The Bible in Culture

• Caldwell is the undisputed father of ethnohermeneutics. He believes, and I do too, that biblical interpretation does not have to be left in the hands of historical-critical method practitioners alone. Larry, in this book, contributes insights that strongly affirm the realities he has seriously considered for a greater part of his academic life and career—interpreting the Bible while being faithful to both Scripture and the cultural realities that peoples face around the world. This book will convince readers of the importance of considering other readings of the Bible in different contexts for the whole communication of Christ Jesus to his church. I recommend it!

  — Kofi Amoateng, PhD, Founder and Director, Africa Gateway MissionsAuthor, The Creedal Symbols of My Great Grandparents

• This book fills a significant gap in missiology. It provides historical and contemporary evidence of the diverse ways in which different cultures read, approach, and interpret the Bible. Larry Caldwell’s wealth of knowledge and experience has challenged and shaped how I relate to and teach my students as a Canadian-born seminary professor in southern Brazil. Beyond being an important resource for how ethnohermeneutics has evolved and should be applied, The Bible in Culture will expand your appreciation and insight into how the global church can and should faithfully contribute to a fuller understanding of God and his word.

  — Lyndell Campbell-Réquia, Professor, Seminário Teológico Batista do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

• Larry Caldwell’s The Bible in Culture is a compelling and much-needed contribution to the global conversation on biblical interpretation. With theological clarity and missiological insight, Caldwell reminds us that every culture possesses the God-given capacity to hear, understand, and interpret the Scriptures meaningfully within its cognitive environment. He skillfully holds the tension between the historical-grammatical method and the contextual realities of diverse interpretive communities, offering a hermeneutic that is both faithful and globally resonant. This book will challenge and inspire Bible students, missionaries, and theologians to practice “hermeneutical hospitality” when engaging different peoples and to read the Bible with—not just to—the world. The Bible in Culture is essential reading for anyone serious about making disciples among the nations.

  — Michael T. Cooper, PhD, Author, Ephesiology: A Study of the Ephesian Movement

• The underlying focus of The Bible in Culture is discipleship and not just Bible interpretation for its own sake. It aims to help Christ-followers become better disciples and more effective disciple-makers as they engage in ethnohermeneutics in any context: monocultural, cross-cultural, multicultural, and multigenerational. Caldwell clearly demonstrates how the global body of Christ will grow stronger, healthier, and more fruitful if each church, in its own “cognitive environment,” equally participates in Bible interpretation with the rest of the world. In that way Bible interpretation becomes a “glocal” undertaking that benefits all. I highly encourage everyone doing ministry with peoples different from themselves to read this book and apply its message.

  — Rey Corpuz, MDiv, Senior Pastor, Every Nation Church Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

• Wide-ranging, insightful, and provocative, Caldwell’s proffer of ethnohermeneutics is not simply about the need to communicate the gospel in the world’s cultures. It also facilitates its vernacular discovery and deepening. Drawing from hermeneutical inputs from the Global South and highlighting related case studies, he decontextualizes colonial hermeneutics and reconfigures ways of moving forward gospel inculturation for churches and cultures throughout the globe. Even if you do not agree with aspects of his hermeneutical proposals, you will surely benefit from the missiological take on intercultural biblical hermeneutics this book provides, as God’s church journeys on the way to new creation.

  — Timoteo D. Gener, PhD, President and Professor of Theology, FEBIAS College of Bible, Manila, PhilippinesGeneral Editor, Asian Christian Theology: Evangelical Perspectives

• Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone so others can experience the transformative power of God’s word? In The Bible in Culture, Larry Caldwell advocates for deep-level contextualization of Scripture beyond mere illustrations and applications. He introduces ethnohermeneutics—local, culturally rooted interpretive processes that make the Bible accessible to all the world. Drawing from his journey as a young Bible teacher in the Philippines, where Western methods fell short, Caldwell explores the interpretive systems of the Jewish tradition, Jesus, and Paul, and the grammatical-historical approach. Recognizing the controversial nature of this topic, Caldwell addresses potential concerns and provides clear safeguards to ensure theological integrity. Backed by over forty years of research and experience, this practical, insightful book offers rich examples and demonstrates a profound respect for the Bible and its interpretation across diverse cultures.

  — Daniel Görzen, PhD, Research Director, Institutes for Orality Strategies

• This book represents the culmination of a lifetime of teaching, writing, and thinking about the field of ethnohermeneutics. Larry has earned the title of pioneer in this field and has produced a book that is academic for those who would like to consider the various approaches to Bible interpretation throughout history, practical for those who would like to be equipped to exegete a different culture and communicate the gospel faithfully, and fun for those who want to read of numerous adventures in teaching cross-culturally. This book should be on the shelf of every serious Bible scholar, missionary, and pastor.

  — Geoffrey Hartt, DIS, Executive Director, Hispanics for Christ

• Larry lives what he writes. Larry writes so others can live to their fullest potential in Christ. Larry’s paradigm-shifting book, which distills his learnings of over forty years of missional ministry, is like a fine wine that has been maturing with age. That fine wine is now ready to whet the palates of people groups everywhere for their journey of “tasting and seeing” that the Lord is good, and that this good Lord has revealed himself in culturally relevant and salvifically sufficient ways through his written word (Scripture) which reveals the living Word (Jesus, the Son of God) through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Working within what one might describe as a “centered-set hermeneutic,” Larry’s ethnohermeneutics provides a framework for the faithful reading of the written word in differing cultural contexts that produces faithful “incarnations” of the living Word through whom the world can “taste and see” God in his goodness.

  — Ralph J. Korner, PhD, Professor of Biblical Studies, Taylor Seminary of Kairos UniversityAuthor, The Origin and Meaning of Ekklesia in the Early Jesus Movement and Reading Revelation After Supersessionism

Author

• Larry W. Caldwell