The Bible In The Post-Colonial World Analysis

In Riches’ sixth chapter, “The Bible in the Post-Colonial World,” the motif of this class of this class, that different people read the Bible in different ways for different reasons. People read the Bible to confirm their worldview, not to counter it. In a strange paradox, both the conquerors and the conquered find themes in the Bible to support their own truths; to conquerors, the Bible confirmed that they were superior to those that they had conquered, and the Bible deemed that they were righteous, while the conquered used the Bible to demonstrate that they were not lesser than the conqueror and in fact should be liberated from those conquerors. The difference in the two is that the conquerors seem to focus on very specific passages, many …show more content…
This can be related back to the stories of Sodom and Gomorra, wherein those that oppose homosexuality can focus on the one line that, in their eyes, condemns homosexuality, while others focus on the overall theme of the stories, which is a denunciation of cruelty. This strange duality of readings of the Bible, picking one theme or specific passage to support worldviews or choosing many themes and accepting their plurality is the cause for much religious conflict between sects of Christianity, and is the cause of sects having vastly different beliefs despite most Bibles being very similar. An example of this is the ability to ordain women in the Anglican Church, but the inability for women to priests in the Roman Catholic tradition. The latter is based on few verses about women being inferior to their husbands, while the former is based on the overall theme that anyone that believes should be able to practice their faith in accordance with the rituals mentioned in …show more content…
The story of the taxes is an important one in the Western world, for it can be read as an argument for the separation of tax and state, with Jesus separating the state requirement of taxation from that which is sacred. The separation of church and state is clearly a hallmark of Western culture, and the Biblical support for it through this passage finally allows for both the secular and believers to agree to this construct. The second story in Mark, that of the crucifixion, is interesting in its similarities and differences to the other crucifixion stories. The story in Mark is extremely similar to those presented in Matthew and Luke, but somewhat dissimilar to the one presented in John, with many key details changing. This supports the generally accepted argument that both Luke and Matthew borrowed from the Gospel of Mark. These three very similar Gospels when compared with John, which is very different from the rest, raises a very interesting question about how conflicting accounts of the same events can all be considered sacred. When events described in John directly contradict those of John, an example of which is Jesus carrying his cross alone in John, while he has help in Mark, forces the reader to question how both can be the absolute truth, and which can be sacred. This makes the Christian faith particularly interesting, as Christians can accept two conflicting