Tag Archives: honor-shame

Honor, Shame, and the Gospel—an overview of 15 outstanding contributions

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In my last post, I emphasized the Christ-centered foundation of the honor-shame conversation by highlighting the presentation and corresponding article by Steve Hawthorne: “The Honor and Glory of Jesus Christ: Heart of the Gospel and the Mission of God.” Hawthorne’s article is the first article in Section 1 of Honor, Shame, and the Gospel: Reframing Our Message and Ministry, published in late 2020 by William Carey Publishing.

Below is an overview of the fifteen articles—in the order that they appear—in the two sections of the book.

Section One: Honor-shame in general contexts

Steven Hawthorne: “The Honor and Glory of Jesus Christ: Heart of the Gospel and the Mission of God.” The glorious Person of Jesus Christ is the crux and destiny of mission. The beauty of Christ includes this astounding reality: he who suffered great shame and rose in exalted honor shares his glory with all who call him Lord. Accordingly, believers endure hardship and suffer gladly for his name’s sake among the nations.

Jayson Georges: “Honor and Shame in Historical Theology: Listening to Eight Voices.” Significant theologians, from Ignatius to Anselm to Edwards to C.S. Lewis, have explained biblical truth in honor-shame terms. Honor-shame theology is in continuity with Christian orthodoxy.

Tom Steffen: “A Clothesline Theology for the World: How A Value-Driven Grand Narrative of Scripture Can Frame the Gospel.” A unifying story of Scripture is an antidote to fragmentist and specialist tendencies in theology—and vital for ministry among all of story-oriented humanity. The value system of honor-shame functions as a major theme in the Bible’s grand narrative.

Jackson Wu: “Saving Us from Me: Cultivating Honor and Shame in a Collectivist Church.” Scripture depicts the church as a collectivist body, which yields a particular Christian way of living based on honor-shame dynamics. This counters the self-centered, lonely individualism of much Western Christianity.

E. Randolph Richards: “The Shaming of Jesus in John.” Understanding honor-shame dynamics in the social world of the New Testament clarifies the meaning and integrates various stories in John’s Gospel—for example, Jesus cleansing the temple.

Mako A. Nagasawa: “Empowering Personal Healing and Social Justice with Medical Substitutionary Atonement.” Christians throughout history have articulated different views of the atonement of Christ. An early Christian approach to the atonement and resurrection (viz., recapitulation) connects to modern concerns of identity, sacrifice, and justice—along with sin and shame.

Steve Tracy: “Abuse and Shame: How the Cross Transforms Shame.” Sexual abuse and wartime rape horribly defile millions in our world. Early Church Fathers addressed the problem of rape and sexual-abuse shame. Jesus Christ—in his scandalous crucifixion and honorific resurrection—absorbs and conquers the subjective and objective dimensions of sexual abuse victimhood and shame.

Section Two: Honor-shame in various mission contexts

Lynn Thigpen: “The Dark Side of Orality.” Christian workers can unwittingly marginalize “adults with limited formal education” (ALFE). Billions of people in the world are oral-preference learners. Many ALFE suffer from toxic shame. Cross-cultural workers must acquire new skills and develop learner-centered, dignity-enhancing ministry among non-readers.

Arley Loewen: “Must Honor Clash with Humility? Transformed Honor Within the Emerging Church in Muslim Societies.” Honor competition was common in the Early Church; it is common today for Christian leaders around the world—including those in Muslim societies. Leaders can move toward a servant-based honor willing to relinquish position—by experiencing Christ as their unlimited source of honor.

Steve Hong: “Sharing God’s Love in an Urban, Pluralist Context.” The practices of vulnerability, listening, creativity, inclusion—and intentionally dignifying others—lead to deep relationships with secular moderns. They awaken to the gospel of the kingdom whose King is Jesus.

Cristian Dumitrescu: “Discipleship in Asian Honor Cultures.” Making disciples is not a culturally neutral endeavor. In the Asian context, attention to honor-shame issues is critical for effective discipling.

