition to the surrounding culture, then it is more likely to be transcultural. Examples include: forbidden worship of astral bodies, prohibitions against worshiping foreign gods, non-retaliation and enemy love and some of the radical improvements to the treatment of women.

15. Criterion 11: Closely Related Issues

• A component of a text may be cultural if “closely related issues” to that text/issue are also themselves culturally bound.

• I.e., if many of the texts surrounding slavery are culturally bound, then that increases the chance that slavery itself is culturally bound.

16. Criterion 12: Penal Code

• A prohibited or prescribed action within the text may be culturally bound (at least in its most concrete, nonabstracted form) if the penalty for violation is surprisingly light or not even mentioned.

17. Criterion 13: Specific Instructions Vs. General Principles

• A component of a text may be culturally relative if its specific instructions appear to be at odds with the general principles of Scripture.

• For example, if a specific text tends to fly in the face of transcultural principles such as the nature of God or fruits of the spirit, then it could easily cultural. I personally find this a very compelling argument in some situations and had intuitively arrived at this conclusion before reading the book.

18. Criterion 14: Basis in Theological Analogy

• A component of a text may be transcultural if its basis is rooted in the character of God or Christ through theological analogy.

• Webb does make a point to stress that this can easily be taken too far. He believes that it should be limited to “direct and literal” comparisons such as love, holiness and forgiveness instead of the more poetic descriptions of God (i.e., as master to slaves, king, firstborn, or husband).

19. Criterion 15: Contextual Comparisons

• A text or something within a text may be transcultural to the degree that other aspects in a specialized context, such as a list or grouping are transcultural. Conversely, a text or something within a text may be culturally bound to the degree that other aspects in a specialized context are culturally bound.

• Hence if a sin list groups many transcultural sins together along with a few questionable ones, that tends to increase the probability that the questionable issues are transcultural. Examples fall on 192ff.

• The inverse is also true. However, if a list contains mixed cultural and transcultural, then it cannot be used in forming an evaluation.

20. Criterion 16: Appeal to the Old Testament

• A practice within a New Testament text may or may not be transcultural if appeal is (or could be) made to the Old Testament in support of that practice.

• The criterion is another that seems to exist to enable Webb to address commonly used rationale. Again, he explores it more to express its limitations, then to propose it be used as a ironclad decision point.

21. Criterion 17: Pragmatic Basis Between Two Cultures

• A component of a biblical imperative may be culturally relative if the pragmatic basis for the instruction cannot be sustained from one culture to another. The converse is that a Biblical command is more likely to be transcultural in the articulated form to the extent that the pragmatic factors are themselves sustainable across various cultures.

22. Criterion 18: Scientific and Social-Scientific Evidence

• A component of a text may be culturally confined if it is contrary to present-day scientific evidence.

23. What if I am wrong?

24. Conclusion

25. Appendix A: Primogeniture as the Historical Interpretation of 1 Tim. 2:13

26. Appendix B: Women as More Easily Deceived as Men – Traditional Interpretations of 1 Tim 2:14

27. Appendix C: Research on Detecting Deception

28. Appendix D: Woman Created From Man and For Man – 1 Cor. 11:8-9