Academic Value of Examining New Testament in More Than one Perspective

There is academic value in examining these disparate texts from more than one perspective. This value comes from maintaining an unbiased point of view as the reader, with the end goal being to use this perspective as a tool to further understand the Bible's theological component. The value comes more from the avoidance of misinterpretation, but may also provide insight through different techniques of analysis. These include but are not limited to the contextual, sociological, ideological, historical and psychological factors that contributed to the Bibles creation. Providing examples through feminist, ecumenical, gay and liberationist perspectives, the academic value of examining the New Testament texts, paralleled with the knowledge of the contributing factors mentioned above will make the definitive value of studying the texts using this method clearer.

The interpretation of the 27 canonical texts of the New Testament helps us to understand the text better by avoiding misinterpretations that are potentially harmful and not true to the source material. A feminist would certainly view the profiling of females outlined in 1 Timothy and Titus as opposition to her sex-independent equality message. However, when considering the theological message of equality that Jesus advocated, then feminism would seem to be a beneficiary of such a message. Also, according to modern tradition, this view would certainly be more appropriate and serve to justify this kind of thinking. If one would understand the text strictly through feminism they would have to factor in the sociological and ideological views that were held about women during the time of authorship. A feminist perspective would not hinder our understanding of the theology. Rather, it would actually compliment the theology that everyone is equal in the eyes of God, including women. Contrarily, this theology would not be reinforced with an anti-feminist perspective.

Understanding the New Testament with an ecumenical perspective would have obvious advantages. The thought of uniting a divided Christian church, especially during the period after Jesus' death, would have been welcome. The various debatable differences between the Christian denominations would have benefited from a single, cohesive source as the ecumenical interests propose. The academic value of interpreting and understanding the New Testament with ecumenical views would come by being able to analyze the society that did not follow this kind of thinking. An example would be that the social structure of historical Israel in the time of Jesus could be examined. The sociological divides between the Samaritans or the Hellenistic Christians provides scholars the foundation to formulate and theorize on what society was like back then. This academic value would be diminished if not lost if the focus of the reader were to find means of unity between the groups, rather than what makes them unique.

The gay movement would benefit from the equality message proposed by Jesus. As like in feminism, the equality under God would provide a reason for gays to be able to legitimize their heterosexual lifestyle. The passage of Romans 26-27 states:

For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women