Author: HonorShame

resources for Majority World ministry

By Posted on Posted in Bible, Resources, Theology No Comments Tagged with ,
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 …

New Article: Theology of Honor & Shame (by J Wu) Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Bible, Communication, Culture, Relationships, Theology 1 Comment Tagged with , , , ,
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 …

Biblically, What Is Your ‘Name’? Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Culture, Missiology, patronage, Resources 6 Comments Tagged with , ,
For the upcoming Patronage Symposium we developed this document “Patronage—A Quick Definitions Sheet.” Since “What exactly is patronage?” was a common question that people asked in the patronage survey, I figured this resource would be worth sharing more broadly.  Introduction This …

“Patronage”: A Quick Definition Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Bible, Honor 16 Comments Tagged with ,
“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. …

CAUTION: Honor-Shame is “Unbalanced” and “Extreme”!! Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Communication, Culture, Ministry, Resources No Comments Tagged with , , , , ,
Since being released in late 2014, people have found creative and strategic uses for The Culture Test. The following four stories shows areas where an awareness of guilt-shame-fear dynamics can be beneficial. 1. Theological Apologetics Martin was a Kenyan Christian …

4 Practical Ways To Use The Culture Test Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Culture, Honor, Ministry, Missiology, Shame 4 Comments Tagged with , ,
People often assume Africa is a “fear-power” culture. The animistic and magical practices of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) reflect the values of fear-power. Although Africa ranks higher in the fear-power category than other regions of the world according to The …

Is Africa ‘Power-Fear’ or ‘Honor-Shame’? Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Culture, Guilt, Honor, Shame, Spirituality 6 Comments Tagged with , , , , ,
The label “fear-power culture” has various meanings, depending on the perspective of the speaker. This posts explains the three ways people have defined “fear-power culture.” 1. Religious: Fear-Power as Spiritual Control The worldviews of Majority World cultures, especially tribal religions, …

The Meaning of ‘Fear-Power’—3 Options Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Culture, Guilt, Honor, Shame, Wesetern 4 Comments Tagged with , , ,
The idea of “guilt vs. shame” has a long history in 20th-century scholarship (see previous post). But how did the cultural model of guilt-shame-fear develop? Here is a super short history of the cultural trichotomony.  In 1954, Christian anthropologist and …

The Model of Guilt-Shame-Fear—A Short History Read more »