Reasonable

Since the time of the enlightenment, western thinkers (in the tradition of the Greeks) have tended toward the assumption that certain ways of reasoning are universal in scope. Among Christian laity, often when hearing a scholar speak of cultural context, development of dogmatism or other such interpretation related necessities, some could assume the scholar is undermining the text or claiming it to be somehow false or insufficient. What fails to be understood is what we consider “reasonable” is influenced by our own worldviews, which have been shaped by our historical understanding, culture, economics, traditions, denomination and/or religions affiliations. Our perception of the world and derivation of what constitutes “reasonable” is radically different than someone on the other side of the world, who could take the same words or data and arrive at an opposite conclusion. For example, a British individual when expressing excitement regarding his accommodations or apartment may say, “I’m mad about my flat”, while an American would take that to mean, he got stuck somewhere due to lack of sufficient tire air pressure on an automobile. We cannot interpret the Bible with a modern set of cultural paradigms, axioms or personal idealism. Translation is by nature interpretation; interpretation is often biased.