SKILL #1: READ God’s Word through the lens of honor and shame. Reading the Bible is a cross-cultural experience. Reading the Bible through the lens of honor and shame is an attempt to know the Word of God the way the original hearers would have heard it or read it. It’s an effort to de-Westernize our reading of the Scriptures. Read one book at a time. CLICK HERE—for a quick-guide to reading the Bible through the lens of honor and shame.
SKILL #2: SPEAK using the Bible’s language of honor and shame—both in conversation with people and in prayer to God. Talk with others together about what you’re learning. Become comfortable using words like honor and glory relative to our own relationship with Christ. Pray Scripture. Pray together using the honor/shame words found in God’s Word.
SKILL #3: WALK your own authentic path of shame to honor—in the light of Christ. Discovering the honor of who we are in Jesus Christ has two facets—like two sides of the same coin.
You do not have to be a professional cross-cultural worker or Bible scholar to read and understand the Bible in the “language of honor and shame”. Most anyone can do it if they familiarize themselves with a few key concepts. Below are four steps to help you unlock the honor/shame dynamics in Scripture so that the Bible can “come alive” for you in a fresh way. You can be confident that the insights you glean from reading the Bible this way will help you understand people from other societies whose pivotal cultural value is honor and shame.
Before following these steps, download the quick reference guide to reading the Bible in the language of honor and shame. Click here to download. Familiarize yourself with the dynamics of honor and shame which exist in Bible societies.
STEP 1—Recognize honor/shame dynamics. Observe the “universe” or spectrum words and dynamics of honor and shame in the Bible in the graphic at the top of this post. (This is also part of the quick reference guide.) As you read the Bible, circle those words in black. Pay special attention to these words … glory, honor, blessing, ashamed, cursed, name, kingdom, blood—and anything having to do with family or kinship.
STEP 2—Recognize all conflicts as honor competition. From sibling rivalries to deadly wars—remember it is fueled by “challenge and riposte” (the ubiquitous honor-shame “game”) and the “image of limited good” (win-win was conceptually impossible except as revealed by God; win-lose was the only way). Make a note in your Bible. (NOTE: See this blog post for an explanation of “challenge and riposte”. For an explanation of “image of limited good”, see this blog post.)
STEP 3—Identify examples of honor-status reversal. Underline or circle these verses with a yellow colored pencil. This can range from individual verses to long stories. See this post for an explanation of honor-status reversal.
STEP 4—Observe words and themes about salvation—and how they connect to honor-status reversal. In the Old Testament and New there are many references to the words … saved, ransom, redeem, atone, propitiation, etc. Underline or circle these verses in red. Observe the relationship, if any, between salvation and honor-status reversal.
As part of the seminar I am leading tomorrow, I am making available this free resource. It’s an 8.5 x 11-inch document in black and white that can be easily reproduced and shared. This little resource is a reflection of what I have learned about the pivotal cultural value of honor and shame in the Bible. It also reflects what I do when I read the Bible to reveal the honor/shame dynamics present in the text.
The resource features:
Benefits:
In my prior post about honor-status reversal, I stated that, as followers of Christ and members of his body, the church, Scripture teaches that we are called to identify with our Lord to such an extent that our relationship with him leads to a magnificent increase in our own collective honor status. Using Scripture, I hope to make the case in this post that this increase in honor status for believers is real, and that it is embedded exclusively and totally in relation to Jesus Christ. My approach is to list several verses followed by some comments.
However, first of all, shown below is a graphic based on a diagram from the ESV Study Bible which illustrates the honor-status reversal of Jesus Christ based on Philippians 2:9–11. Observe this truth again—that after Christ’s public humiliation through the crucifixion, he was rewarded by supreme, magnificent, comprehensive, highly exalted honor.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 ESV)
So this honor-status reversal is clearly represented here in the life, drama and Person of Christ. Can we also apply this dynamic of honor-status reversal to the community of believers who call Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior? Or is it reserved exclusively for Christ? Consider the verses below.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:3–5 ESV)
Normally, we do not associate the truth of being “baptized into Christ Jesus” and “baptized into his death” as identification with his humiliating shame. It’s ugly and assaults our sense of pride. We like to think that Jesus died for my sins in my place, but being “baptized into his death” is so harsh and hard for us to grasp.
