Category: Relationships

By Posted on Posted in Communication, Culture, Honor, Missiology, Relationships 1 Comment Tagged with , , ,
“We have to reckon with three different types of reactions to transgressions of religiously sanctioned codes: fear, shame, and guilt.” (Eugene Nida, Customs and Cultures [1954], p. 150)Christian missiologists identify three responses to sin in human cultures: guilt, shame, and fear. …

Understanding Guilt, Shame, and Fear Cultures Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Communication, Culture, Ministry, Missiology, Relationships 2 Comments Tagged with , , , ,
To make it easier for people to learn about Honor-Shame cultures, I have developed: TheCultureTest.com is a free assessment tool for learning your group’s culture type – guilt, shame, or fear.  It is like a personality test, but for groups …

TheCultureTest.com – A New Tool Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Culture, Ministry, Missiology, Relationships, Spirituality No Comments Tagged with , , ,
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 …

How Stories Change Honor Codes (III) Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Culture, Ministry, Relationships 10 Comments Tagged with , , , , , , ,
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, …

Understanding 8 Traits of HonorShame Cultures Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Communication, Culture, Ministry, Relationships, Shame No Comments Tagged with , , ,
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 …

How HS Cultures Dialogue (II) Read more »

By Posted on 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 …

5 Keys for Relationships in HonorShame Contexts Read more »