Rich James: “An Honor-Shame Gospel for Syrians Displaced by War: Jesus Christ as Good Shepherd & Honorable Patron.” A culturally relevant and biblically faithful gospel for Syrian refugees involves not just a morally good Shepherd but the honorable Shepherd and Patron who gifts his life for the good of the flock.

Katie Rawson: “A Gospel that Reconciles: Teaching About Honor-Shame to Advance Racial and Ethnic Reconciliation.” Attention to honor-shame issues and terminology can have a profound impact upon efforts to mend relational rupture and bring about reconciliation in contexts of conflict.

Nolan Sharp: “The Book of Samuel: A Reconciling Narrative.” Cycles of blood violence, nationalism, even ethnic cleansing—as was the case in the wars of Yugoslav succession (1991–1995)—are often driven by honor and shame. The stories of Saul and David in 1 and 2 Samuel are a fountain of insights to help reconcile peoples, tribes, or nations in honor-bound conflicts.

Audrey Frank: “The Muslim Woman’s Journey from Shame to Honor.” For women from Muslim backgrounds, barrenness or abuse can be sources of shame, exclusion, defilement. The gospel of Christ covers the shamed and cleanses the defiled—thereby restoring honor.

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Book: “Honor, Shame, and the Gospel: Reframing Our Message and Ministry”—why is the first article a ‘Christology’?

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“Honor, Shame, and the Gospel”, Christopher Flanders and Werner Mischke, Editors

In late 2020, William Carey Publishing released Honor, Shame, and the Gospel:
Reframing Our Message and Ministry. The book is a compendium of articles based on presentations given at the 2017 Honor-Shame Conference held at Wheaton College. My colleague Chris Flanders and I worked for more than two years with fifteen contributors in editing this volume. We are so grateful to Denise Wynn and her team at William Carey Publishing for their enthusiastic support for this project.

Book overview

Christians engaged in communicating the gospel navigate a challenging tension: faithfulness to God’s ancient, revealed Word—and relevance to the local, current social context. What if there was a lens or paradigm offering both? Understanding the Bible—particularly the gospel—through the ancient cultural “language” of honor-shame offers believers this double blessing. An honorific gospel offers new points of resonance with communities where shame and honor are critical values, including most unreached peoples.  

In Honor, Shame, and the Gospel, over a dozen practitioners and scholars from diverse contexts and fields add to the ongoing conversation around the theological and missiological implications of an honorific gospel. Eight illuminating case studies explore ways to make disciples in a diversity of social contexts—for example, East Asian rural, Middle Eastern refugee, African tribal, and Western secular urban.

Honor, Shame, and the Gospel provides valuable resources to impact the ministry efforts of the church, locally and globally. Linked with its ancient honor-shame cultural roots, the gospel, paradoxically, is ever new—offering fresh wisdom to Christian leaders and optimism to the church for our quest to expand Christ’s kingdom and serve the worldwide mission of God. 

Article #1 explores the honor and glory of Christ as foundational to the gospel and the mission of God

Steven Hawthorne, PhD: “The Honor and Glory of Jesus Christ: Heart of the Gospel and the Mission of God.” When Steve Hawthorne ended his presentation at the 2017 conference, there was an unforgettable silence. I remember an extended moment of Christ-focused worship and wonder. You can watch Dr. Hawthorne’s presentation here.

Click here to watch the presentation by Dr. Hawthorne.

Hawthorne’s article is the first in Section One of the book. (The article follows a foreword by Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen and an introduction/overview of the book.) Hawthorne opens with these two paragraphs:

“To understand honor-shame dynamics amid the intercultural complexities of mission, one must consider the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. And here’s why: Behind, beneath, and above all human shames and honors is the singular glory of Jesus. In this chapter, we will affirm the glory that Jesus is worthy to receive. But we will also consider the ‘praise and glory and honor’ (1 Pet 1:7), that the living God bestows upon people in Christ.

