Category: Bible
Honor and Shame as (New) Covenant Language
The removal of shame is a new covenant reality. When God (re)makes his covenant, he removes the shame of his people. This covenantal context, I believe, is crucial to properly understanding the nature of biblical shame, and, thus, salvation as…
Honor and Shame in Letter of Aristeas
Letter of Aristeas is a second-century BC “historical letter” explaining the composition of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament, i.e., LXX) by Jews in Alexandria. Honor and shame are prominent motifs in the story. The Plot The…
Ruth 1 (HSP)
This paraphrase of Ruth 1 is from the new book Ruth: An Honor-Shame Paraphrase. A long time ago before the days of king David, a man named Elimelech lived in his ancestral village of Bethlehem. There was a famine in the land…
Highest Honour
This post is excerpted from the new devotional book Highest Honour: 60 Days Toward Honouring God With Your Whole Life, by Kenosi Molato and S. E. Freeman. Every day of our lives we are faced with decisions. Sometimes they are big…
Updated Data for The Global Culture Map
The data for the “Global Map of Culture Types” has been updated and doubled. Click here to view and use the map. This free, interactive tool visualizes all results from TheCultureTest.com. The initial launch (March 2018) included data from the first…
Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes (Jackson Wu)
Do you want to see Romans from an honor-shame perspective? Here is the book! Jackson Wu’s latest book, Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes: Honor and Shame in Pauls’ Message and Mission (IVP Academic) is now available. Here is the publisher’s description: What…
Visualizing the Resurrection
Christians throughout history have used art to communicate theology. Most paintings are rather straightforward in their depiction of a gospel scene. But the scene of the resurrection of Jesus is an enigma. The miracle of Jesus’ resurrection was not directly…
Creation to Christ Story
Andy Smith has served in Southeast Asia since 1989. He is the International Coordinator for Evangelization with OMF International. Several years ago I learned about Creation to Christ stories. These stories summarize the Bible. Versions range from 1 minute to…
New Article: Theology of Honor & Shame (by J Wu)
The recent edition of Themelios journal (The Gospel Coalition) published Jackson Wu’s article “Have Theologians No Sense of Shame? How the Bible Reconciles Objective and Subjective Shame.” This article clearly sets forth a biblical theology of honor and shame. I recommend…
Biblically, What Is Your ‘Name’?
Author and teacher Lois Tvarberg is co-founder of the En-Gedi Resource Center. This post is adapted from her recent book, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus International communications trainer Sarah Lanier has traveled the globe to teach about cultural differences. In…
Posted in Bible, Communication, Culture, Relationships, Theology Tagged with: collective, Lois Tvarberg, name, Sarah Lanier, shem
CAUTION: Honor-Shame is “Unbalanced” and “Extreme”!!
“Watch out! Honor and shame can lead to unbalanced extremes!” At least this is the concern of some people when they hear about honor-shame. They worry that emphasizing honor-shame might lead Christians to neglect essential tenets of orthodox, biblical theology.…
A Fourth Category of ‘Pain-Pleasure’?
Along with guilt-innocence, shame-honor, and fear-power, should there be a fourth category of “pain-pleasure”? This post considers the merit of this idea. The Idea of Pain-Pleasure Philosophers have long considered the feelings of pain and pleasure to be part of…
“Honor Restored”—New Evangelism Tool from Cru
Last summer several Cru staff members attended the Honor-Shame conference in Wheaton. After the conference, they began discussing and designing a new honor-shame evangelism tool that could used in a smart-phone app. Their new tool “Honor Restored” launched in December…
The Honor of Salvation – 11 Tozer Quotes
In The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer offers powerful insights about the role of shame in sin and honor in salvation. The following quotes are from Chapters 8 and 9 of the book, which is available for free in PDF and Kindle. Chapter…
Posted in Bible, Honor, salvation, Spirituality Tagged with: history, salvation, spirituality, Tozer
A Hermeneutics of Honor: John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom, the archbishop of Constantinople (353–407), was famous for his eloquent preaching (the moniker Chrysostomos means “golden-mouthed”). His eighty-eight exegetical homilies on the Gospel of John read much like a social-science commentary. I will explain a few ways that…
Uncovering the Power of Shame
Guest Samuel Albert is Editor in Chief of www.ChristianMusicAndHymns.com. The Bible has a whole vocabulary to do with shame, reproach and disgrace. There are over 10 Hebrew words that translate these words into English, but they have been almost evacuated…
Esther 1 (HSP)
Here is an honor-shame paraphrase of Esther, chapter 1. This is excerpted from the new book Esther: An Honor-Shame Paraphrase, available as Kindle or PDF for $2.99. A long time ago, the king of Persia was a man named Ahasuerus. His glorious kingdom included 127 provinces from…
The Meaning of Romans 3:23
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That is how most English Bibles translate Romans 3:23. Western Christianity typically interprets these words as, “Every individual person has done something wrong and not lived up to God’s…
The Problem of “Grace” in English Bibles
All Bible translations face a problem—the cultural gap between the Bible and contemporary readers. English words evoke Western assumptions and values that are unlike those of biblical writers. The word “grace” (Greek: charis) is a good example of this problem of…
The Meaning of “Faith”
The latest issue of the magazine Modern Reformation includes my article “Talking About Faith in Non-Western Contexts.” This article explains the biblical meaning of “faith” in terms of patron-client relationships and recent New Testament scholarship. The opening paragraphs are included below, and…
