Unexpected News: Reading the Bible With Third World Eyes

This book was challenging, convicting and exciting. Brown writes humorously and concisely. At times he writes a bit too epigramatically or too much in pseudo-journalese. Brown closes humbly: he admits he's as guilty of greed and complacency as we are.My favorite aspect of this book is that it is not just a book *about* liberation theology. This a *devotional* based on liberation theology (in fact, this was my devotional on and off for half a year). Happily, Brown includes whole passages of scripture for study. True, the third world (better, "two-thirds world") interpretations are jarring. For example, the OT reality behind Jesus quoting (and most Bibles mistranslating!) Isaiah's "day of the Lord's favor" almost knocked me out of my seat (see Luke 4).Two other virtues of this book are 1) that Brown examines other parallel passages in each chapter (to provide a larger biblical basis), and 2) the pointed questions and scenarios Brown poses at the end of each chapter. This book is good for private or group study or just straight reading. Also, Brown offers a good list for further reading.Some of the other reviews of this book are revealing. Why do we USAmericans get so upset about our capitalism and our money? Because our hearts (and our emotions) are where our treasure is, and vice versa? Why do we have so many problems with these "radical, militant, Marxist" liberation theologians? Because they point out how the God of the Bible has problems with greed, rugged individualism and national elitism? Why do we see Brown and "his ilk" twisting Scripture and eisegeting Marxism into the Bible? Because we don't like to hear Scripture echoed from the mouths of those for and by whom it was written: the poor and oppressed? If the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (I Tim 6:10) and if you cannot serve both God and money (Matt 6:24), why do we cling so firmly to money? What would the big loss be anyway in losing our economic clout -- if we truly hope for *heavenly* riches? The more you live and share with "the least of these" (Matt 25:31ff), I've found, the less radical Brown, et al. sound. Raving neo-McCarthyites deal the Bible a grave blow by capitulating social justice and economic parity into the hands of Marxists. Marx subverted God's Word to his ends (he was raised a Jew, remember), not the other way around.I am looking for more contemporary books of this nature (it was published in 1984), but will probably "just settle for" reading Gutierrez, Romero, Arrupe, et al. -- precisely what Brown would hope for his readers to do, I think. (PS, I recommend Haugen's _Good News About Injustice_ and Are's _Israeli Peace, Palestinian Justice_. I also recommend watching _Romero_ and _The Mission_ for some liberation visuals!)

Just last week while at breakfast with friends I mentioned the words "liberation theology." Moans and raised eyebrows were immediately forthcoming. Interesting in that none of my friends had ever read any liberation theology. I suspect this is not at all unusual in the evangelical community in the U.S.A. At least one of my friends has agreed to read this book by R. McAfee Brown and I can hardly wait until I can pass it on to him.Having lived and worked in S.E. Asia for the last thirty years, the idea that people from different cultural and economic backgrounds would read and interpret the Bible (or any book for that matter) in ways shaped by their backgrounds hardly seems radical. Yet for those who have lived their faith in a mostly monocultural context (e.g. evangelicals in America) this idea can seem positively revolutionary.While this book is not specifically about liberation theology it is a helpful exercise in clearing the ground for reading the Bible with fresh eyes and a sensitivity to the context, both local and global, in which we live and move.If you want a primer on 'Liberation Theology' you might try the author's book by that name. If you want to read several familiar narratives in scripture from a different slant this book will prove interesting. Of course, the author is not himself from the third-world so we have to take his word for it but assuming his "reading" is faithful to those who are from that part of the globe the contrast is provocative.This book is a very accessible read. Brown writes with considerable wit and his epilogue entitled : "For Those Who Feel Personally Assaulted" sums it up well. Interesting and not to be ignored.

I wanted to like this book, but I can't get past it's political agenda, nor the author's convenient (albeit faulty) interpretation of scripture. One example is in his chapter on Matthew 25:31-46. He takes the position that since the nations are gathered, this refers to governments, and that it is nations as a whole (a collective group of individuals under one social banner) which are being judged by the deeds of kindness they do or do not do.This position is faulty from a number of perspectives, not the least of which is the questionable definition of "nation," which arguably refers to much smaller cultural units or communities. The biblical definition of "nation" would not recognize the United States (for example) as one nation, but as a large collection of many nations with diversity of language, tribal identity, and culture.Additionally, and perhaps more easily grasped, is the enormous problematic judgement and reward. If nations are to be judged as a unit, this means that no matter if you are a Christian, and no matter the personal level of your deeds, you will be judged by what your government does, and this will determine eternal damnation or paradise. That simply does not coincide with the "whosoever" of John 3:16, nor countless other scriptures which emphasize the individual accountability and judgement.It is an unfortunate and all-too common example of how political conviction colors the integrity of an author. Unfortunately, even though this book is three decades old, it will still impact many who will fail to use basic hermeneutics to read scripture with integrity.My first visit to Cuba a few years after this book was written, showed me an enormously different picture of the "benevolent" nation that torremented and spied on their own citizens and intimidated them into compliance while forcing them to live on starvation rations and not having the basic supplies to stock their "free clinics."

Thank you again, Rober Mcafee Brown!