John J Pilch: 7 books

The task of interpreting the Bible — which was written by and to people living in very different cultural contexts from contemporary Western society — can seem monumental. The opposite is also true: people can easily forget that studying the Bible is a type of cross-cultural encounter, instead...

Often, readers and commentators read the Proverbs as “timeless” observations and recommendations regarding human nature, valid for all cultures and places. This blunts their cultural relevance, argues John J. Pilch. For example, proverbs regarding the “good wife” and the “quarrelsome wife”...

How can reading the Bible in its appropriate Mediterranean cultural context shed light on concerns of believers who live in Western or other cultures? In Cultural Tools for Interpreting the Good News, John J. Pilch presents a basic introduction to the ancient Middle Eastern culture in which the Bible...

The Social-Science Commentary series pioneers an alternative commentary genre, providing in this volume the text of the deutero-Pauline letters and cultural notes on them. The Social-Science Commentary on the Deutero-Pauline Letters provides essential “reading scenarios” on specific cultural phenomena...

The fifty-six essays in this book present cultural reflections on the gospel reading assigned for each Sunday in Cycle C of the Roman Lectionary. Each essay highlights aspects of the first-century, Eastern Mediterranean cultural world in which Jesus lived and suggests across-cultural comparison with...

The fifty-six essays in this book present cultural reflections on the gospel reading assigned for each Sunday in Cycle B of the Roman Lectionary. Each essay highlights aspects of the first-century, Eastern Mediterranean cultural world in which Jesus lived and suggests across-cultural comparison with...

The fifty-six essays in this book present cultural reflections on the gospel reading assigned for each Sunday in Cycle A of the Roman Lectionary. Each essay highlights aspects of the first-century, Eastern Mediterranean cultural world in which Jesus lived and suggests across-cultural comparison with...