“Following some introductory remarks, we will explore what I call ‘true glory,’ the glory that God gives to people in and with Christ. Then we will identify a few highlights of the great biblical narrative of God’s glory. Finally, we’ll look at three occasions when God spoke from heaven in the Gospels, each of them increasing our understanding of how we are called to share in the suffering and joy of Christ’s glory.”1

Why is Hawthorne’s article first? Four reasons:

  1. The Christology factor. The conversation about “Honor, Shame, and the Gospel” is grounded in the Person of Jesus Christ. Yes, the honor-shame conversation has tendrils in social science and anthropology. But for Christians, the honor-shame conversation rests upon a biblically-faithful Christology. An honorific gospel speaks to a world drenched in sin and shame (Hawthorne refers to “broken honor systems”). An honorific gospel is rooted historically and eschatologically in the glory of Christ. This is presented convincingly in Dr. Hawthorne’s article.
  2. The statesman factor. Dr. Hawthorne is a “missionary statesman.” We wanted him to bring his passion for the glory of God and his credibility in the Christian missions community to the conference and this compendium. He is the author of “The Story of His Glory”, and editor of Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. For decades, Hawthorne has been promulgating a wise, infectious passion for the glory of Christ as central to the grand narrative of Scripture and the mission of God.
  3. The glory-sharing factor. The multifaceted truth about the glory of Christ is well-known in the Christian community; less well known is the corresponding truth that God shares his honor and glory with those who follow Christ (e.g., John 5:44; 17:22; 1 Pet 2:7; Heb 2:10; 2 Thess 2:13–14). Dr. Hawthorne convincingly communicates this ‘both-and’ truth in his article.
  4. The suffering factor. Hawthorne shows how our faithfulness to the Lord in the face of hardship is rooted in the glory of Jesus Christ. The longing for honor and glory, when rooted in Christ, fuels our obedience to God. Referring to Romans 8:17, the article concludes: “If we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him.”

Summary: Could it be, that Dr. Hawthorne’s presentation and article will become known as one of the foundational building blocks in the global conversation about honor, shame, and the gospel? I hope so. Our Christology should be central to the conversation. The honor and glory of Jesus are ever at the heart of the gospel and the mission of God.

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NOTES

  1. Steven C. Hawthorne: “The Honor and Glory of Jesus Christ: Heart of the Gospel and the Mission of God” in Honor, Shame, and the Gospel: Reframing Our Message and Ministry (Littleton, CO: William Carey Publishing, 2020), 3.

Introducing: Free honor-shame course & study guide from Mission ONE

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Would you enjoy a biblically-rich learning journey to better understand honor, shame, and the gospel? Are you interested in how the gospel of Jesus Christ speaks to issues of honor and shame in you own life, family, or ministry?

Good news—Mission ONE now offers for free: Unit A (video lessons 1–6) of “Journey of Discovery in Honor, Shame, and the Gospel,” with myself (Werner Mischke) as instructor.

Also available—a free 60-page PDF study guide that goes with the videos. I carefully and lovingly crafted this guide in order to help followers of Christ internalize the relevant biblical ideas and principles in a step-by-step journey.

Here’s how to get started

  • Bookmark the Mission ONE YouTube page, where you can watch videos 1–6 (Unit A).
  • Download the free 60-page study guide; two versions are available:
    1. Standard Study Guide for  Unit A (if you prefer to print it out and hand-write your reflections)
    2. Virtual Study Guide for Unit A (if your prefer to use your device to record your reflections electronically)
  • Watch the videos in order: ideally, one video per week, starting with Class A1. Follow up each video session by doing the relevant set of five reflection lessons in the free study guide.
  • If you want, you can also read along in my book, The Global Gospel. You can get The Global Gospel, ePub edition, for just $6 here—by using a 50% off coupon: 50TGGe (expires April 30, 2020). The Global Gospel is also available at Amazon in various formats.

