"New Testament World"

Paper Summary:

Bruce J. Malina creates a new understanding of the meaning of the New Testament in his book, "The New Testament World". This paper explains how Malina uses the context of cultural anthropology to interpret the society in which the New Testament was written. He strives to clarify the meaning behind the translation of the words one reads, using models that replace one's subjective interpretation with a more objective one. The paper shows that, in this way, the words of the New Testament more closely echo the context of the time in which they were written. For example, words such as honor, shame, marriage, and even good, do not have the same meaning for 21st century people as they did for 1st century people. The paper shows that, in addition to Malina's detailed explanation of how the model is created, he takes his concept one step further by testing it with specific examples from the New Testament.

From the Paper:

"Malina goes into detail on the topic of honor and shame in the Mediterranean World of the 1st Century. He does so to explain the value of social standing in that society. He also uses this subject to construct a model for the reader to test. He writes, "If the model covers all instances of honor and shame behavior in The New Testament, then it will have been validated and proved to be an adequate model" (48). If the reader investigates the usage of the words in The New Testament, it appears as though the model is valid."

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