Direct Answer
Recognizing the New Testament’s actual historical world may make us more aware that its writers did not think or communicate like modern Western Christians. It may also help us notice meanings and assumptions that have been hidden by familiar, sanitized ways of reading the text.
Support from Transcript
- Bercot says the New Testament writers were “real people writing to other real people.” - They lived in “a real historic world,” not “a sanitized, Westernized modern world.” - He describes that world as “an ancient Eastern Hellenistic world with its own thought patterns.” - He says that “if it weren’t for reading it through sanitized filters, the New Testament would seem strange to us too.” - He claims we have “modernized, Westernized, and sanitized the apostolic writers.” - The early Christian writings “removed the blinders” from his eyes so he could “truly see the New Testament itself.”
Discussion Follow-ups
The transcript does not list specific New Testament passages that change under this approach. Its main point is that historical distance should make readers more humble and attentive.