Author: HonorShame
resources for Majority World ministry
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 …
John Owen on Salvation from Shame
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 …
Mercy in Honor-Shame Contexts
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 …
Hospitality: The Theological Meaning
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 Social Meaning
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 …
The 3D Gospel in 11 Languages!
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 …
Paul & and the Power of Grace (Book Review)
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 …
An Update about HonorShame.com
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 …
“Honor” in the New Testament
The main New Testament word for honor is timē. The word refers to the value of an object. In material transactions, the word means “price” or “a sum (of money).” For example The tomb that Abraham had bought for a …
“Shame” in the New Testament
The New Testament uses a variety of words to speak about shame. This post discusses main three roots for shame. This first pie chart shows the various Greek terms behind the word “shame” in the NRSV. The primary NT word …
Honor-Shame and Relativism: What Evangelicals Don’t Get about Donald Trump
Guest Dr. Stan Nussbaum is an independent mission coach, researcher, and author. His latest project is SYNC. No culture is pure honor-shame, pure guilt-forgiveness, or pure power-fear. All are mixes and all change over time. American culture is a guilt-forgiveness …
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Shame in the Old Testament
Shame is a hot topic in the Old Testament! To convey the concept of shame, the OT uses at least ten different words over 300 times. With many different words, shame is the proverbial ice in Eskimo culture. Several verses …
Honor in the Old Testament
“How heavy are you?” In Western contexts, this question can be offensive. But in honor-shame cultures, the very question can be a gesture of respect because their mindset often assumes “weight=honor.” Here are a few examples from Central Asia. The …
7 Problems with Defining “Honor” & “Shame”
What do the words “honor” and “shame” mean? What is their theological meaning? These questions are surprisingly complex, for the several reasons listed here. This post explains 7 challenges with defining “honor” and “shame.” Honor and shame are invisible. The terms …
Book: Shame-informed Counselling and Psychotherapy
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 …
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New Evangelism Training Videos (CRU)
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 …
Advent Devotional: “Honor, Shame, and the First Christmas”
Cameron D. Armstrong (PhD, Biola University) serves with the International Mission Board in Bucharest, Romania. He is part of the Theological Education team and teaches at the Bucharest Baptist Theological Institute. Cameron and his wife, Jessica, have two children. One …
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When to Shame? When to Honor?
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 …
New Book: Honor, Shame, and the Gospel (WCP)
William Carey Press has published the new book Honor, Shame, and the Gospel (240 pp.), edited by Chris Flanders and Werner Mischke. This compendium brings together many of the outstanding presentations from our 2017 conference at Wheaton. The book is available in …
Jesus’ Purifying Death
After Jesus died, something strange happened. “The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the holy ones who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to …