The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology 3rd edition

With one medium-sized book, a thousand bible-banging fundamentalists are made to look silly. Malina's impressive scholarship makes it clear that when we understand the context of the Middle East, everything written gets a new interpretation. If one doesn't know the culture, one doesn't know the meaning of what is spoken or written.I have a new and powerful understanding of what is called "Purity codes." If a Middle Eastern person touched blood, he was "impure." You may think that is silly until you realize that is precisely why Blacks were not allowed to drink from the same fountains as whites. Purity codes define the structures. Sarah Palin will talk about "the real" America because she knows her audience has an implicit purity code: only conservative rural uneducated folk are pure.Jesus was killed because he cured people. He was practicing medicine without a license.Malina is clear, thorough and makes important what we didn't know was important. Very helpful.

And we don’t live in the setting of first-century Palestine. Outstanding presentation of the cultural, religious and socioeconomic setting of the New Testament. Many apparently unusual passages in the Gospels are brought into clear focus by the author as he presents the context that would’ve been intuitive to the original hearers of the New Testament writings. Most frequent response as I read this was, “Oh, NOW I see what that means.”Very highly recommended, and a reference that you will likely highlight and refer to often. An excellent source if you preach or teach.

In this 2001 book, Malina systematically treats the culture of the New Testament world by contrasting it with contemporary Western culture. He organizes his presentation around a series of core Judean culture traits. His in-depth coverage draws on constructs from cultural anthropology, making it helpful to have had an introductory course in this field. For this reason, this book is a more challenging read than was his 1993 title, 'Windows on the World of Jesus'. The earlier book is written in a more accessible style for the non-specialist reader. Malina has as his underlying objective in both of these books to make the reader appreciate the great distance between his own contemporary experience of social reality and that of 1st century Judeans. He believes that without applying such a perspective, the reader is prone to misinterpret what he reads in the New Testament, as if it were taking place in our own time.

Bought it for friend, they loved it.

I'm not a cultural anthropologist by any means, but I found this book to be pretty understandable and approachable. Malina explains his terms pretty well and creates what seems to be a pretty good model of early Christian social and cultural norms. It definitely wasn't a quick read for me, but it was very helpful.

This book arrived in perfect condition. It has very interesting knowledge which I found to be extremely helpful for my biblical backgrounds class. It gives you great insight to the culture and procedures of the bible world and makes understanding scripture in context a lot more easier!

All in all, I've been very pleased with this purchase. The book came to me highly recommended and I wasn't disappointed. I would caution the reader though when I say that the book is more than a little dry. Also, Malina tends to rely on abstract models to make his point, which is fine, but may not work well for some. On the whole, though, the book is indispensable and will serve anyone well.

This book gives you inside look at what the culture was like during and after the time of Christ. This is an excellent help for any serious bible student.

I love this book. It really assists the student of the word to get into the mind and society of New testement people. It is so easy for us to think that first century people were another version of ourselve. The New Testement events happened 2,000 years ago to a Mediteranean people, whose society was vastly different. The peoples mentality and culture were formed by very different circumstances and values.Understanding the first century removes the haze we create by superimposing ourselves and our culture on to them. Then we can see why the Apostles and Jesus said what they said and why they said it, revealing the true explosivness of the teaching of Jesus, and its eternal value.

Thank you It reached on time and in good cover

Perfect for gaining a better understanding of biblical context

INSIGHTFUL THOUGH i DO NOT AGREE FULLY WITH HIS VIEWS.