VALPARAISO | Jesus would likely have had a better time understanding the mind-set of suicide bombers than Americans do.

That's because of a closer cultural connection, Valparaiso University theology professor Richard DeMaris said. His new book examines the social context and values of the New Testament world.

Richard DeMaris is co-editor of "Understanding the Social World of the New Testament," a guide to the culture of the ancient Mediterranean world.

The ancient Biblical world was a collectivist world emphasizing family, tribe and the group, DeMaris said. But Americans, with their emphasis on the importance of individuals, are appalled at the idea of a bomber willing to sacrifice himself for a political goal or the tribal group.

Jesus's sacrifice of himself for others was an example of that collectivist logic at work, DeMaris said.

To better understand the New Testament, modern readers would do well to think more deeply about the cultural world Jesus inhabited, DeMaris said.

DeMaris cautions against bringing too much of a modern Western mind-set to one's reading of the Bible. But paradoxically, a wealth of good translations that render ancient Greek and Hebrew into clear and colloquial English makes that task harder.

The translator's job is to clarify and make the original text understandable. But one who does a good job of that runs the risk of masking significant cultural differences and making the Biblical world seem like a reflection of ours, DeMaris said.

"That's simply not the case," he said.

To gain a deeper understanding of that New Testament world, the modern reader would benefit from looking at the cultures in today's Syria, Palestine or Iraq. Those more traditional societies retain some of the cultural outlooks of the ancient Biblical world, DeMaris said.

As in those parts of the modern Middle East, a strong motivation in the ancient world was group honor, DeMaris said.

"In our world, it's our credit rating," he said.

Modern Americans' stress on sense of self would have been alien to the Biblical world, DeMaris said. That's why Biblical texts don't detail characters' inner thoughts, he said.

But in addition to the differences, DeMaris believes today's world shares similarities to the New Testament world,

The Bible speaks universally and speaks beyond its own time, which is precisely why it continues to be read, he said.