Papyrus find: Jesus' wife

[Metacrock]

from wordgazer's article in the lnik

But these three alternatives do not take into account a very real truth: that it is impossible as a human being to take a position on any topic without doing so as part of a human community, living in a human culture. Just as a fish, living in the water, might not recognize that there is such a thing as water-- so we live within certain shared cultural assumptions that we take for granted every day, often without even noticing that they are there.

This works fine when we communicate with others who share our cultural background. We don't need to explain to anyone what we mean by "don't text and drive," for instance. But what if we said those words to someone who had never seen either a cell phone or a car?

I believe the principles taught by the Scriptures are timeless. But just as occurs today, there were cultural assumptions being made all the time between the original human writers and the original human readers of the texts, who shared understandings that we don't automatically share. For instance, in the story of the Last Supper in John 13, we read in verse 23, "There was reclining on Jesus' breast one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved." Looking at this text for its plain face value, we can't avoid the fact that, read through the eyes of our own culture, the clear and obvious meaning of this text is that Jesus and this disciple were lovers. In our own culture a man would not recline against the chest of another man unless they were! But if we understand the first-century Jewish custom of eating at a low table, reclining on cushions rather than sitting in chairs, and leaning against the person who was next to you at the table, the actual sense of this passage is simply that this disciple was right next to Jesus at the table. If the shared assumption of that culture is taken into account, there is no hint of anything other than a close Teacher-disciple relationship between the two.

that is excellent. I always can't help but feel a bit of pride (not much just a little) when you use my fish in water analogy.

[KR Wordgazer]

that is excellent. I always can't help but feel a bit of pride (not much just a little) when you use my fish in water analogy.

You should. I have learned a lot from you. A lot of the concepts I use in my reasoning nowadays, I picked up from your Doxa site and this forum.

[Metacrock]

that is excellent. I always can't help but feel a bit of pride (not much just a little) when you use my fish in water analogy.

You should. I have learned a lot from you. A lot of the concepts I use in my reasoning nowadays, I picked up from your Doxa site and this forum.

awh shuck!