Author: HonorShame

Mark Baker’s new book, Centered-Set Church: Discipleship and Community without Judgementalism, will be helpful for anyone interested in developing healthy church communities. The problem is that many churches are really good at drawing lines. As a result, some people learn …

Developing Communities with Redefined Honor & Shame Read more »

Guest Dr. Te-Li Lau is an Associate Professor of New Testament at TEDS and author of Defending Shame: Its Formative Power in Paul’s Letters (Baker Academic, 2020), from which this post draws. We live in an age where many consider shame …

Defending Shame Read more »

Ajith Fernando has published a recent article titled “Confronting Lying Biblically in Honour- and Shame-Oriented Cultures” (Evangelical Review of Theology, 2022) This a topic many people struggle to address with truth, wisdom, and love. As he has for decades, Ajith …

Confronting Lying in HS Cultures Read more »

The 17th-century English Puritans had an intense commitment to biblical teaching on sin, salvation, and genuine conversion. They brought their attention to both the guilt-innocence and honor-shame themes in Scripture. Just as for the guilty sinner in the hands of …

John Owen on Salvation from Shame Read more »

Charles R. Harle (MS, Oregon State University) lived and taught ESL for a year in China then for 18 years worked with colleges and universities in China to recruit, train and place native English speaking ESL teachers. The Oxford Languages …

Mercy in Honor-Shame Contexts Read more »

Hospitality—the welcome and provision of guests and strangers—was important in the ancient world. It remains an important aspect of honor-shame cultures. The previous post explained what hospitality accomplishes at a social level. This post introduces the NT teaching on hospitality.  …

Hospitality: The Theological Meaning Read more »

Hospitality is a significant aspect of honor-shame cultures. Many people know this through personal experience. When you visit someone from a Majority World culture, you receive a lavish and generous welcome. Besides the quality of hospitality, the quantity is also …

Hospitality: The Social Meaning Read more »

The 3D Gospel is now available in 11 different languages. I am grateful for the global interest and eagerness of translators to complete the projects. Most interesting to me is the variety of cover designs. The visual styles reflect how cultures …

The 3D Gospel in 11 Languages! Read more »

John Barclay’s Paul & the Gift (Eerdmans, 2015) has been widely hailed as “the most important book” in New Testament studies in 40 years. Now, for the benefit of many, Barclay has published an accessible and practical version—Paul & the …

Paul & and the Power of Grace (Book Review) Read more »

The tagline for HonorShame.com is “resources for Majority World ministry.” The aim of the website and blog has been to equip people with ideas and resources to better understand the pivotal roles of honor-shame in culture, theology, and ministry. From …

An Update about HonorShame.com Read more »

Dr. Edmund Ng is the founding president of the Asian Christian Counselors Association. This post stems from his new book Shame-informed Counselling and Psychotherapy: Eastern and Western Perspectives (Routledge, 2020). Whether it is in people-helping or mission outreach, I firmly …

Book: Shame-informed Counselling and Psychotherapy Read more »

In 2018 CRU released “Honor Restored,“a digital tool designed to help you share the good news of Jesus with friends from honor-shame cultures. Since then, the app has been translated into many languages and used widely. The creators now have …

New Evangelism Training Videos (CRU) Read more »

When should we honor (or shame) someone? This question is complex and has many facets. However, the book Economies of Esteem (OUP, 2004) offers interesting insight into “esteem equilibrium” (pages 126-29). As an economic theory, their model is descriptive, not …

When to Shame? When to Honor? Read more »