Decontextualizing

Today in Bib Lit, my professor, Marion Bontrager, was teaching about literary pitfalls to watch out for while reading the Bible.

MB: "Now let's talk about decontextualizing. This means taking things out of context and not looking at what it is really talking about. For example there was the student who was failing all his classes. He was homesick, depressed, and behind on his inductive. In desperation he turned to the Bible for advice. He opened it randomly and read the first verse his eyes hit on, in Acts chapter 1. "Now Judas went and hanged himself". 'Hmmm...'the student thought. 'I'll try that again.' He then opened his Bible to Luke 10:37 - "And Jesus said to him, 'Go, and do thou likewise.'" One more try....and his finger stopped on John 13:27. "What you are about to do, do it quickly!"
*Marion waits for laughter to die down*
"Now that's decontextualizing."