Challenging, meticulous, and thought-provoking…
Carrasquillo challenges the modern reader’s approach to Scripture in Through the Lens of an Ancient Yisra’elite Bible Study, an expansive work that argues the Bible has long been interpreted through the wrong cultural frame. The author contends that many readers sense a gap between what churches teach and what the biblical text actually says. As he writes, readers often notice “a contrast between what is preached from the pulpit and what is written in the Bible.” The author believes that this contrast emerges not from Scripture itself but from centuries of interpretation shaped by Western traditions rather than the ancient Israelite world that produced the text.
Central to Carrasquillo’s argument is the idea that readers unknowingly approach the Bible through a cultural filter. He calls this interpretive framework a “prism,” explaining that people develop “our own filtering process, or prism—in modern terms something similar to a firewall.” Through this lens, cultural assumptions, religious upbringing, and inherited doctrine shape how Scripture is understood before readers even realize it. The book urges readers to become aware of that prism and to examine how it may distort the meaning of ancient texts. Carrasquillo repeatedly reminds readers that the Bible belongs first to its original audience. “The Bible was not written TO us, but FOR us,” he writes, emphasizing that understanding Scripture requires stepping into the historical world of its authors. That approach leads the book into discussions of hermeneutics, ancient languages, Jewish traditions, festivals, and theological concepts often overlooked in modern teaching.
The result is a sweeping, provocative study that challenges familiar interpretations while urging readers to reconsider how they approach the biblical text.
WestBow Press
Pub date May 28, 2025
ISBN 979-8385038084
Print length 894 pages
Price $69.99 (USD) Hardcover, $49.99 Paperback, $3.99 Kindle edition