Some comments:
Other passages in Romans that illustrate the honor-status reversal for believers in Christ:
These other passages are also examples of honor-status reversal for believers, with that honor and glory embedded exclusively and totally in Christ:
The honor-status reversal which Christ himself experienced was not just for his glorification, but also for the community of believers who would follow him as Lord. Honor-status reversal is also for believers—in Christ!
In what is known as the High Priestly Prayer of Christ in John 17, Jesus prayed to the Father:
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one (John 17:20-22 ESV).
Why is it so radically challenging to our Christian sensibilities, that Jesus prayed to the Father, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them”? Normally we think that glory belongs exclusively to God. But this is not supported by Scripture. Could it be that when we, as believers in community, embrace our honor-status reversal in Christ, we will more easily apprehend that Jesus actually has shared with us—his glory and honor.
What does this mean for people struggling with shame? What does this mean for people whose overwhelming concern is their honor status? What does this mean for Christ’s gospel being extended to the billions of people and thousands of people groups whose pivotal cultural value of honor and shame?
I’ll be writing more on those topics later.
Can the values of honor and shame—both in Scripture and among Majority World peoples—unlock the blessing of Jesus Christ in befriending and serving international students, refugees or others who are among us from other cultures? Come explore with us!
For pre-event learning, consider these options:
According to the dictionary on my computer, a motif is “a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition.” I contend in this post that “honor-status reversal” is a major motif in Scripture.
One classic example in Scripture of honor-status reversal is found in the Apostle Paul’s description of our Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians 2:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5–11 ESV)
Jesus Christ was with the Father in the honor and glory of heaven in eternity past. His honor status was infinitely high. Christ was in His “pre-incarnate glory.”
But Jesus willingly allowed for his honor status to be reversed. He “emptied himself” … descending through the Incarnation … born fully human to the virgin Mary … “taking the form of a servant”.
He humbled himself further by dying, “even death on a cross”—the most shameful and ignominious destiny a man could endure. This was his humiliation.
But his destiny on earth was not the end of the story. The pre-incarnate glory and honor he once had in heaven, then willingly lost, was to be regained and then magnified as he rose from the dead and sat down at the right hand of the Father. Again, this is an example of honor-status reversal—also known as Christ’s exaltation.
It bears repeating:
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9–11 ESV)
The significance of these verses cannot be overstated. As Christians, we believe that the incarnation of Jesus Christ is the crux of human history. That it constitutes the most dramatic account of honor-status reversal has wonderful implications for cross-cultural Christian ministry.
Here’s another example of honor-status reversal from the words of Jesus:
“Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” (Luke 9:48 ESV)
Karl Reich, author of Figuring Jesus: The Power of Rhetorical Figures of Speech in the Gospel of Luke, explains honor-status reversal this way:
The very words “least” and “greatest” would automatically call up the thought of the Greco-Roman honor-shame system which was ultimately concerned with greatness. Malina and Rohr argue that this verse cuts at the very heart of of the honor-shame system. They write, “A squabble over honor status would be typical within any ancient Mediterranean grouping … Jesus’ reversal of the expected order challenges the usual assumptions about what is honorable in a very fundamental way.”
Referring to this verse, “And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last” (Luke 13:30 ESV), the author continues:
… The pithy comment stays with the audience because of its compact and forceful nature and its enigmatic message. The transformation of polar opposites into their antithesis is unthinkable. The saying of the Lukan Jesus undermines the honor-shame system by proclaiming a reversal of roles.”
The dynamic of honor-status reversal occurs in Paul’s description of the incarnation in his letter to the Philippians. We have seen it briefly in the teachings of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. But it must be noted that honor-status reversal is present throughout Scripture. Otherwise it cannot be considered a motif. Consider:
Have I made the case that honor-status reversal is a motif in the Bible? Even though I have not mentioned the many examples of honor-status reversal in the Psalms, the Gospels and the various New Testament epistles, I hope you agree that it is plain from the examples noted above.
