Book Review - The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology

Malina, Bruce J. The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology, 3d rev ed. Louisville: John Knox Press, 2001.

The first edition of this popular text debuted in 1979. Since then it has established itself as a standard introductory academic text to the New Testament from a cultural anthropology/sociology perspective. For those desiring a more gentle introduction to this approach Malina has another text, Windows on the World of Jesus, which is written at more of an intermediate level. Bruce Malina is a professor in the Department of Theology at Creighton University and has published extensively in the field of cultural anthropology, sociology, and the NT.

Malina begins wisely by outlining his key methodological presuppositions and arguing for the necessity of understanding the social system of the Eastern Mediterranean of the first century A.D. if one is to interpret and understand the New Testament accurately. He also tackles possible weaknesses in his assumptions and models and argues for why his presuppositions remain valid. Malina strongly stresses the vast cultural distance between the modern reader and the original authors and hearers, and the need to avoid reading the text in light of our own socio-cultural grid.

The book covers an eclectic range of topics, including: honor and shame, collectivistic personality, limited good, envy and the evil eye, defensive marriage, and purity rules. The chapters on honor (and shame) and the implications of corporate personality provide many valuable insights into the world of the NT. Malina argues that honor and shame are the “pivotal values” of the NT world, and his distinctions between ascribed and acquired honor are very helpful. Since I have just purchased Jerome Neyrey's Honor and Shame in the Gospel of Matthew, I am eager to compare the two author's approaches and see how this type of view affects how Matthew can be understood.

In his chapter on collectivistic personality Malina considers the place of the person in relation to his/her social structures. He argues that the modern perception, individualistic and psychological, would have been very foreign to the group-oriented perspective of the first-century. As conclusion to this chapter, Malina presents a three-zone model of the first-century personality, illustrated by examples from biblical literature. His chapters on envy, purity and marriage are full of information to illuminate the NT text.

Malina makes good use of diagrams, and several chapters terminate with insightful comparisons of the ancient Mediterranean and modern American experiences. These comparisons are given in tabular form and assist tremendously in understanding the material covered. While not everyone will agree with some of Malina’s conclusions, he has obviously researched the material meticulously and manages to present it in an accessible fashion.

This is an excellent introduction to how cultural anthropology can illuminate the New Testament and decrease the cultural proximity of the modern reader to the world of the ancient text. Malina provides extensive bibliographies throughout the book, has included a comprehensive Scripture index and - to his credit – a thorough array of pertinent study questions for each chapter at the end of the book. This book is not easy reading in places, but it would be difficult to find a better single-volume introduction from an anthropological/sociological perspective, particularly for students taking courses in NT.

This book is going to take me a long time to work through properly, simply because it involves a complete rethink of how I approach Scripture - and the NT in particular.