Culture Archives - Page 8 of 8

Worshiping God For Salvation From Shame

By HonorShame Posted on June 12, 2014 Posted in Culture, Ministry, Shame 2 Comments Tagged with culture, shame, worship

God has saved us from shame unto honor, we are called to worship our Great Patron and Exalt-er. But how exactly? Most public worship and liturgies emphasize confession of transgressions and assurance of pardon/forgiveness, perpetuating the guilt-innocence theological paradigm. But …

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The Prodigal – Lk 15 (1)

By HonorShame Posted on May 22, 2014 Posted in Culture, NT, Shame, Theology 3 Comments Tagged with love, NT, prodigal son, shame

A respected man was blessed with two sons. One day, his younger son says to him, “Father, give me the share of the property coming to me.” The father (should have) said, “WHAT ?!#?! I’m as good as dead to …

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How Stories Change Honor Codes (III)

By HonorShame Posted on May 6, 2014 Posted in Culture, Ministry, Missiology, Relationships, Spirituality No Comments Tagged with discipleship, honor code, narrative, story

The two previous posts “How Stories Change Honor Codes” (here and here) examine how narratives can subvert and reorient a person’s honor code. We talked about honor codes in the general and abstract. How can they, on the whole, be reoriented …

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How Stories Change Honor Codes (I)

By HonorShame Posted on April 24, 2014 Posted in Communication, Culture, Evangelism, Shame, Spirituality 3 Comments Tagged with honor code, narrative, shame, story

A friend Kent got in a taxi to travel between two Central Asian cities. In the car with him were the (male) driver, and two other men. Then a young girl was placed in the final seat by her father, …

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Understanding 8 Traits of HonorShame Cultures

By HonorShame Posted on April 17, 2014 Posted in Culture, Ministry, Relationships 10 Comments Tagged with culture, food, gender, group, Honor, hospitality, patronage, shame

Honor and shame is the soil bed in which various cultural traits grow. In this post I mention eight cultural phenomena embedded in honor-shame values, and explain why those traits are associated with honor-shame. If you fail to understand the subsurface connection, …

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HS in Diaspora Missiology

By HonorShame Posted on April 9, 2014 Posted in Culture, Ministry, Missiology 4 Comments Tagged with culture, diaspora

While working in Central Asia, one reality kept frustrating me: people were always leaving. I respected peoples’ tremendous sacrifices to provide financially for their family, but the emigration of so many believers and friends made it hard to gain traction …

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Honorism, not Capitalism

By HonorShame Posted on March 25, 2014 Posted in Culture, Honor, Theology 2 Comments

In my observation, one of the biggest difference between life in America and life in developing countries is this – Americans consume; Central Asians are consumed (by life’s challenges). American society and identity centers around earning money and consuming stuff. …

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How HS Cultures Dialogue (II)

By HonorShame Posted on March 3, 2014 Posted in Communication, Culture, Ministry, Relationships, Shame No Comments Tagged with communication, honor challenge, shame, verbal jousting

How do we as Christians respond to verbal duels for honor? The previous blog introduced ‘verbal jousting’; this blog explores practical ‘fencing moves’ for Christian workers in HonorShame contexts. Once I learned about verbal jousting, I recognized it often (especially …

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How HS Cultures Dialogue (I)

By HonorShame Posted on February 26, 2014 Posted in Communication, Culture, Relationships 2 Comments

We were having visa problems, so I went with our administrator to the government office for a meeting. While there, our administrator noticed one of her former students interning for the government official. So to score a few social points, …

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Understanding ‘WHO, not WHAT’

By HonorShame Posted on January 21, 2014 Posted in Culture, Shame 2 Comments

When I first returned to America, I often asked new acquaintances their last name and age. After a few funny looks, I realized those are the introductory questions for conversations in Central Asia that I was transplanting into English. When …

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The Police Stop – WHO, not WHAT

By HonorShame Posted on January 14, 2014 Posted in Culture 7 Comments

In Central Asia, I approached interactions with police from a guilt-justice perspective. Whenever a roadside policeman flagged me to stop (invariably without reason), my response focused primarily on actions —what I did (or actually, what I didn’t do). Before greeting the policeman, …

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5 Keys for Relationships in HonorShame Contexts

By HonorShame Posted on December 9, 2013 Posted in Culture, Ministry, Relationships, Uncategorized 8 Comments

Relationships are paramount in honor-shame cultures. Who you know is more important than what you know. Everything happens through family, neighbors, or acquaintances. These five relational keys are the unwritten rules of social interactions in honor-shame contexts.1. Give giftsWhen I …

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How Shame Breeds Sin

By HonorShame Posted on November 26, 2013 Posted in Culture, Shame, Sin No Comments

If you Google “shame causes”, the auto-completion suggests ‘violence’, ‘anger’, and ‘depression.’ The reality is shame induces sin. To address social ills, it may be helpful to address underlying shame.Here are two well-researched examples of how shame fuels sin. In …

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