Curriculum design for a rich missional learning journey

  • Your learning tasks in the study guide are based on adult learning theory:
    1. Inductive—begin with what you already know.
    2. Input—receive new information.
    3. Implementation—try it out right away.
    4. Integration—weave it into your life and ministry.
  • The study guide provides guided reflection with five lessons per video session—ideally, five reflection lessons per week.
  • Small groups can use this video-plus-study-guide format in a six week study.
  • It’s a step-by-step journey; there is not too much in a single session; it is simple to do, but not simplistic.

Unit A has six lessons covering the material below:

Class A1: Honor-shame in the mission of God: Intro stories / Overview: guilt, shame, fear / Pathologies of shame / Blind spot: H-S in Western theology / ‘Honor-shame wheel’

Class A2: Honor-status reversal as Bible and Gospel Motif: Overview of status reversal motif—Old Testament and New / Honor-status reversal in Ephesians 2 / The Father’s Love Booklet

Class A3: Honor-Shame Dynamic—Love of honor: Glory of God/glory of humanity / Longing for honor satisfied in Christ / Salvation as gaining a new source of honor in Christ

Class A4: Honor-Shame Dynamic—Two sources of honor: Ascribed & Achieved: In Jesus’ life, in Christian life / Justification as God’s way to give believers ascribed honor

Class A5: Honor-Shame Dynamic—Image of Limited Good: In Christ: unlimited good / Shame resilience & honor surplus in Christ / Gospel of more than enough glory and honor

Class A6: Honor-Shame Dynamic—Challenge & Riposte: Honor competition as prominent social dynamic in NT / Phil 2:5–11 gospel of Christ as conquering sin via death and resurrection

Endorsements

WEBINAR SERIES PARTICIPANTS

I am thankful for this shame and honor webinar class. I’ve worked in French Africa for the last 25 years. Werner’s book and his teaching on honor and shame are pertinent daily in my ministry.

Mary Stone, TEAM

Werner aims for heart-integration in this class that leaves both lay and scholar with an honor-shame framework to integrate faith with holistic kingdom living. I’ve been training people in this arena for over a dozen years, yet God is using Werner’s passionate and integrative approach in this class to so bless my heart.

Steve Hong, KingdomRice

Through his book The Global Gospel and especially the webinar series, Werner has clearly, and with great depth, helped me to understand the importance of honor-shame. I am motivated me to preach it to the church to which God has called me. Also, the Study Guide exercises really help to personalize these truths.

Dennis Schwarm, Pastor, First Baptist Church Of Oakridge

Outstanding introduction and review of the world of honor, shame and the gospel. Werner’s humble delivery and personality never impede the scholarly potent message.

Marilyn Nasman

Thank you for these wonderfully helpful webinars. Each one is like a bit of yeast which really starts working after the session ends, and continues to bring transformation in our thinking and seeing. Having lived in an honor-shame culture for close to two decades, I am well aware of the many individual differences which exist between my host and home culture. However, the honor-shame webinar training has helped me begin to understand how all these individual differences hang together in a coherent worldview, and more than that, to find that same worldview throughout the Bible!

David Bakewell, Frontiers

SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS

I have found Werner’s material more helpful than any of the missionary seminars I had been to. This honor-shame material helps us craft messages that are relevant to the heart and soul of people for whom concepts of purity, defilement, and honor-shame are at the core of their being.

Sam Winfield, Avant Ministries

[After one-day honor-shame conference] … “Werner’s passion and expertise of the subject matter moved our hearts. His training and personal stories resonated with our audience, many of whom work directly with Muslims and Middle Easterners. We learned how Jesus covers our shame and restores our honor.”

Shirin Taber, Director, Middle East Women’s Leadership Network

Unit B (lessons 7–12) will be available soon. If you have any questions, write to me at werner@mission1.org.