What is perhaps less plain and more difficult for many Christians to embrace, is that honor-status reversal is for believers, too. As followers of Christ and members of his body, the church, Scripture teaches that we are called to identify with our Lord to such an extent that our relationship with him leads to a magnificent increase in our own honor status.
This has a few key application points which I’ll be exploring in future posts:
What is honor violence?
Honor violence is a form of violence against women committed with the motive of protecting or regaining the honor of the perpetrator, family, or community. Victims of honor violence are targeted because their actual or perceived behavior is deemed to be shameful or to violate cultural or religious norms. Conduct such as resisting an arranged marriage, seeking a divorce, adopting a Western lifestyle and wearing Western clothing, and having friends of the opposite sex have resulted in honor violence.
Honor violence involves systematic control of the victim that escalates over a period of time and may begin at a young age. Honor violence can be perpetrated by one individual or can be a group campaign of harassment and violence committed by an entire family or community. It can take many forms, including verbal/emotional abuse, threats, stalking, harassment, false imprisonment, physical violence, sexual abuse, and homicide.
How is honor violence different from domestic violence?
Although honor violence involves violence by one family member against another, it has characteristics that make it unique and warrant a different approach by social service providers and law enforcement. For example, a perpetrator of honor violence believes that his conduct is justified because of the victim’s actions. Because this perception is supported by deeply ingrained cultural mores, he is generally not alone in this belief and often has the support of his family and community, either in planning and committing the violence or fleeing from law enforcement afterwards. Additionally, a victim of honor violence is likely to be shunned by her family and community because she is believed to have caused the violence through her own behavior. For a victim of honor violence to leave the abusive situation, she must not only part from her abuser, but often must be ready to leave her entire nuclear and extended family, and perhaps even her cultural community. She will face immense pressure to change the offending behavior so as to bring peace to the family and restore the family’s honor and will be made to believe that she deserves the abuse she is suffering.
Does this happen in the United States?
Yes. There are numerous recent examples of honor violence and honor killings in the U.S., a few of which are described below.
Aiya Altameemi
In Arizona in February 2012, 19-year-old Aiya Altameemi was physically assaulted by her mother, father, and younger sister because she was seen talking to a boy. Her father put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her, while her mother and sister tied her to a bed, taped her mouth shut, and beat her. This incident followed a previous incident in November 2011 when Aiya’s mother burned her on the face with a hot spoon because she refused to consent to an arranged marriage with a man twice her age. During an interview with police, Aiya’s parents stated that they had abused their daughter because her behavior violated “Iraqi culture.” Aiya’s mother, father, and sister are all facing charges related to these incidents.
Sarah and Amina Said
In Texas in January 2008, Yaser Said shot and killed his teenage daughters, Sarah and Amina, because he was enraged by their Western lifestyle, particularly that they each had boyfriends. During a vigil held for the girls after their deaths, their brother took the microphone and suggested that his sisters were responsible for what had happened to them, saying “They pulled the trigger, not my dad.” Said fled after the murders and has not yet been apprehended.
Noor Almaleki
In Arizona in October 2009, Faleh Almaleki murdered his 20-year-old daughter, Noor, by running her down with his vehicle because he believed that she had shamed the family by becoming too Western and refusing to marry a man he had selected for her in Iraq. In February 2011, Almaleki was convicted of murder and sentenced to 34 ½ years in prison.
Fauzia A. Mohammad
In May 2008, Waheed Allah Mohammad stabbed his 19-year-old sister, Fauzia, outside of their home in Henrietta, New York. The stabbing occurred during a heated argument between Fauzia and a number of family members over Fauzia’s plan to move to New York City with a friend. Mohammad told investigators that he had stabbed his sister because she had disgraced their family by going to clubs and wearing immodest clothing and was a “bad Muslim girl.” Mohammad pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Become aware of honor-based violence, and how to respond to it, by browsing the website for The AHA Foundation.
After more nearly ten months of development, The Father’s Love Booklet is now available. You can order copies of this 20-page booklet at thefatherslovebooklet.org.
The Father’s Love Booklet is lovingly designed for believers to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people for whom honor and shame is vitally important. Prices are:
